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95. See Lunyu, 17, 2–3. See Xunzi (Xiushen 脩身): the distinction between the sage (shengren 聖人), the superior man (junzi 君子) and the scholar (shi 士) consists precisely of the degree of moral maturation, that at a certain level no longer requires any effort or decision. On the difference between innate wisdom and attained wisdom, see Zhongyong, 20. In the literary field, the contrast between innateness and education is the theme of the novel “A Marriage that Awakens the World,” Xingshi Yinyuan Zhuan (26: 378, 37: 539, 39: 568).

96. Quoted and translated by Taylor, “Proposition and Praxis,” 188.

97. A considerable contribution to understanding the Neo-Confucian theory of moral responsibility are the works by Huang Yong—“Virtue Ethics and Moral Responsibility,” “Why an Upright Son Does Not Disclose His Father Stealing a Sheep,” “Moral Luck and Moral Responsibility,” “Neo-Confucianism.” For moral luck, see Nagel, “Moral Luck,” 675–684.

98. See Plato’s discourse on the effects of love on the soul (Faedrus, 232–252), especially on the inner conflict of its parts (Faedrus, 253–256). It is in Republic, IV, that Plato deals with the three faculties of soul: (1) the logistikon would be the rational and smallest part of the soul (as rulers would be the smallest population within the Republic); (2) the spirited or thymoeides (lit. irascible-enthusiastic) is what makes people angry or get into a temper; (3) the longing or epithymetikon (appetitive) is the part of the soul which pertains to the experience of carnal love, hunger, thirst, and greed, all desires opposed to the logistikon (Republic, 436–441; IX 581).

99. The tragedy starts with the death of Oedipus’ two sons, Eteocles and Polyneices, who die fighting each other over Thebes. Creon, the new ruler of Thebes, has Eteocles honored and issues an edict depriving Polyneices of funeral rites, leaving his body unburied. Creon views this exemplary punishment as appropriate and necessary for nomos is the rule that men lay down among themselves to live and prosper. However, their sister Antigone defies Creon’s edict and buries Polyneices’ body out of familial duty. She argues with Creon about the morality of the edict and her actions, and she is sentenced to death and is buried alive in a cave. Creon even insults the blind prophet Tiresias, who warns him to follow what the gods demand and arrange a proper burial for Polynices. In the end, Creon loses his children and wife as a result of acting against gods. Guarde-Paz (“Moral Dilemmas in Chinese Philosophy,” 84) compares Antigone with Rong 榮 in an episode told by Sima Qian 司馬遷 in the Shiji 史記 (Shiji, 86:2522–2526) on Nie Zheng 聶政 and Yurang 豫讓.