Against Virtue Ethics in China Anthropology

일시: 2021년 4월 15일(목) 18:00-19:30

장소: https://snu-ac-kr.zoom.us/j/3395374845  Meeting ID: 339 537 4845

문의: ichina@snu.ac.kr, anthrobk21plus@snu.ac.kr

*본 강연은 영어로 진행됩니다. 

강의 개요:

Different versions of Confucian ethics, as well as some proposals for an anthropology of ethics, share the core characteristics of virtue ethics: they anchor whatever is considered ‘ethical’ in a social context yet claim that the ethical transcends the same context. Philosophers have found virtue ethics incapable of dealing with this paradox (both being tied to its context and supposedly superseding it), especially in contemporary societies defined by moral pluralism. In this presentation I argue that similar criticisms can be applied to Confucian ethics and to the anthropology of ethics. Often they simply re-state the meanings of vice and virtue in terms of their social context, yet claim that subjects of virtue somehow raise above the ordinary. Ignoring the possibility of the amoral and the dilemmas of rule-following, the identification of an ethical moment in this way tends to be moralizing, and thus mis-describes the moral reasoning that takes place in everyday life. The arguments are illustrated with examples from anti-drug campaigns at the China-Myanmar border, the uses of irony in Hubei province, and practices of self-improvement in Kunming.