Pluralism of EthicsPluralism of Ethics

GGRANDRAND T THEORIESHEORIES ONON E ETHICSTHICS Realist, liberalism, natural law, international law,

discursive and feminist ethics have provided various theories, methods and strategies about how ethics are defined and how responsibility is viewed at individual, national, and international levels when facing problems of human rights abuses, humanitarian intervention, environmental issues, gender inequality, international economic justice, matters of war and peace.

They are the grand theories used to explain and understand the political reality

CCONFUCIANISMONFUCIANISM: B: BASISASIS OFOF TTEACHINGEACHING

A political ideology and a social ethic, represented by Confucius (551-479 BC), Mencius (371-289? BC) and Xunzi (fl. 298 - 238 BC).

• The central concept of humanity (ren). Just as compassion is the greatest Buddhist virtue, and love the Christian, ren is the ultimate goal of conduct and self-transformation for the Confucian.

• The crucial importance of rigorous attention to ritual (li) as a kind of self-replicating blueprint for good manners and taste, morality, and social order.

CCONFUCIANISMONFUCIANISM: W: WORLDORLD V VIEWIEW A religious-philosophical world view that explains

the workings of, and the relationship between humanity and the cosmos. Insofar as humanity is endowed with the goodness of heaven (tian), the realization of ren by abiding by li (propriety) ultimately means the oneness of heaven and humanity (tianren heyi).

The zhongyong (Doctrine of the Mean on harmony and balance in life), one of the 'Four Books‘--the basis for Confucian self-cultivation, states that the sage/gentleman (Junzi), having realized true integrity, becomes one with Heaven and Earth.

CCONFUCIANISMONFUCIANISM: F: FIVEIVE RRELATIONSHIPSELATIONSHIPS

Confucianism with its Five Relationships forms the intricate and organic web of relations into which everyone is born.

Just as the state is the family writ large, so the political virtue of loyalty (zhong) finds its familial counterpart in the social virtue of filial piety (xiao).

The individual as the centerpiece of this body-politic = the foundation and point of departure of all moral and ethical pondering and action ↔ responsible individualism.

The Five Relationships represent the multifarious social roles assumed and played by individuals, who, endowed with goodness, must seek to realize their very humanity by cultivating the fundamental virtue of ren, which makes human beings humane -benevolence, compassion, sympathy, empathy.

CCONFUCIANISMONFUCIANISM: V: VALUESALUES Confucian golden rule, "Do not do to others what

you do not want done to yourself." Ren is manifested in zhong (faithfulness) to oneself and others, and shu (altruism).

Confucianism and human rights: Confucian social duty and mutual respect is an ideal place to begin with ethics and the equality of human rights.

A clear “dimension of human rights” within Confucius’s philosophy: The independent thinking and free will of a noble man (junzi) can never be deprived “You can capture a general from the three armies, but you can not capture the free will of a single man.” (Confucius)

CCONFUCIANISMONFUCIANISM & D & DEMOCRACYEMOCRACY

• Confucian humanistic tradition of virtues and the Western rationalistic tradition of human rights could go hand in hand for the creation of a self-sustainable and ecologically sound social order.

• The compatibility between Confucianism and democracy: 1) shown in certain Confucian political allegations such as "take people as the principle" and "people are superior„; 2) embodied in some fundamental principles of traditional Confucianism. →“a more communitarian form of democratic practice”.

CCONFUCIAN ONFUCIAN EETHICSTHICS

• Confucianism is a self-cultivation system. A person’s life and conduct can be perfected by developing human-heartedness (ren). Cultivate personal life; regulate family; bring order to the state; bring peace to the world.

• Virtue, rather than law, should be the basis of government. The well-being of the society depended on the ren of the rulers.

CCONFUCIANISM: ONFUCIANISM: CCRITIQUESRITIQUES Essential conflict between self-cultivation and political

morality: different criteria for personal ethics and political ethics.

Conflict between deontological and teleological ethics:• Benevolence (ren) and righteousness (yi) are key

concepts for Confucian ethicist, but they are shackles to the political strategies of a ruler.

• Tension in ethical nature between yi (righteousness/justice—categorical imperative) and li (propriety - Li governs customs, ceremonies, and relationships established by human practice – practical results).

• Ren lost all claim to individual meaning and was absorbed into the structured system of li ↔ compartmentalized morality = moral conflict in the demands of competing social roles and responsibilities.

IISLAMSLAM: U: UNIVERSALISTICNIVERSALISTIC OROR PPARTICULARISTICARTICULARISTIC

• The Qur‘an = the source of Islamic ethics. Within the 6,236 verses revealed in Arabic to the prophet Muhammad, human beings have been left to discern God‘s purpose.

• The Ash‘arite view (emphasis on revelation) emerged as the orthodoxy in Sunni intellectual circles by the 12th century. Consequences: 1) Placing the ulama in the privileged position toward greater conservatism / the closing of the gates of ijtihad (active independent reasoning); 2) emphasis on the particularistic over the universalistic aspects of the Qur‘anic revelation.

IISLAMSLAM: G: GOD’SOD’S L LAWAW

Two Islamic schools of jurisprudence in answering the questions - How do human beings discern God‘s law? What makes God‘s law “good” or “right”? The ethical objectivism based on reason (Mu‘tazilites):

Reason demonstrates the value of charity in fostering individual virtue and promoting social welfare;

Ethical voluntarism (Ash‘arites): Ethical value was derived entirely from God‘s command through the scriptures/the actions of divinely inspired prophets. „He who does not validly know the law, does not validly know that a bad action is bad.“ (Abu al-Qasi al-Ansari)

MMUSLIMUSLIM && T THEHE D DUTYUTY

• The Muslim umma (the community of the faithful) and the duty of the Muslims: by accepting the truth of the Qur‘an as revealed to Muhammad, the umma is heir to the primeval contract that God made with all human souls. And now the umma has been realized, it is the Muslims‘ duty to remain a cohesive community witnessing God‘s truth: “And hold fast, all together, by the rope which God stretches out for you and be not divided among yourselves.“ (3:103)

MMUSLIMUSLIM && C CHALLENGESHALLENGES

• The practical impact of Sunni theory was to establish an autocracy with little recourse to the ordinary Muslim (often based on the consideration of political stability).

• Disputes over the constitution of the Muslim world and legitimate authority have become more vigorous in the 20th century, as Muslims face the challenge of defining Islamic political life in a world shaped by others (by the Western idea of territorial nationalism).

TTHREEHREE C CATEGORIESATEGORIES

Three categories of Muslim political thought: The secular “statist” fully embraces the legitimacy of

the territorial state; Islam regarded as a key source of national identity, devoid of practical political significance;

Islamic internationalists aim to reconcile Islamic ethical ideals with prevailing realities → a Muslim League of Nations /The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC);

Islamic cosmopolitans / fundamentalist thinkers argue that the divisions of Muslims into sovereign territorial states violates the Qu‘an‘s ethics of Islamic universality and Muslim solidarity.