Confucian political theory and the problem of moral luck: in defence of holistic sufficientarianism

• Main Author: Chua, Jonathan Yi
• Other Authors: Li Chenyang
• Format: Thesis-Master by Research
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2023
• Subjects: Humanities::Philosophy::Chinese
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/168559
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Early Confucian philosophers assert that people have the same moral capacity to develop themselves into sages. On paper, their belief in the formal equality of moral potential provides a fair baseline for evaluating a person’s ethical merit. Ethical merit, in turn, serves as the primary criterion for the just distribution of social and political positions, which is one of the central features of most contemporary Confucian political theories. However, formal equality of moral potential is undermined by the problem of moral luck, which affects whether people are able to make effective use of any available opportunities for moral development. This study seeks to address how the problem of moral luck can be solved within the Confucian framework. I argue that this may be achieved by replacing the idea of formal equality with an alternative approach that seeks to establish substantive equality of moral potential for all citizens, thereby providing them with equitable resources and opportunities to develop their moral character and to live a good life.