Confucian ethics of war in the context of the ancient Chinese power transitionmyth
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.24866/1997-2857/2024-3/70-81Keywords:
ethics of war, just rebellion, Confucianism, Lunyu, Mengzi, Boyi, Shuqi, political mythAbstract
The paper analyzes ethical views on war held by the authors of the classical Confucian treatises, Lunyu and Mengzi, in the context of their attitude towards the characters of the ancient Chinese power transition myth. In terms of ethics of war, Mengzi differs from Lunyu in the following aspects: prioritization of justice over political order; emphasis on legitimacy, not legality; people-orientedness over norm-orientedness; development of the jus in bello discourse; permissibility of rebellion, which entails positive assessment of Wu-wang’s campaign, and critique of its objectors, Boyi and Shuqi.
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Ni, L., 2001. The implications of ancient Chinese military culture for world peace. In: Bell, D. ed., 2008. Confucian political ethics. Princeton: Princeton University Press, pp. 201–225.
Ni, P., 2017. Understanding the Analects of Confucius: a new translation of Lunyu with annotations. New York: State University of New York Press.
Pines, Y., 2002. Foundations of Confucian thought: intellectual life in the Chunqiu period, 722–453 BCE. Honolulu: University of Hawaii Press.
Twiss, S.B. and Chan, J.K., 2015. The classical Confucian position on the legitimate use of military force. In: Lo, P.C. and Twiss, S.B. eds., 2015. Chinese just war ethics: origin, development, and dissent. New York: Routledge, pp. 93–116.
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Yu, Y.M., 2016. Military ethics of Xunzi: Confucianism confronts war. Comparative Strategy, Vol. 35, no. 4, pp. 260–273.
Zhang, F., 2015. Confucian foreign policy traditions in Chinese history. The Chinese Journal of International Politics, Vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 197–218.
Zhang, T., 2002. Chinese strategic culture: traditional and present features. Comparative Strategy, Vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 73–90.
Zhao, T., 2021. All under Heaven: the Tianxia system for a possible world order. Berkeley: University of California Press.
