An Attempt to Read Mencius’ Philosophy with Help of Cicero: Focusing on the Relationship of the Term 'ren' 仁 with the Building of Empire

<p>Already in 17^th century, Ph. Couplet (1623–1693) used Ciceronian terminology to interprete the texts of Confucian philosophy, including that of Mencius (372–289 BCE), an important philosopher especially in terms of understanding Chinese ethics and morals. This paper attempts to read Mencius’ political term “empire” in the context of political philosophy. The paper observes Mencius’s political idea with help of that of Cicero. For this, it demostrates how and why Mencius introduces the <em>ren </em>as a principle of Kingship and the building of Empire<em>. </em>According to him, the <em>ren</em> is a core principle in operating the empire that was formulated with the <em>tianxia</em> (“all-under-heaven”). However, the <em>ren</em> is an ambivalent concept. On one side, the <em>ren</em> is a universal value that stands fundamentally against violence. On the other side, historically to see, the <em>ren</em> was an imperial ideology, because as a part of the “all-under-heaven” policy represented by Mencius was de facto nothing but a regional hegemon.</p>

Abstract licence: CC BY-ND

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