The “Moral Universal” from the Perspectives of East Asian Thought
Author(s)
Wei-Ming, Tu
Abstract
A defining characteristic of East Asian thought is the widely accepted proposition that human beings are perfectible through self-effort in ordinary daily existence. This proposition is based on two interrelated ideas: (1) The uniqueness of being human is an ethicoreligious question which cannot be properly answered if it is reduced to biological, psychological, or sociological considerations; and (2) the actual process of self-development, far from being a quest for pure morality or spirituality, necessarily involves the biological, psychological, and sociological realities of human life. For the sake of convenience, the first idea will be referred to as an ontological postulate and the second as an experiential assertion. Wei-Ming begins this paper with a few general observations on the proposition. After he notes some of the salient features of the East Asian mode of thinking relevant to the present deliberation, he proceeds to a more focused investigation of the two basic ideas. For brevity, the discussion of East Asian thought will be confined to the Mencian line of Confucianism, the Chuang Tzu tradition of Taoism, and the Ch’an (Zen) interpretation of Buddhism.
