The Confucian understanding of emotions and their ethical importance confirms and exemplifies the contemporary Western renewed understanding of the nature of emotions. By virtue of a systematic conceptual analysis of Confucian ethics, one can see that, according to Confucians, the ethical significance of emotions, lies in that an ethical life is also emotional and virtues are inclinational. And a further exploration shows that the reason for the ethical significance is both that emotions are heavenly-endowed and that there exists a union of emotions and reason in Confucian ethics. This will constitute a challenge to the so-called mainstream ethical theories which have been popularly engaged in seeking justifications for abstract moral rules.%儒家伦理学对情感的理解,印证了当代西方伦理学对情感的性质及其伦理重要性的某些理解.对儒家伦理进行系统的概念分析可见,情感的伦理重要性不仅表现在伦理生活就是情感丰富的生活,而且儒家品德本身就是内在倾向性的;进一步的探索还表明,儒家伦理对情感重要性的强调源于情感的天赋性及情感与理性的联合.这可能会对一向着重论证抽象伦理原则的主流伦理理论形成一种挑战.
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