Manusya, Journal of Humanities
Publication Date
2009-01-01
Abstract
By exploring Confucius' attitude towards time, change, and transformation in the "Analects", this paper aims to illustrate that temporality plays a crucial role in Confucian ethics. Confucius uses the notion of timeliness as an ethical guide in self-cultivation and moral practice in order to harmonize human beings with all the events of change. This paper argues that timely sagehood is a key quality of the junzi or "excellent person." To be a timely sage, a junzi must cultivate the virtue of yi. This paper presents a conceptualization of "yi" in the "Analects" and proposes that its meanings limited to "righteousness" and "appropriateness" in the sense of morality, legitimacy and justice, include a sense of timeliness, namely, the quality of timely action and the inner intellectual capacity of a junzi to evaluate and work out the appropriate course of an action in an actual situation.
First Page
46
Last Page
62
Recommended Citation
Arunkhajornsak, Sarinya
(2009)
"Ethnics of Timeliness in Confucianism,"
Manusya, Journal of Humanities: Vol. 12:
No.
2, Article 4.
Available at:
https://digital.car.chula.ac.th/manusya/vol12/iss2/4