Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite
This article seeks to interpret Mencius’ criticism of the village worthies (xiang yuan 鄉原) and shed light on the distinctive psychological phenomenon that Mencius has captured but not quite articulated. An attempt at filling out the Mencian view of the village worthies will help us better understand...
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sg-ntu-dr.10356-1428722020-07-06T07:29:39Z Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite Sung, Winnie School of Humanities Humanities::Philosophy Xiang Yuan 鄉原 (Village Worthies) Hypocrisy This article seeks to interpret Mencius’ criticism of the village worthies (xiang yuan 鄉原) and shed light on the distinctive psychological phenomenon that Mencius has captured but not quite articulated. An attempt at filling out the Mencian view of the village worthies will help us better understand the content of the moral charges made against them and also deepen our analysis of the kind of psychology that early Confucians regard as crucial to moral agency. Following an introduction that overviews Mencius’ criticisms of the village worthies, the main discussion of this article is divided into three sections. Section 2 offers an interpretation of the psychology of the village worthy and articulates the way in which the village worthy can be regarded as a special kind of hypocrite, which I label as “appearance-only” hypocrite. Section 3 draws on the proposed interpretation to make sense of Mencius’ criticisms of the village worthy. I argue that while the village worthy can elude some common charges against hypocrisy, it is still problematic in the sense that it weakens an unstable system of morality from the inside and inflicts harm on the genuinely virtuous person. Section 4 delves deeper into analyzing the ethical implications for the self and for others. Accepted version 2020-07-06T07:29:38Z 2020-07-06T07:29:38Z 2016 Journal Article Sung, W. (2016). Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite. Dao, 15(2), 175-192. doi:10.1007/s11712-016-9486-x 1540-3009 https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142872 10.1007/s11712-016-9486-x 2-s2.0-84962332969 2 15 175 192 en Dao © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht. This is a post-peer-review, pre-copyedit version of an article published in Dao. The final authenticated version is available online at: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11712-016-9486-x application/pdf |
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Humanities::Philosophy Xiang Yuan 鄉原 (Village Worthies) Hypocrisy Sung, Winnie Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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This article seeks to interpret Mencius’ criticism of the village worthies (xiang yuan 鄉原) and shed light on the distinctive psychological phenomenon that Mencius has captured but not quite articulated. An attempt at filling out the Mencian view of the village worthies will help us better understand the content of the moral charges made against them and also deepen our analysis of the kind of psychology that early Confucians regard as crucial to moral agency. Following an introduction that overviews Mencius’ criticisms of the village worthies, the main discussion of this article is divided into three sections. Section 2 offers an interpretation of the psychology of the village worthy and articulates the way in which the village worthy can be regarded as a special kind of hypocrite, which I label as “appearance-only” hypocrite. Section 3 draws on the proposed interpretation to make sense of Mencius’ criticisms of the village worthy. I argue that while the village worthy can elude some common charges against hypocrisy, it is still problematic in the sense that it weakens an unstable system of morality from the inside and inflicts harm on the genuinely virtuous person. Section 4 delves deeper into analyzing the ethical implications for the self and for others. |
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School of Humanities |
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School of Humanities Sung, Winnie |
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Sung, Winnie |
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Sung, Winnie |
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Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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Xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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xiang yuan (village worthies) : the appearance-only hypocrite |
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2020 |
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https://hdl.handle.net/10356/142872 |
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