On Ritual and Legislation
Confucian thinkers have traditionally stressed the importance of li 禮, or "ritual" as it is commonly translated, and believed that ancient sages had established an ideal set of rituals for people to follow. Now, most scholars of Confucianism understand li as distinct from law, and hence do...
| Published in: | European journal for philosophy of religion |
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| Subtitles: | "Special Issue - Ritual, Confucianism and Asian Philosophy of Religion" |
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham
2021
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| In: |
European journal for philosophy of religion
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| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Confucianism
/ Ritual
/ Value ethics
/ Legislation
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| IxTheo Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism NCA Ethics XA Law |
| Further subjects: | B
Law
B Legislation B Ritual B Virtue B Confucianism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Confucian thinkers have traditionally stressed the importance of li 禮, or "ritual" as it is commonly translated, and believed that ancient sages had established an ideal set of rituals for people to follow. Now, most scholars of Confucianism understand li as distinct from law, and hence do not typically discuss Confucian sages as great lawgivers. Nevertheless, I suggest that there is something valuable to be learned from considering the similarities and dissimilarities between great lawgivers and the sages. In particular, this essay reviews some of the challenges for, and virtues of, great legislators, and compares and contrasts these with the challenges for, and virtues of, master inventors of ritual, with the aim of showing how such observations might deepen our understanding of the conception of sages in the Confucian tradition, while perhaps also bringing out certain insights about good lawgivers. I end by using these reflections to point to some challenges for developing rituals to fit our modern context. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.2021.3333 |