From Aesthetics to Ethics: The Place of Delight in Confucian Ethics

Abstract

An exploration of the role of pleasure or delight (le樂) in classical Confucian ethics. Building on Michael Nylan's account of the role of pleasure in public spectacle and social order, I explore how the meaning of delight (le樂) derives from the features and effects of music (yue樂). Drawing on Dewey's aesthetics and accounts of music in Confucian texts, I explore a conception of Confucian ethics, in which delight—like states generated through everyday social interaction are foundational.

Friendship in the Confucian Tradition

“…An important feature of harmony in Confucian thought concerns how participants in an event or interaction are aff ected when harmony is achieved. This is described in emotional or aff ective terms, as the generation of delight-like states ( le 樂 ) ( Analects 6.11, 6.20, 7.19, 16.5;Holloway 2005 ;Nylan 2018 ;Lambert 2020 ). These can best be understood by analogy to the experience of participating in the making of music.…”

“…Tellingly, the Chinese character for delight-like states is identical to the character for music ( 樂 ), and delight-like states ( 樂 ) are heralded as the fruit of successful human interaction (Mencius 4A27). This suggests that a visceral feeling of delight accompanies the attainment of relational goods created through the interaction; these include feelings of ease, a sense of anticipation, rapt attention, a sense of purposefulness, playfulness, novelty, or a sense of achievement ( Lambert 2020 ). These goods are generated intersubjectively, through social encounter; and their co-creation constitutes the friendship.…”