Putting Confucian Ethics to the Test: The Role of Empirical Inquiry in Comparative Ethics

This essay presents a case study of how normative and descriptive approaches to comparative religious ethics, as well as textual and empirical approaches, can be mutually enriching. Taking early Confucian ethical views on the centrality of parent-child relationships in childhood moral development as an example, I examine how empirical evidence can be brought to bear on certain dimensions of traditional ethical views in order to deepen our appreciation for them and help us to see how their insights might be applied in a contemporary setting. I also show how empirical evidence can sometimes serve as a helpful guide in further developing, refining, and amending certain dimensions of traditional ethical views. I illustrate the value of this approach by examining several aspects of Confucian views on infancy, childhood, parent-child relationships, and moral cultivation in relation to attachment theory.