Comparative Ethics (PHI 229)
Personal Relationships and Morality East and West
Instructor:
Andrew Lambert
Contact: alambert@smith.edu
Time: Tu,Th 1:00-2:20pm
Room: Mac 104
Office Hours:
Tu 2:30-4:30, Th 2:30-3:00 and by appointment
Office: Dewey Hall, 2F, Office 9.
Course Overview
What is the relationship between personal relationships and morality? Is the family a site
of nurture or of oppression and inequality? Why do the Confucians laud it and are they
mistaken to do so? What does a child owe to its parents? Is such debt eventually repaid
or are we forever indebted to our parents?
What does (Confucian) friendship consist in? In what ways does acting for family and
friends conflict with the demands of morality?
To what extent should society be organized according to defined roles and relationships?
Does ritualised interaction with others make us more civilized or does ritual propagate
reactionary or regressive attitudes?
In this course, we examine these questions and consider answers given by both
Western thinkers, ancient and modern, and the Chinese Confucian tradition. In doing so,
we will not assume that we know what ‘morality’ or ‘ethics’ is. Rather, we will be
searching for constitutive features and wondering which, if any, might be more
important. In particular, we will be asking whether ‘morality’ itself is something clear
and distinct from the conduct of personal relationships, to be applied to them, or
whether the latter are themselves constitutive of ethical living.
We start by considering some influential accounts of morality that emphasise
impartiality, contracts, rights and universality, and then look at recent criticism of these.
In particular, we focus on claims that such ‘morality’ fails to reflect people’s experiences
in personal relationships, and the importance attached to these relationships. This leads
us to the Confucian tradition, where relationships have long been central to ethical
living.
To help us understand what is at stake here we will look at specific topics, such
as family, filial piety, friendship, ritualized interaction and extended kin and social
networks (time permitting). We will look at philosophical or ethical puzzles in each area,
such as whether a deep commitment to one’s nearest and dearest can lead to unethical
neglect of more distant others. As we learn more about the Confucian tradition, we will
consider whether the Confucians saw engagement in and cultivation of personal
relationships as the most important ethical ideal, and what this tells us about other,
more familiar conceptions of morality.
Course Format
This course will be a text-based seminar to allow for in-depth discussion of the reading
assigned for each class. Students will be required to read in advance of the class. There will be
strong emphasis on active participation, with students taking turns to lead discussion. In
addition, students will also participate in an online discussion forum, prepare informal reading
response papers and reflection papers and also write two longer structured papers. Some
sections of the course will feature videos and podcasts to supplement the readings, and there
may be some group projects to foster students’ ability to work as part of a team.
Student Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the course students will have:
 The ability to think more reflective about the meaning of ‘morality’ and the
different ways this has been understood
 Increased awareness of the content and resources for thinking about
philosophical issues involved in the family, friendship and ethical conduct
 Greater familiarity with Chinese social and ethical thought, particularly the
Confucian intellectual tradition
 The ability to make sound cultural comparisons
 Increased ability to discern and assess arguments/reasons in support of a
philosophical view
 Increased appreciation of the relevance of philosophical resources to “real
world” problems and issues
Textbooks
Required:
Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont (trans.), The Analects of Confucius
Mark Vernon, The Meaning of Friendship
Herbert Fingarette, Confucius: The Secular as Sacred
Recommended:
Mayfair Mei-Hui Yang, Gifts, Favors and Banquets
Roger Ames, Confucian Role Ethics: A Vocabulary
David Jones (ed), Confucius Now: Contemporary Encounters with the Analects
Yu, Tao, and Ivanhoe (eds), Taking Confucian Ethics Seriously
NOTE:
Many course readings and articles will be provided separately, either distributed in class
or posted on the course website. YOU are responsible for printing out and bringing the
reading to class.
Teaching Methods and Student Evaluation
This course requires active participation.
 Please come to class prepared to talk about what you have read. Passive reading is not
enough!
 For each session, bring two questions to get the conversation going in class.
 Re-read the assignment. Once to get a rough outline of the argument; then go back and
consider the argument in detail, thinking of comments, examples, objections, etc.
 Please bring the assigned reading to class on the day we are to discuss it.
Formal and Informal Writing Streams:
The course will involve both formal and informal writing tasks. Informal writing tasks include
reading summaries, reflection papers and online posts. These help to develop ideas and writing
skills without fear of poor grades. These are graded only as pass or fail, and will count
cumulatively towards you final grade. This method also rewards consistent work and steady
progress. Please note: all assignments must be completed satisfactorily in order to complete
the course.
Student Evaluation: How your grade is calculated
Class Participation and presentations:
15% (50 points)
Online posts, summaries and reflection papers: 15% (50 points)
Formal Papers:
70% (200, 2x100)
To achieve a grade ‘C’ or better on this course, students must demonstrate competence in the
following tasks:
1. Class participation: Everyone is different; some students are more inclined to speak in class
than others. But in general, you should speak (insightfully?!) in class at least once a week to
secure a good mark for participation.
2. Online discussion (informal)
 An online discussion forum will be created using the university’s web platform, and students
will be required to submit regular postings to this group: at least TWO per week, with the
aim of creating threaded discussions. Each post must either address the topics covered that
week, be a relevant philosophical idea of your own or be a question address to your peers. I
will provide some questions for discussion each week and will monitor the posts and direct
and challenge students as needed.
 At least at the start of the course, for your posts, students will select and discuss passages
from the Analects.
 NOTE: Please bring copies of your online posts to class and be ready to discuss them - YOU
WILL BE ASKED ABOUT THEM!
3. Reading summaries and short papers (informal)
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For some of the assigned readings, a written summary must be submitted on the day we
BEGIN that reading, detailing their main events, ideas or arguments (typed, ONE page
maximum, 12 font, SINGLE-spaced).
Sometimes short response papers will also be required. This is your response to the readings
– an idea that struck you, something objectionable, confusing, etc.
HINT: Use your summaries and short papers to ask questions and start debate in class.
HINT: Trying to write out clearly what you don’t understand, your questions, and trying to
make sense of difficult passages is both useful and satisfies requirements for reflection
papers and online posts.
4. TWO longer papers (formal, graded)
 Two carefully prepared and structured essays will be required, around weeks 7 and 14. A list
of questions will be provided at the appropriate time, but students may expand a discussion
from the online forum or develop their own idea, subject to approval. The first essay should
be approximately 6-pages (double spaced, 12pt font). The paper may be re-written for a
better grade, with resubmissions due 1 week after the original submission, and with the
original paper attached. The second paper should be around 10-pages.
The grading of formal written work
Arguments: It is very important that you work to develop an argumentative writing style in
writing philosophy papers. Your paper must have a clear thesis, and an argument to defend
your position. This will ensure a higher grade!
The grading of written work will be based upon the following factors:
(1) Accuracy of information provided
(2) Thoroughness of understanding and information provided
(3) Clarity, intelligibility, consistency, coherency of formulation
(4) Fairness in the presentation of the issues
(5) Explicitness of analysis, i.e., show the reasoning by setting forth the details of the
arguments or reasons for an evaluation
(6) Independence and originality in thinking in analysis and evaluation, by working to
develop a particular or original point of view.
As a general guide: students are assessed in terms of whether they are well-informed about the
matters considered (1-2), whether their analysis is fair, clear, and orderly (3-5), and show proof
of engaging in independent reflection upon and critical evaluation of the material (6).
Policies
Attendance:
Only permission received from the instructor prior to the class meeting or a note from a
doctor will allow a student to makeup a missed deadline. Absences for athletic and
academic reasons will usually be accommodated, but require advanced permission. IF a
student has more than TWO unexcused absences, their final grade will be reduced by
one grade point (B to B-, etc).
Submissions:
All papers must be paginated, and while students may send in their papers as an
attachment in order to meet the deadline, they must also turn in a hardcopy for grading.
Quotations and sources are to be clearly referenced. Web sources consulted must be
noted. Standard writing conventions must be observed. For example, book titles and
foreign words must be italicized. Please avoid gender-biased language.
Plagiarism:
Any student who plagiarizes in this course will receive a failing grade and will be
referred to the Dean of Students
Electronics:
Please turn off all cell phones. Laptops may only be used for note-taking and to refer to
the readings. Texting or surfing the net in class will reduce you mark for class
participation.
Accommodating disabilities: If you feel you need reasonable accommodation because
of the impact of a disability, please 1) contact the Office of Disability Services or 2) speak
with me privately to discuss your specific needs.
Resources for studying (Chinese) Philosophy on the web:
 Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://plato.stanford.edu/
 Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy:
http://www.iep.utm.edu/
 Ethics Bites: Podcasts on multiple ethical issues.
 Sturgeon’s Chinese Philosophy page (includes online English versions of many texts):
http://ctext.org
 ‘In Our Time’, discussions of philosophers on BBC radio:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/inourtime/inourtime_philosophy.shtml
 Asia for Educators (Chinese culture and history): http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/
Tips for doing well on the course:
 Form a study group. Get together with friends outside of class to discuss the readings.
 When writing papers, when finished go back and edit your work to make it clearer.
 Get a friend or classmate to read through your paper.
 Keep a journal. That and the online discussion forum are great places for free writing, and a
good source of ideas that can be turned into more polished pieces.
 Don’t significantly exceed the word limit for the papers – it might be a sign you’re not clear
about what you want to say.
Course Schedule
All readings are available on the course website as PDFs, except where they are readings
from the assigned course texts.
Readings marked ‘additional’ are not compulsory, but recommended.
Please note the deadlines for reflection papers, reading summaries and formal papers.
RP: Reflection paper; RS: Reading summary
Week 1
26/1: Introduction, Course Overview.
Week 2
31/1: What is ethics?
Read: Bernard Williams ‘Morality’; ‘Ethics’ from Encyclopedia of Ethics
2/2: Modern morality: Impartiality, universalism; Kantian and Utilitarian ethics:
Read: Definitions (handout).
DEADLINE: RP: On modern morality.
Week 3
7/2 Problems with modern ethics: Critiques of modern morality.
Read: Marilyn Friedman ‘Impartiality’. Harry Frankfurt ‘Reasons of Love’, Chapter 1.
Additional Reading: Bernard Williams: ‘The Amoralist’; ‘Persons, Character, Morality’.
RS: Friedman
9/2 How personal relationships return to moral debate in the Western tradition.
Read: Frankfurt Ch.2, Carol Gilligan ‘In a Different Voice’, Chapter 2.
Additional: Gilligan, ‘Moral Orientation and Moral Development’.
Week 4
14/2 Turning to China: Chinese approaches to ethics.
Read: Vance Cope-Kasten ‘Meeting Chinese Philosophy’, Joel Kupperman ‘Confucian
Civility’.
Additional: Henry Rosemont ‘Autonomous Individuals and Relational Persons’.
RS: Cope-Kasten
16/2 Introducing Confucius: Analects: Ren, Li, etc.
Read: Passages in Analects, Hall and Ames (trans). Key ethical concepts:
Humaneness/benevolence (Ren), Ritual (Li), Family reverence/filial piety (Xiao), Shame
(chi), Deferrence (Rang/Gong), Remonstrance (Jian). See Analects Key Terms PDF.
Additional: Roger Ames, ‘Confucian Role Ethics’ Chapter 1; Tu Wei-ming ‘The Confucian
Tradition in Chinese History’.
RP: The Analects’ ethical vision
Week 5
21/2 Instructor away – guest speaker or video. Details tbc.
23/2 NO CLASS – Holiday.
Week 6
28/2 The Family: Its history and its implications for life.
Read: Brenda Almond ‘The Fragmenting Family’ Chapter 1.
RP: The Family
1/3 The Chinese Family:
Read: Tu Wei-ming ‘Probing the Three Bonds and Five Relationships in Confucian
Humanism’, Lin Yutang ‘The Chinese Family Ideal’.
Additional: Patricia Ebrey ‘Women, Marriage and the Family in Chinese History’, Walter
Slote ‘Psychocultural Dynamics within the Confucian Family’, Sor-hoon Tan ‘Political
Implications of Confucian Familism’. Eddie Kuo ‘Confucianism and the Chinese Family in
Singapore’.
Week 7
6/3 Problems with the Family. Video: Susan Moller Okin.
Read: Moller Okin: ‘The Family: Beyond Justice?’
RS: Okin
8/3 Peer Paper Review: Bring 4 copies of your draft paper to class.
Week 8
13/3 Defending the Family:
Read: Christina Sommers, with reply from Marilyn Friedman; Brenda Almond ‘The
Family’ (Podcast).
PAPER I Due in Class
15/3 Caring as a moral ideal. Blackwell companion ‘Care’ entry. Nel Noddings ‘Caring’.
Additional: Annette Baier ‘The need for more than Justice’.
RP: Caring
Spring break: March 20, 22
Week 9
27/3 Is Confucian ethics a care ethics?
Read: Chenyang Li ‘The Confucian concept of ren and the feminist ethics of care’.
Additional: Ann Pang-White, ‘Reconstructing modern ethics: Confucian care ethics’.
RS: Chenyang Li
29/3 Problems with caring: Can it really be a foundation for morality?
Read: Vrinda Dalmiya, ‘Caring Comparisons: Thoughts on comparative care ethics’.
Additional: Lijun Yuan, ‘Ethics of care and the concept of Ren’.
Week 10
3/4 Filial Piety: What should the relationship between parents and Children be?
Read: Jane English ‘What do grown children owe their parents?’, Christina Sommers
‘Filial morality’.
RP: The Relation of Parents to Child
5/4 Chinese ideas of filial piety:
Read: Tang Junyi ‘Filial Piety’. Roger Ames ‘Confucian Role Ethics’ Chapter 4.
Additional: Virginia Suddath, ‘Ought we throw the Confucian baby out with the
authoritarian bathwater?’ (on remonstrance)
The Xiaojing: The Chinese Classic of Family Reverence, trans Ames and Rosemont.
Week 11
10/4 What is Friendship:
Read: Mark Vernon, ‘The Meaning of Friendship’, Introduction; pp43-121.
Additional: Alexander Nehemas ‘Friendship’ (Podcast).
12/4 Is Friendship moral? From oppressive communities to voluntary relationships:
Read: Vernon pp. 188-221 (‘Prophetic Friendship’). Kennett and Cocking, ‘Friendship and
Moral Danger.
Additional: Immanuel Kant ‘On Friendship’.
RS: Kennett and Cocking
Week 12
17/4 Confucian friendship.
Read: Hall and Ames ‘Confucian Friendship: The Road to Religiousness?’; Lin Yutang ‘On
Tea and Friendship’.
Additional: Norman Kutcher ‘The Fifth Relationship: Dangerous friendships in the
Confucian context’.
19/4 Ritual: What is Ritual?
Read: ‘Ritual’ in Oxford Handbook of Sociology; Tu Wei-ming ‘Li as a process of
humanization’.
Additional: Roy Rappaport ‘On the Obvious Aspects of Ritual’.
RP: Ritual
Week 13
24/4 Ritual as sacred experience and the meaning of life.
Read: Fingarette, ‘The Secular as Sacred’ Chs 1, 4, 5.
26/4 A Case Study: Guanxi. Can personal relationships create political order?
Read: Mayfair Yang ‘Gifts, Favours and Banquets’, Chapter 3 – ‘The Art in Guanxixue,
Ethics, Tactics and Etiquette’.
RS: Mayfair Yang
Week 14
1/5 Guanxi: Civil society as networks of personal relationships.
Read: Yang ‘Gifts, Favours and Banquets’, Chapter 8: ‘ Rhizomatic Networks’.
RP: Guanxi
3/5 Course Review
Final Paper Due: 7th May by 4pm, in my mailbox, Dewey Hall (or hand in during final
class session!).