ABSTRACT
This essay challenges moral exemplarist interpretations of the Analects by focusing on exclusivist attitudes and actions exhibited by Confucius as he is portrayed in the Analects. Attention is drawn to what may be plausibly interpreted as culturalism and speciesism in the Analects. The case for culturalism in the Analects turns on a recurrent distinction therein between the Huá (Chinese) and Yí (non-Chinese; peoples outside of China proper), the latter commonly cast as barbarians—a term deployed similarly to yí being mán (rough; reckless). The case for speciesism in the Analects turns on a number of passages of the Analects recommending a privileging of human interests over those of non-human animals. Acknowledgement of forms of Confucian exclusivism ought to provoke contemporary audiences to critically examine the text and to consider carefully that which ought to be regarded as exemplary and worthy of admiration and emulation in their own lives.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank my colleagues in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University who provided feedback on this essay in an early stage of its development at a faculty research workshop. I would also like to thank Professor Muhammad Shafiq for inviting me to present an early draft of this essay at the Sacred Texts and Human Contexts International Symposium at Nazareth College in May 2023, and Professor Cheng Chung-yi for inviting me to present a draft of this essay at the Research Centre for Chinese Philosophy and Culture at The Chinese University of Hong Kong in January 2024.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).