Confucianism by Paul R. Goldin (review)

Paul R. Goldin’s new introductory textbook is part of the series Ancient Philosophies and, therefore, focuses almost entirely on classical Confucianism, as the author explains in the introduction. The entire history of the tradition from the Han through the Qing dynasties occupies six pages in the final chapter. One wonders why the book was not more accurately titled Classical Confucian Philosophy, especially as a forthcoming book in the series is said to be titled Classical Islamic Philosophy. Aside from that quibble, this is a very solid introduction that goes well beyond the standard fare by offering original interpretations of several topics.

The introduction is called “What Confucianism Is and What Confucianism Is Not.” The latter category distinguishes Confucianism from topics such as foot binding, the basic structure of the family (although not the relationships within the family), and Chinese society as a whole. Since this is a book about Confucian philosophy, Goldin correctly focuses on the beliefs of Confucius and his followers, leaving aside rituals and other activities that could be included under the Confucian umbrella, such as life in Confucian academies. He summarizes the central core of beliefs as follows:

(i) [H]uman beings are born with the capacity to develop morally; (ii) moral development begins with moral self-cultivation . . . ; (iii) by perfecting oneself in this manner, one also contributes to the project of perfecting the world; (iv) there were people in the past who perfected themselves, and then presided over an unsurpassably harmonious society—these people are called “sages” (sheng 聖 or shengren 聖人). Not all Confucians agreed about what moral self-cultivation entails, but all accepted that we can and must do it, and that it is a task of utmost urgency.

(pp. 5–6)

The five chapters of the book are on (1) Confucius and his disciples, (2) the Great Learning and Canon of Filial Piety, (3) Mencius, (4) Xunzi, and (5) everything after Xunzi. There is also a six-page appendix on “Manhood in the Analects,” which basically makes the point that the fundamental virtues espoused by Confucius are not gendered, even though Confucians for more than two thousand years assumed that they mainly applied to men. The notes and bibliography are quite extensive, and there is a useful guide to further reading. The only non-Western-language items in these sections are primary texts. Chinese characters are included in the text throughout the book.

Goldin considers the first fifteen of the twenty chapters of the Analects to reflect more or less accurately a coherent philosophy traceable to Confucius (p. 11). He rejects the premise of E. Bruce and A. Taeko Brooks that differences in theme and style of passages of the Analects necessarily imply chronological differences (p. 124 n. 11). He uses the famous “one thread” passage as an entry point into the system, but in an original way. In this passage (4:15), Confucius says, “In my Way, there is one thing with which to string [everything] together,” but he does not say what that thread is. His senior disciple, Zeng Can, explains to the others, “The Way of the Master is nothing other than zhong 忠 [conventionally translated as loyalty] and shu 恕 [reciprocity].” Goldin nicely cuts through the centuries of difficulty scholars have had explaining this by asking, essentially, why should we take Zeng Can’s word for it? In another passage, in fact, Confucius himself says that the one word that can guide one’s practice is shu, and, in fact, it is clear that reciprocity is more fundamental to his philosophy than zhong. Goldin also deals with another problematic passage (13:18, on “Upright Gong”) in which Confucius says that fathers and sons should not report each other to the authorities for theft. The point here is that filiality (xiao 孝) is the “root of the Way” (1:2), or the basis for public morality, and to undermine it threatens the whole edifice. There are...