“We value virtue but do not discuss it. The honest bookkeeper, the faithful wife, the earnest scholar get little of our attention compared to the embezzler, the tramp, the cheat.” ― John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America. In this quote steinbeck poses the question of the value of virtue and its place in the world often as humans we are attracted to the opposite and it seems to workout fine sometimes.
Buddhism, initially widely accepted in China over the centuries has been criticized. Rather than having a positive effect, Buddhism has been condemned due to its “barbaric” nature in comparison to Confucianism. Buddhism was a faith that has been deemed as an outcast due to it only being recently adopted in China. Before Buddhism, Confucianism was the religion that dominated from 206-220 BC, originating in China by a Chinese philosopher known as Confucius. Buddhism is a universal religion that originated during the 6th century BC in India and was practiced in various regions, and came to prevail in China due to the fall of the Han Dynasty; China, lacking political structure, turned towards Buddhism.
With the popularization of the Confucian Four Books during Ming dynasty, female-authored writing achieved a new level of importance. Instructional texts written by female authors including Ban Zhao, Madam Cheng, Song Ruozhao and Empress Xu were compiled as the Four Books for Women as a parallel to the Confucian canon. Through writing, these female authors receive social recognition, discuss public affairs and elevate women’s social status within households. However, writing could only allow women to attain limited social power in pre-modern China, as popular female-authored texts are all written by women from privileged background, circulate with limited impact among a small group of audience and further exaggerate gender inequality.
While Levy does present a strong argument, not only are there a few flaws with it, but it also undermines human nature. This paper will aim to discredit Levy’s argument by disproving his premise that situationism negates moral responsibility through the psychological and philosophical explanation of moral responsibility and how individuals do not
Enjoy Los Angeles spectacular view with the Mulholland Drive Are you fond of admiring the spectacular panoramic view of Los Angeles? Do you want to drive on the quiet roads and forget about the traffic jams? Or just like the adventure feeling when driving on the winding roads and exploring the untapped scenery. The historic route Mulholland Drive, which located in the eastern Santa Monica Mountain, South California, will give you all those wonderful feelings. About the Mulholland Drive Mulholland Drive (or Mulholland Scenic Parkway and Corridor) is not an unknown name, it appears in countless movies, films, songs, and novels.
The next line of rulers from the Shang were the Zhou (Pronounced Joh). These three philosophies where ways to govern ancient China. During the future years of the Zhou’s, the country was thrown into disorder. These times led Chinese thinkers to question what is the best way to have peace and order in society. Three completely different ideas arose as the philosophies of Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism.
The Influence of Confucianism, Legalism, and Buddhism on Chinese Empires and Society The history of the ancient China is filled with explorations and reforms of the most suitable, effective, and adaptable state ideology for different empires and the society ruled. Up till Tang dynasty, since the early emperors themselves had little idea what would be ideal and what would not, different ideologies were endorsed in a much experimental way, among which three major ideologies played important roles in shaping the Chinese empires that advocated them and affecting the values and behaviors of the society under the rule of these empires. These three ideologies are Legalism, Confucianism, and Buddhism, and were adopted by Qin, Han, and Tang dynasty
Confucianism has the concept of humans not being born with sin unlike Christianity. The optimism about human behavior most likely played a role in the idea of self-cultivation. It was believed that practices such as meditation, ritual and textual education is the key to self-transformation. It was reestablished as an academic endeavor but also as a resource for anticommunist ideology. There were many different versions of Confucianism because of the different interpretations of Confucian and his disciples.
Aristotle’s virtue ethics differs from other moral theories. Unlike deontology and consequentialism, virtue ethics emphasizes and describes moral characters (virtues). In my paper, I am going to explore the objection to virtue ethics from a relativist point of view and the responses to this objection that were presented in Nussbaum’s paper “A non-relative approach to virtue ethics.” Furthermore, I am going to present two out of three relativist objections to her responses that she anticipated, and her responses to them.
Throughout history many great philosophers have attempted to unravel the origins of virtues by developing moral theories of their own. This document is designed to provide the reader with an overview of some of the more popular theories concerning morals. Three of the most popular moral theories are… Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Aristotelianism. Though Utilitarianism, Kantianism, and Aristotelianism differ in many ways, they also share similar fundamentals. Utilitarianism is a highly acclaimed theory that is morally based on consequentialism.
Ideal Practitioners in Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism Buddhism, Confucianism, and Taoism each have their own ideal practitioners described in their teachings. These ideal practitioners provide a role-model and an ideal path for their followers. They also help followers and outsiders understand the important values of each tradition. In regards to Buddhism, this paper will delve into two ideal practitioners; one from Theravāda Buddhism and the other from Mahāyāna Buddhism. Theravāda Buddhism’s ideal practitioner is called an arhat (or Arahant).
Confucianism and Buddhism have brought many traditions and orders, that is structures to Korea and their society. First of all pre-modern Buddhism and its influence on today’s culture and society in Korea may be rather slight but the impact it had on historic culture and arts was great. Museums are full off Buddhist art and everywhere you go you see traces of Buddhist impact. The Buddhist temples are as beautiful as ever and still frequently visited and most people cannot imagine Korea without them.
The idea of virtue ethics was first introduced to the world by Aristotle over 2,300 years ago in 325 BC (Rachels 173). Virtue ethics operate on the belief that people develop good character by looking at the virtues they admire in other people and emulating them. In order to do this, a person must ask themselves what kind of person they want to be and focus on choosing characteristics not specific people to emulate. Unfortunately, virtue ethics were quickly overshadowed by other perspectives on ethical theory as Christianity gained popularity and values changed. As time went on people stopped asking themselves, “What traits make a good person?”
As Aristotle (and Buddha) believed that the “moraity of a person is a seamless whole” (Ciulla, 2003). Hence, the leadership will be guided by the person in his or her full cpacity as a moral, ethical, and virtuous being. Virtue involves having the necessary attitude toward pleasure and pain. For instance, when faced with danger, a coward will suffer excessive fear while a rash person will least likely suffer enough fear. A person who is virtuous exhibits all the virtue principles that were listed by Aristotle.
