Confucian Filial Obligation Essay

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The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care for Aged Parents

ABSTRACT: Some moral philosophers in the West (e.g., Norman Daniels and Jane English) hold that adult children have no more moral obligation to support their elderly parents than does any other person in the society, no matter how much sacrifice their parents made for them or what misery their parents are presently suffering. This is because children do not ask to be brought into the world or to be adopted. Therefore, there is a "basic asymmetry between parental and the filial obligations." I argue against the Daniels/English thesis by employing the traditional Confucian view of the nature of filial obligation. On the basis of a distinction between 'moral duty' and 'moral responsibility' …show more content…

(9) That is to say, a competent moral agent should be morally responsible for the consequences caused by her consensual action. Compared with moral responsibility, moral duty is another type of "ought/obligation." It does not necessarily depend on the competent moral agent's intentional consent. It is rather determined mainly by what kind of existential situation a moral agent is in and what kind of social role she plays. For example, a normal and healthy person is obligated to yield to a handicapped person because the latter is handicapped. Similarly, a hostess is obligated to show her hospitality to her guests while a stranger is …show more content…

On the one hand, taking good care of one's parents is often seen as a cardinal virtue of a moral person (jun zi) and constitutive of being a good citizen. On the other hand, that all the parents and the elderly received good care from their children in the last years of their lives is taken in Chinese tradition as proof of a good society and a good government. Because of this, Mencius, the second important figure in Confucianism, said that in a good society "a son and a younger brother should be taught their obligation of taking good care of their aged parents. The people with grey hair should not be seen carrying burdens on the street" (Mencius, 1A:7). Otherwise it would be a matter of shame for the children of those elderly persons as well as for the government.

This Confucian tradition of seeing one's taking good care of one's aged parents as a moral duty has been not only reflected in the Chinese moral life but also in the practice of the Chinese laws from the beginning. For example, according to the Chinese Marriage Law, adult children's moral duty of taking respectful care of their aged parents is defined

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