Mencius, Chinese Philosophy| Four Cardinal Virtues

This event is hosted by Virtual Philosophy Network & Philosophers and Gamblers: https://www.meetup.com/Philosophers-and-Gamblers/events/277437798/

Please read the following papers by Jiyuan Yu. We read and discussed Section I on 4/3/2021 meetup. We are continue to discuss Sections II, III and IV. We are going to focus on Sections II & III, four virtues, moral self and perfect self.

https://booksc.org/book/8942708/08daac

Section II and III show the roles that the ergon argument and the theory
of goodness of human nature play respectively in these two ethical
theories. Both Aristotle and Mencius show that there is a distance
between the moral self and the perfect self in the cultivation of a virtuous self. Both agree that morality itself is not the end. Section II deals with the moral self, and Section III with the perfect self. Whereas the moral self is tied up with social value, the perfect self is the full actualization of what is distinctively human. For Mencius, the perfection of the self is a state of oneness with heaven, whereas for Aristotle, it is a state of contemplation, of being one wit h God. Thus, in contrast to what is usually believed, the unity between man and heaven does not seem to
be unique to oriental philosophy.

Section IV shows that these two theories suggest different views
about the relation between the moral self and the perfect self. Whereas
for Mencius the moral self is a stage on the way to the state of the
perfect self, for Aristotle, the perfect self is in tension with the moral self, as is shown in his two notions of eudaimonia. Thus, Mencius and Aristotle offer two different versions of the theory that Susan Wolf hopes to develop. To identify the main issue within the space of this article, I must drive through many controversial passages in both Mencius and Aristotle, but perhaps the synoptic picture I present will compensate for this.