Early Confucian ethics and moral sentimentalism

In this dissertation, the author compares early Confucian ethics with some forms of moral sentimentalism. The ethical views of two Confucian moralists, Kongzi (Confucius) and Mengzi (Mencius) are compared with Michael Slote\u27s agent-based moral sentimentalist virtue ethics and Nel Noddings\u27 feminine relational ethics of caring; the Confucian ethicist Xunzi\u27s theory is compared with David Hume\u27s classical version of moral sentimentalism. Through argumentation and theoretical reconstruction, the author attempts to establish that (1) Kongzi and Mengzi\u27s ethical accounts are agent-based while Xunzi\u27s is agent-prior; (2) Kongzi\u27s notion of shu, Mengzi\u27s concept of ceyin zhi xin, and Xunzi\u27s idea of inner constitution represent different forms of empathy. The author proposes the notion of relational virtue to reconcile the virtue ethical conception of caring with the relational ethical conception of caring. Through these comparisons and the reconciliation the author emphasizes the common ground Confucian ethics shares with the moral sentimentalist tradition. This work as the whole, therefore, represents a radical departure from traditional comparative studies that tend to emphasize the affinity between early Confucian ethics and the ancient Greek tradition