University Center 307

Beyond Obedience? Filial Piety and Moral Autonomy in Confucian Thought
 
Across cultures and throughout history, respect for elders has been a foundational moral teaching. This principle finds particularly powerful expression in Confucian thought through the concept of xiao (孝), or filial piety – a complex set of obligations requiring children to serve, respect, and yield to their parents. This aspect of Confucianism has drawn criticism both within and outside of China for centuries. Critics worry that such emphasis on filial duty not only leaves children vulnerable to abuse from reprehensible parents, but also cultivates a broader tendency toward blind obedience to authority. Defenders of Confucian thought counter that there's more to the story, pointing to classical texts that appear to encourage children to speak up when parents err. But is this defense convincing? Drawing on a range of classical sources as well as contemporary research in the social sciences, this talk examines what filial piety really demands of children, and what this means for how we think about family and authority today.
 
About the speaker:
 
Hagop Sarkissian is Professor of Philosophy at the City University of New York, Baruch College, and Professor of Philosophy and Faculty Affiliate in Cognitive Science at the CUNY Graduate Center. His research is located at the intersection of moral psychology, metaethics, and classical Chinese philosophy— especially Confucianism. He has authored or co-authored papers in these areas for several journals, including Philosophical Studies, Philosophers’ Imprint, Philosophy East & West, Dao, Annual Review of Psychology, Mind & Language, British Journal for the History of Philosophy, and History of Philosophy Quarterly, as well as numerous anthologies. He is co-editor, with Jennifer Cole Wright, of Advances in Experimental Moral Psychology (Bloomsbury, 2014) and, with Philip J. Ivanhoe, Owen J. Flanagan, Victoria S. Harrison, and Eric Schwitzgebel, of The Oneness Hypothesis (Columbia, 2018). His work has been translated into Chinese and Korean.

Hosted by: Asian Studies Program, College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, Department of Philosophy

Additional Information can be found at: https://mlc.uccs.edu/event/11196631

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