PHL 301 1st Edition Lecture 14Outline of Last Lecture II.Chinese EthicsIII.Pluralism and Confucian Humanisma.Renb.Lic.Zhongd.Yie.DaoIV.Confucius’s components of RenOutline of Current LectureI.Virtues of feelingII.Virtues toward family III.Virtues toward selfIV.Introduction to AristotleCurrent LectureDuring this lecture, we finished the material about Confucianism from the last lecture and began talking about Aristotle. Confucius hold that the super person wants to do the right thing, so acting right is natural for that person. One can become this way through li (propriety), which develops habits and, in turn, virtues of feeling and action. To become a superior person, one must first imitate superior people and later it will become natural and habitual. Confucius says to trust propriety and repay kindness with kindness and injury with justice. Additionally, it is important to follow yi(righteousness). A selfish person asks, “What should motivate me to become a better person?” while a superior person doesn’t want gain. Virtues toward family include filial piety, or obedience, and fraternal submission, or service to equals. However, sometimes one person has conflicting moral obligations to their family and others at the same time. Confucius says family should always come first. For example, if a boy’s father stole a sheep, the boy should not turn his father in. His family obligation is more important than his obligation to the law. These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor’s lecture. GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes, not as a substitute.There are also virtues towards the self. Friends help shape who we are. When things go wrong, we should try to find the faults in ourselves rather than blame other people or circumstances. Knowledge develops the virtues of thought, which develop the virtues of feeling,which develop into virtues of action. Without knowledge, virtues would change into their opposites. Then, virtues of thought include humility, or avoiding self-deception, and sincerity, orself-knowledge. It is important to recognize that most of your own life is a dialogue with yourself in your head, so you should be true to yourself and look for error in yourself.The introduction to Aristotle in today’s lecture covered only the difference between instrumental and intrinsic goods. Instrumental goods are desired for the sake of something else.For example, money is an instrumental good that is valued for its purpose in obtaining other things. It is not exciting to simply have pieces of money lying around, but to have money to spend. On the other hand, there are intrinsic goods, which are desired for their own sake. Aristotle argues that happiness is the only intrinsic good. He believes that all other items are instrumental goods for the purpose of obtaining
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