Journal of East China Normal University (Philosoph ›› 2011, Vol. 43 ›› Issue (5): 22-32.

• 伦理学研究 • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Respecting Different Ways of Life: A Daoist Ethics of Virtue in the Zhuangzi

HUANG Yong   

  • Online:2011-09-15 Published:2011-10-12
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Abstract: This article attempts to explore the possibility of a virtue ethics in a tradition that has been so far largely neglected by some scholars, Chinese Daoism, by focusing on one of the most important classics in this tradition, the Zhuangzi. It argues that, contrary to a rather common misconception of it as skeptic, relativistic, and therefore empty of any guide to moral life, it presents a solid normative ethics through various stories, and this normative ethics is a virtue ethics. The most important virtue, or trait of character, in such a Daoist virtue ethics, is to show respect for different ways of life, a trait not discussed in any familiar versions of virtue ethics in the West and yet most valuable to the contemporary life in a global and pluralistic society.