14:00

the propriety specific to the son-parent

14:02

relationship. The demand

14:04

for appropriate inner feelings could also explain why

14:06

Kon-su didn't try to talk him into observing

14:09

a longer period of mourning. Two

14:11

more years of mourning would not be a

14:13

true expression of reverence if they were insincere.

14:17

Another problem with the transactional view is

14:19

that it would make filial reverence conditional

14:21

on having parents who actually do care

14:24

affectionately for their children. But

14:26

the Confucian do not recognize such a requirement.

14:29

To the contrary, they sometimes invite us

14:31

to admire sons who show great reverence

14:33

towards parents who clearly haven't earned it.

14:36

Some of the men who die for their parents in

14:38

the spring and autumn annals do so despite the fact

14:40

that their parents have done them great wrong. The

14:43

Analects refers to the problem explicitly in

14:45

the following passage. The Duke

14:48

of Shih said to Kon-su, Among

14:50

my people there is one we call upright

14:52

gong. When his father stole a sheep,

14:54

he reported him to the authorities. Kon-su

14:56

replied, Among my people, those who we consider

14:59

upright are different from this, fathers cover up

15:01

for their sons and sons cover up for

15:03

their fathers. Here

15:05

it looks like filial reverence trumps even the

15:08

demands of justice. More spectacular

15:10

still is a tale found in the Meng-su

15:12

about one of the great sage kings who

15:14

was named Shun. When he

15:16

became emperor, his family tried to assassinate him so

15:18

that they could get their hands on his wealth.

15:21

Yet Shun persevered in trying to gain the

15:23

approval of his parents and refused to punish

15:26

them or his murderous brother. Meng-su

15:28

explains that a benevolent man never harbors

15:30

anger or nurses a grudge against a

15:33

brother. All he does is to love him.

15:36

These conceptions of what filial piety requires

15:38

of a person in relation to their

15:40

parents persisted well beyond Meng-su's time. The

15:43

historian Shui-tong-su shows that law in

15:46

China incorporated the spirit of Confucian

15:48

beliefs and calls this phenomenon the

15:50

Confucianization of Law. For

15:53

example, the crime of not being filial was

15:55

one of the 10 offenses in the codes

15:57

during the Northern Qi period. for

16:00

example, that children were not allowed to bring

16:02

accusations against their parents. There

16:04

was also a specific law relating to the mourning

16:06

period. Because the mourning period was

16:08

to last for three years, a person could be

16:11

punished if they were to marry, become an official,

16:13

or be entertained with music during this time. So,

16:16

although Kongtze let Tsai wo off the hook,

16:18

the law later on would not have done

16:20

so. Even

16:22

if you like the idea of filial reverence and all

16:24

that should spring from it, this may seem to be

16:27

taking a good idea too far. But

16:29

let's not lead to conclusions, because the Confucians had

16:31

more to say about this kind of case. They

16:34

recommended policy called remonstrance.

16:37

This is found even in the Xiao

16:39

Jing, or classic of filial reverence, a

16:41

dialogue in which Kongtze and an interlocutor

16:43

explore the nature and demands of this

16:45

ethical virtue. While one

16:47

should of course never fail to show

16:49

respect for one's parents, it is possible

16:52

to remonstrate with them respectfully. The same

16:54

would apply in the political context. Rather

16:56

than simply obeying every wicked or foolish command

16:58

of a bad ruler, a good minister should

17:00

find every possible way to educate and enlighten

17:03

the ruler. If that isn't

17:05

possible because the ruler is too corrupt, one

17:07

should do what Kongtze did when faced with

17:09

the same situation, withdraw from public life. But

17:12

remember, this does not mean giving up on

17:14

politics. Merely by continuing to relate

17:16

appropriately to family and friends, you are already

17:19

doing your bit. Even if

17:21

you want to get more ambitious, you can always

17:23

imitate Kongtze again by compiling some classic works on

17:25

poetry and ritual, which would be

17:27

a more effective way to spread righteousness

17:30

than trying to reform an unreformable ruler.

17:33

This moderate advice, offer constructive criticism

17:35

without ever indulging in outright defiance,

17:38

may strike some of us as

17:40

insufficient. Don't some situations

17:42

call for outright defiance? Not

17:45

according to the Confucians. They seem

17:48

a hierarchical relationship, correct behavior

17:50

will always presuppose respecting and

17:52

maintaining the hierarchy. This

17:54

may seem especially problematic in light of

17:56

the aforementioned point that their relationships in

17:59

question are often not chosen voluntarily.

18:02

Here we come to another challenge that confronts

18:04

Confucian role ethics. The modern-day

18:06

ideal of individual autonomy is, and might

18:08

be argued, precisely what has allowed us

18:11

to escape from asymmetric power relations, in

18:13

which certain people are expected to show

18:15

deference to others simply because of the

18:17

relationships they find themselves in, whether

18:19

in the family or the political sphere. In

18:22

short, hierarchy is fundamental to role

18:24

ethics, and hierarchy is bad. But

18:27

here too, the defender of role ethics has moves to

18:30

make in response. For starters,

18:32

it's not as if all the responsibility is on

18:34

the part of the son, wife, or subject. Let's

18:37

take another look at that passage in

18:39

which Mengzi sets out the five canonical

18:41

relationships. He says that there should

18:43

be affection between father and son, rightness

18:45

between ruler and ruled, and between husband

18:47

and wife, attention to their separate functions.

18:50

Clearly then, there are responsibilities on both sides.

18:53

If parents failed to care for and show affection

18:56

to their children, that would be a grave failing

18:58

in their part, just as much as it would

19:00

be if a child failed to respect and show

19:02

affection to them. So

19:04

when Emperor Shun continued to hold up his

19:06

end of the relationship despite his family's misdeeds,

19:08

he was right to do so. The

19:11

fact that someone else behaves badly doesn't give

19:13

you license to do the same. This

19:16

point is also of vital importance in the case

19:18

of the relationship between ruler and subject. Rulers

19:21

must show obedience to their rulers, tempered

19:23

by their role as advisors who may

19:25

remonstrate as appropriate, but rulers must

19:27

do their part too, by ruling in a

19:29

just and righteous manner. Surprisingly,

19:32

for anyone who thinks that unconditional respect

19:34

for hierarchy is deeply embedded in Confucianism,

19:36

a passage in the Mengzi strongly suggests

19:38

that a sufficiently bad sovereign may lose

19:41

his demand on the subject's obedience. Mengzi

19:44

is asked about the last of the Shang

19:46

rulers, Zhou, a notorious tyrant who

19:48

was toppled and killed. He

19:50

replies that this was just a case of punishing

19:52

a criminal, not a true regicide.

19:55

Here we have an illustration of how the

19:57

procedure of rectification of names is carried out.

19:59

out. Whereas Zhou bore the

20:02

designation of king, he did not behave like a

20:04

king, and therefore the title should be stripped from

20:06

him. From Mengzi's perspective,

20:08

Zhou's behavior was fitting of criminals, therefore

20:10

Mengzi called him, and called him out,

20:13

as a criminal. Although

20:15

emphasizing roles can seem oppressive, as it binds

20:18

people to their roles, on the other hand

20:20

it supports Mengzi's very bold move to hold

20:22

the former king Zhou to account. Furthermore,

20:25

the defender of role ethics can point out

20:27

that hierarchy is not in fact a pervasive

20:30

feature of this approach. In the

20:32

case of the parent-child relationship and

20:34

the ruler-subject relationship, it makes no

20:36

sense to complain about hierarchy, because

20:38

hierarchy is definitive of these relationships.

20:41

It would be a pretty radical proponent of

20:43

individual autonomy, who thinks that children owe no

20:45

obedience to their parents or citizens to their

20:47

governments. Hierarchy between siblings

20:50

might look more controversial, but it is fairly

20:52

plausible that younger brothers and sisters might look

20:54

up to their older siblings, while the older

20:56

ones help to look after the younger ones.

20:59

Again, specific responsibilities would be determined by

21:01

individual factors, like the difference in age

21:04

between the siblings. More

21:06

disturbing is the hierarchical understanding

21:08

of marriage, that is, unarguably

21:10

and unsurprisingly, present in ancient

21:12

Chinese Confucian texts. We'll

21:15

return to the theme of gender and Confucianism

21:17

in a later episode. For now,

21:19

we can simply report that in their defense

21:21

of the Confucian position, Rosemount and Ames admit

21:23

the need to revise ancient attitudes on this

21:25

relationship, but they believe that this

21:28

can be done within the framework of

21:30

role ethics, writing that, we can and

21:32

must strive to redefine gender difference in

21:34

a way that replaces an oppressive inequality

21:36

with a complementary and productive parity. Of

21:40

particular interest in this context is the last

21:42

of the five relationships between friend and friend.

21:45

It seems to be the only one of

21:47

the five that is not hierarchical, and in

21:49

a society with arranged marriage, it would also

21:51

be the only one that is subject to

21:53

individual choice. In keeping

21:56

with this, the attitude distinctive of

21:58

friendship is trust, seen.