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Filial Piety and Chinese SocietyAuthor(s): Hsieh Yu-wei

Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 9, No. 1/2, Preliminary Report on the Third East-WestPhilosophers' Conference (Apr. - Jul., 1959), pp. 56-57Published by: University of Hawai'i PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1397210 .

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56

treateds a means o an end butonly s an end n itself. n theotherhand,we candistinguishelationalalue,uch s instrumentalalues or

personrfor he ommunity.ow, learly,acrificenddedicationanbefulfillednlywhenwe are concernedith omethingegardeds beingvaluablen tselfndworthyfattainment.ere nourmeetingfmindsit snot he uestionfcognitionhichsprominentut, ather,he implefact hat he ecisivettitudesfhumanife re o be seen gainsthehori-zonofvalues. o what xtents t ubjectivelyrobjectivelynconditional?It seems omethat n encounterreciselyn this lanecreatesmutualunderstanding.

HSIEH YU-WEI

FILIAL PIETY AND CHINESE SOCIETY

HSIEH YU-WEI

Thispaper s devoted o explaininghepracticalityf Chi-

nese ethicalprinciplesnd their eep-rootednfluencesn Chinese ociety.Since the tenet ffilialpietyhas heldthemost mportantlace in Chi-neseethics orfour housand ears,tmustbe consideredhe eadingcon-

ceptofall Chinese thical rinciplesn terms f which oexplain he char-acteristicsfChinese ocietynthe ight ftherelationshipetween thical

principlesnd therealisticife ftheChinese eople.We mustnote, hroughout,hepracticalityfChinese thical rinciples,

withthe doctrine f filialpiety s theirprimarynd leadingtheme, ndthenthedeep-rootednd far-reachingnfluencehatthepractice f filial

pietyhas haduponChinese ociety,ncludingtsfamilyife,religiousife,social ife, nd evenpoliticalife.

Takenas a whole, rthodox hinese hilosophymphasizeshepractica-bility f its tenets.ThispracticalityfChinesemoralprinciples rom heoutset ooked toward hegoal of attaining perfectrgenuineman, su-

periorman, ndultimately sage. Hence,themain current fChinese

philosophy, hich s based upon ethics, tarts romthestudy f ethical

principlesn their elations ithnatural henomenand natural aw.Due to its

emphasisn

practicality,hinese thicshas seemed o

slighttheoreticalystemnd rhetoricalerfection.nstead, t stresses he moralcultivationfindividualsnd,with tsexpanding evelopment,hewayof

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HSIEH YU-WEI 57

regulatingamilyife, fputtinghe State ngoodorder,ndultimatelyf

making heempireunifiednd peaceful,withuniversal ontentmentnd

happiness.The filialdoctrine as maintainedtsparamount ositionmongChineseethicalprinciples,s thefountain-headf themoralityf thepeople. AlltheChinesevirtues avebeen baseduponthefilial oncept nd have thusradiated rom his tarting oint. Sucha virtue s inherentn all human

beings. t is therootof jen,or universalove. However, hisrootofuni-versal oveneeds imelynd constantultivationf t s to bearfruit.Other-

wise, n case therootof all virtuess ill-nurturedr diminishednd lost,then such moralpractices s propriety social etiquetten the broad

sense), righteousness,hastity, nd thesenseofshame revery ikelytogo astray.Therefore,heChinese oncept oldsthat veryonemustfirstcultivate isfilialpiety y practicenorder opromotehedevelopmentfall other irtues.

In its wider pplicationn Chinese ocietys a whole, he filialdoctrinestill retains ts mportantlace. The socialpracticesfthe Chinesepeoplehave longevolved under hepreponderantwayof filial ove and duties.In familyife, herelationshipsetween ather nd son,between usbandand wife, nd between rothersr sisters re all based upon the central

conceptoffilialpiety. Except n Buddhism, aoism, etc.,most Chinesepeoplehaveplacedtheir aith n ancestral orship s itssubstituteorreli-

giousworship. nsteadof believingn the immortalityf thesoul,mostConfucians onsider hesuccession f their ives in their ffsprings ade-

quate.Regarding hinese ocial ife, mphasis n thecloseaffinityf theclan,

the neighborhood,utorship,riendship,nd other loodrelationshipslsohas its root n filialpiety.Formerly,he common olk n Chinashowedlittle nterestn

political ffairs,ryinglso to avoid

itigationn the

court,simply ecause, nder he nfluencefthefilial oncept,heywerecontentwithvillageself-governmentresided verbyelders.

Finally,tmaybe noted hat hefilial octrinen itsdevelopmenthould

proveof significantalue in modern ociety. t affirmshe value of the

temporalife, nd so it differsreatly rom ndianBuddhism, hichpro-fesses hecontrary. he application f filialpiety s the coreof all othervirtues s themostnatural, ubstantial,nd practicalway of solidifyingsocialforces. t is, therefore,hemostfundamentalactor orconsolidat-

ing all humanbeings n universal rotherhood.uch an expanding p-plicationsdifferentromheWesternoncept fbrotherhood,hich erivesits bstractlessingsrom religiousaithnGod.

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