The narrative of the Junzi as an exemplar in classical confucianism and its implications for moral and character education

Abstract

There have been questions that are directed toward the outcome of using an exemplar in moral and character education. Meanwhile, the role of the narrative in the context of moral and character education has often been viewed as being didactic and being used to indoctrinate moral lessons only. On the other hand, some scholars have also attempted to explore the significances of the exemplar and the narrative for moral and character education.

In classical Confucianism, the exemplar refers to the Junzi. Moreover, there were many narratives concerning the lives of the exemplars mentioned by Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi for their students to emulate and aspire to. This paper argues that the utilization of the exemplar and the narrative in classical Confucianism can offer us another perspective for conducting moral and character education. This paper firstly illustrates the notion of the Junzi as an exemplar in classical Confucianism. Then, it explores the role of the narrative of the Junzi as an exemplar in classical Confucianism. Lastly, it discusses its four implications for moral and character education, comprising: (1) assisting students to discover the commonality of their exemplars and themselves as the starting point to emulate their exemplars; (2) helping students to build their morality and character through their interaction with ‘many others;’ (3) guiding students to create a proper narrative of themselves to form an integrative view of their lives; and (4) emphasizing the exemplary function of the teacher in moral and character education.

Keywords:

• Classical confucianism
• exemplar
• Junzi
• moral and character education
• narrative

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Actually, the usage of narratives and stories of exemplars has been suggested by scholars and experts in the field of the studies in Confucianism, e.g. Sor-Hoon Tan’s (2005) ‘Imaging Confucius: paradigmatic characters and Virtue Ethics.’ But Tan points out that, in Confucianism, the narratives about paradigmatic characters may ultimately be fiction. Nonetheless, I would say that those narratives may be based on real events, though might be ‘reconstructed’ for certain reasons. For example, the famous story of Yao’s abdication and giving his crown to Shun that was transmitted in Confucianism is controversial and debatable as another ancient document, Zhushu jinian (Bamboo Annals), shows that Shun usurped the throne of Yao. A possible reason for classical Confucians to create their version of the narrative of Yao could be that they would like to use it for their vision of ‘inner sageliness and outer kingliness (neisheng waiwang)’ and ideal education. However, this issue is not the concern of this present paper.

2 There are various English translations of 君子, such as gentleman and superiors. They are used in accordance with the translator’s understanding of this term. In this paper I just use its transliteration as this term is used to characterize people with morally commendable behavior in different contexts. Many scholars and I in this area think the full concept of 君子 is lost in the translations. All translations of 君子 do not express the meaning of the original word fully. For a review of various English translations of Junzi, please see Cua (2014, pp. 291–334).

3 For the translation of these classics, I follow Vincent Shen’s rendering. Please see, Vincent Shen (ed.) (2014),Dao Companion to the Classical Confucian Philosophy, p.3.

4 According to Shuowenjiezhi, authored by Xu Shen (ca.30–124 CE), the definition of Jun君 is ‘Senior. Its upper part, which is 尹yin, means “to rule,” and who is to issue orders, that is why its lower part is 口 kou (mouth) (尊也。从尹。發號, 故从口).’ Further, the word 尹is composed of 又 and丿; these two items together result in the meaning ‘someone who is controlling something’ (治也。从又丿, 握事者也). Therefore, Jun 君 can be understood as the senior who issues orders. As for子 zi, in addition to the meaning of one's posterity, it was also used as someone’s respectful name in ancient China. For the implication of 君, please see Duan Yucai (1974, pp. 57 & 116).

5 This notion is inspired by Vincent Shen’s understanding of self-in-the-making. For the details, please see Shen (2018a).

6 Concerning this point, I am inspired by Vincent Shen’s discussion of “many others”. For the details, please see Shen (2018a, 2018b).

7 The courtesy name of Yen [Yan].

8 Antonio S. Cua, Dimensions of Moral Creativity: Paradigms, Principles, and Ideals (University Park and London: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1978), p.64.

9 For the narrative and the related ideas of self-interpretation, self-constitution, the coherence and intelligibility of life, I am indebted to Kenneth Baynes’s (2010) discussion on Charles Taylor’s thesis that humans are ‘self-interpreting animals’ in his essay ‘Self, Narrative and Self-Constitution: Revisiting Taylor’s “Self-Interpreting Animals”.’

Additional information

Funding

Ministry of Science and Technology, R.O.C [grant number: MOST 108-2410-H-008-073].

Notes on contributors

Yen-Yi Lee

In 2012, Yen-Yi Lee obtained his first PhD in philosophy of religion from the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom examining John Hick's religious pluralism. In July of 2015, he successfully defended his second PhD on the religiosity of classical Confucianism in light of Heidegger and Ricoeur’s phenomenology of religion at National Chengchi University in Taiwan. The main concern of his research has been Confucianism, especially its modern development and interaction with the West. Besides his major work in classical Confucian religiosity in his Chinese PhD thesis, he has worked on New Confucian figures such as Tang Chun-I and Mou Tsung-san. Most recently, he has also focused on the philosophy of education, especially on the Chinese philosophy of education and its relevance to the modern times and has published several relevant journal articles both in Chinese and English. He joined the Graduate Institute of Philosophy of the National Central University as an Assistant Professor in August 2020.