The Moral Mind: Metaphor and Meaning in Early China

1
The Moral MindMetaphor and Meaning in Early
China

• Edward Slingerland
• Professor of Asian Studies
• Canada Research Chair in Chinese Thought and
  Embodied Cognition
• University of British Columbia

2
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse
3
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• imagistic approach

4
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach

5
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• metaphor as figure of speech, philosophically
  insignificant

6
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• metaphor as figure of speech, philosophically
  insignificant
• reduce any metaphors noted in early Chinese texts
  to literal equivalents
• (ideally) to a set of propositions that can be
  formally modeled

7
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• imagistic approach

8
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• imagistic approach
• take metaphor as an irreducible bearer of
  philosophical meaning

9
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• imagistic approach
• take metaphor as an irreducible bearer of
  philosophical meaning
• texts can only be understood by focusing on,
  unpacking specific metaphors and images deployed

10
Metaphor in early Chinese discourse

• analytic philosophical approach
• imagistic approach
• take metaphor as an irreducible bearer of
  philosophical meaning
• texts can only be understood by focusing on,
  unpacking specific metaphors and images deployed
• Oshima, Allinson, Munro

11
Significance of analytic vs. imagistic divide
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Significance of analytic vs. imagistic divide

• strong view

13
Significance of analytic vs. imagistic divide

• strong view
• weaker view

14
Significance of analytic vs. imagistic divide

• strong view
• weaker view
• weakest view

15
Significance of analytic vs. imagistic divide

• strong view
• weaker view
• weakest view

16
Strong view

• divide represents fundamentally different ways of
  thought

17
Strong view

• divide represents fundamentally different ways of
  thought
• logical, analytical, abstract mode is
  particularly Western mode of discourse / thought

18
Strong view

• divide represents fundamentally different ways of
  thought
• logical, analytical, abstract mode is
  particularly Western mode of discourse /
  thought
• metaphor, analogy, image-thinking is a unique
  feature of Chinese or Eastern thought

19
Strong view

• divide represents fundamentally different ways of
  thought
• logical, analytical, abstract mode is
  particularly Western mode of discourse /
  thought
• metaphor, analogy, image-thinking is a unique
  feature of Chinese or Eastern thought
• Wu Kuang-ming, Roger Ames, François Jullien
• Very common in secondary literature in modern
  East Asia

20
Strong view

• problem absolutely wrong

21
Strong view

• problem absolutely wrong
• metaphor, analogy employed in all of the worlds
  known philosophical traditions

22
Strong view

• problem absolutely wrong
• metaphor, analogy employed in all of the worlds
  known philosophical traditions
• early Chinese perfectly capable of many Western
  philosophical tricks
• distinguishing reality from appearance
• engaging in logical analysis (Harbsmeier)
• defining terms (e.g., Xunzi)
• making arguments (Gentz, Loy)

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Strong view

• bigger problem neo-Orientalism

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Neo-Orientalism
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Neo-Orientalism
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Strong view

• bigger problem neo-Orientalism
• reifying very complex and diverse cultural
  traditions into monolithic wholes

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Strong view

• bigger problem neo-Orientalism
• reifying very complex and diverse cultural
  traditions into monolithic wholes
• reiterate specific claims about the Orient as
  classic Orientalists, but with normative flip
  (flipped Orientalism)
• not slavish or infantile, but precisely the
  medicine we alienated Westerners need

28
Strong view

• bigger problem neo-Orientalism
• reifying very complex and diverse cultural
  traditions into monolithic wholes
• reiterate specific claims about the Orient as,
  e.g., Hegel, but with normative flip
• not slavish or infantile, but precisely the
  medicine we alienated Westerners need
• heirs to Voltaire, Leibniz

29
Weaker view

• Both Western and Chinese philosophers used
  metaphors

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Weaker view

• Metaphor / analogy universal human cognitive
  capacity

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Weaker view

• Metaphor / analogy universal human cognitive
  capacity
• but, viewed and utilized very differently in the
  different traditions

32
Weaker view

• Metaphor / analogy universal human cognitive
  capacity
• West remains suspicious of metaphor, never takes
  conflation of ontological domains seriously

33
Weaker view

• Metaphor / analogy universal human cognitive
  capacity
• West remains suspicious of metaphor, never takes
  conflation of ontological domains seriously
• China embraces metaphor, sees convergence of
  ontological realms, fully lives in the metaphor

34
Weaker view

• Metaphor / analogy universal human cognitive
  capacity
• West remains suspicious of metaphor, never takes
  conflation of ontological domains seriously
• China embraces metaphor, sees convergence of
  ontological realms, fully lives in the metaphor
• Sarah Allan, Jean-Paul Reding
• Pauline Yu

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Weaker view

• Problem

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Weaker view

• Problem
• takes Western philosophers self-conception at
  face value

37
Weaker view

• Problem
• takes Western philosophers self-conception at
  face value
• in fact, Western philosophers / scientists
  /politicians / etc. have always taken, and
  continue to take, their metaphors quite seriously

38
Weaker view

• Problem
• takes Western philosophers self-conception at
  face value
• in fact, Western philosophers / scientists
  /politicians / etc. have always taken, and
  continue to take, their metaphors quite seriously
• Lakoff Johnson 1999 on philosophers
• Hesse 1966, Brown 2003, Dunbar 1999 2001 on
  scientists

39
Weaker view

• Problem
• takes Western philosophers self-conception at
  face value
• in fact, Western philosophers / scientists
  /politicians / etc. have always taken, and
  continue to take, their metaphors quite seriously
• Lakoff Johnson 1999 on philosophers
• Hesse 1966, Brown 2003, Dunbar 1999 2001 on
  scientists
• the convergence of ontological domains is an
  everpresent feature of Western intellectual life

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Weaker view

• Problem (alternate take)

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Weaker view

• Problem (alternate take)
• accepts idea of clear distinction between literal
  and metaphorical

42
Weaker view

• Problem (alternate take)
• accepts idea of clear distinction between literal
  and metaphorical
• in turn, involves taking seriously the
  objectivist or representational model of the
  language / world relationship

43
Weaker view

• Problem (alternate take)
• accepts idea of clear distinction between literal
  and metaphorical
• in turn, involves taking seriously the
  objectivist or representational model of the
  language / world relationship
• abstract, amodal concepts mapping on to clearly
  marked categories in the world

44
Weaker view

• Problem (alternate take)
• accepts idea of clear distinction between literal
  and metaphorical
• in turn, involves taking seriously the
  objectivist or representational model of the
  language / world relationship
• abstract, amodal concepts mapping on to clearly
  marked categories in the world
• reasoning involves logical, algorithmic
  manipulation of these concepts

45
Weaker view

• Problem (alternate take)
• accepts idea of clear distinction between literal
  and metaphorical
• in turn, involves taking seriously the
  objectivist or representational model of the
  language / world relationship
• abstract, amodal concepts mapping on to clearly
  marked categories in the world
• reasoning involves logical, algorithmic
  manipulation of these concepts
• this model of human cognition is becoming
  increasingly empirically untenable

46
Weakest (or strongest) view
47
Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies

48
Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies
• traditional Western conceit to get completely
  beyond this is nothing more than a conceit

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Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies
• traditional Western conceit to get completely
  beyond this is nothing more than a conceit
• leads Western thought down some strange alleyways

50
Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies
• traditional Western conceit to get completely
  beyond this is nothing more than a conceit
• leads Western thought down some strange alleyways
• Chinese thought did not come to center around
  such a conceit

51
Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies
• traditional Western conceit to get completely
  beyond this is nothing more than a conceit
• leads Western thought down some strange alleyways
• Chinese thought did not come to center around
  such a conceit
• arguably developed along lines that

52
Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies
• traditional Western conceit to get completely
  beyond this is nothing more than a conceit
• leads Western thought down some strange alleyways
• Chinese thought did not come to center around
  such a conceit
• arguably developed along lines that
• were more fruitful

53
Weakest (or strongest) view

• all humans think in images, metaphors, analogies
• traditional Western conceit to get completely
  beyond this is nothing more than a conceit
• leads Western thought down some strange alleyways
• Chinese thought did not come to center around
  such a conceit
• arguably developed along lines that
• were more fruitful
• have much to offer modern philosophers, ethicists
  interested in empirical plausibility

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Embodied Cognition
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Embodied Cognition

1. thought is primarily imagistic (strong, weak)

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Embodied Cognition

1. thought is primarily imagistic (strong, weak)
2. abstract thought is grounded in body-based image
   schemas (metaphors, metaphoric blends)

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Embodied Cognition

1. thought is primarily imagistic (strong, weak)
2. abstract thought is grounded in body-based image
   schemas (metaphors, metaphoric blends)
3. reasoning is guided by bodily-based emotions,
   automatic processes

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1. Thought is imagistic

• Lawrence Barsalou (1999) Perceptual symbol
  theory

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1. Thought is imagistic

• Lawrence Barsalou (1999) Perceptual symbol
  theory
• thoughts/concepts are records of neural activity
  arising during motor-perceptual activity

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1. Thought is imagistic

• Lawrence Barsalou (1999) Perceptual symbol
  theory
• thoughts/concepts are records of neural activity
  arising during motor-perceptual activity
• Alain Berthoz, Alva Noë, Antonio Damasio, Mark
  Johnson
• Merleau-Ponty, Dewey

61
2. Abstract thought grounded in body, embodied
images
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2. Abstract thought grounded in body, embodied
images

• Barsalou et al. there is no concrete/abstract
  distinction at all

63
2. Abstract thought grounded in body, embodied
images

• Barsalou et al. there is no concrete/abstract
  distinction at all
• Lakoff Johnson, Pinker there is highly
  abstracted, digital system

64
2. Abstract thought grounded in body, embodied
images

• Barsalou et al. there is no concrete/abstract
  distinction at all
• Lakoff Johnson, Pinker there is highly
  abstracted, digital system
• structured by, and often draws upon, analog
  imagistic system

65
2. Abstract thought grounded in body, embodied
images

• Barsalou et al. there is no concrete/abstract
  distinction at all
• Lakoff Johnson, Pinker there is highly
  abstracted, digital system
• structured by, and often draws upon, analog
  imagistic system
• cognitive linguistics conceptual metaphor
  theory and blending theory

66
Conceptual metaphor theory
George Lakoff and Mark Johnson
1999
1980
67
Source ? Target Mapping
PURPOSEFUL LIFE AS JOURNEY Physical
Journey Life Journey ? Purposeful
Life Traveler ? Person Living a
Life Destinations ? Life Goals Itinerary ?
Life Plan
68
Blending Theory
Gilles Fauconnier Mark Turner
2002
69
Blending
70
Blending

• projections not just source gt target, with source
  providing all the structure

71
Blending

• projections not just source gt target, with source
  providing all the structure
• more commonly, can have two or more spaces all
  selectively projecting into a blended space

72
Blending

• projections not just source gt target, with source
  providing all the structure
• more commonly, can have two or more spaces all
  selectively projecting into a blended space
• double scope, multiple scope blends

73
Blending

• projections not just source gt target, with source
  providing all the structure
• more commonly, can have two or more spaces all
  selectively projecting into a blended space
• double scope, multiple scope blends
• blended space has own emergent structure of its
  own

74
Digging a financial grave
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Digging a financial grave

• first glance seems like Source gt Target mapping
• Grave Digging gt Financial Decision-Making

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Digging a financial grave

• first glance seems like Source gt Target mapping
• Grave Digging gt Financial Decision-Making
• consider it more

77
Digging a financial grave

• first glance seems like Source gt Target mapping
• Grave Digging gt Financial Decision-Making
• consider it more
• grave digging doesnt cause death

78
Digging a financial grave

• first glance seems like Source gt Target mapping
• Grave Digging gt Financial Decision-Making
• consider it more
• grave digging doesnt cause death
• grave digger typically not identical to grave
  occupant

79
Digging a financial grave

• first glance seems like Source gt Target mapping
• Grave Digging gt Financial Decision-Making
• consider it more
• grave digging doesnt cause death
• grave digger typically not identical to grave
  occupant
• something else is going on

80
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
81
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
All relevant structure coming from the target
space
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
82
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
83
Blending

• one missing piece

84
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
All relevant structure coming from the target
space
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
What is this space doing?
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
85
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
All relevant structure coming from the target
space
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
What is this space doing?
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
Human Scale
86
Blending

• one missing piece

87
Blending

• one missing piece
• emotions

88
Blending

• one missing piece
• emotions
• Slingerland. 2005. Conceptual blending, somatic
  marking, and normativity a case example from
  ancient Chinese. Cognitive Linguistics 16
  (3)557-584.

89
3. Role of emotions in reasoning
90
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis

91
Antonio Damasio
1994
92
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• normative values ultimately grounded in bodily
  well-being

93
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• normative values ultimately grounded in bodily
  well-being
• Hume gt Jesse Prinz

94
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• normative values ultimately grounded in bodily
  well-being
• Hume gt Jesse Prinz
• emotional-normative weight attached to somatic
  images

95
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• normative values ultimately grounded in bodily
  well-being
• Hume gt Jesse Prinz
• emotional-normative weight attached to somatic
  images
• these somatic markers play a crucial role in
  everyday decision-making

96
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• normative values ultimately grounded in bodily
  well-being
• Hume gt Jesse Prinz
• emotional-normative weight attached to somatic
  images
• these somatic markers play a crucial role in
  everyday decision-making
• essential filtering / biasing function

97
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• normative values ultimately grounded in bodily
  well-being
• Hume gt Jesse Prinz
• emotional-normative weight attached to somatic
  images
• these somatic markers play a crucial role in
  everyday decision-making
• essential filtering / biasing function
• often predetermining outcome of reasoning
  processes

98
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• social psych work on emotions and moral judgments

99
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• social psych work on emotions and moral judgments
• emotions are often determinate

100
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• social psych work on emotions and moral judgments
• emotions are often determinate
• role played by emotions often not conscious, and
  often actively covered up

101
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• social psych work on emotions and moral judgments
• emotions are often determinate
• role played by emotions often not conscious, and
  often actively covered up
• moral confabulation

102
social intuitionist hypotheses

• Jonathan Haidt

Haidt, Jonathan. 2001. The Emotional Dog and Its
Rational Tail A Social Intuitionist Approach to
Moral Judgment. Psychological Review 108
(4)814-834.
103
3. Role of emotions in reasoning

• somatic marker hypothesis
• social psych work on emotions and moral judgments
• often not conscious
• discourse, argumentation often about winning the
  battle to metaphorically frame

104
Emotions / Prototype framing

• provide missing piece of blending theory

105
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
All relevant structure coming from the target
space
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
106
Digging a Financial Grave
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
All relevant structure coming from the target
space
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
What is this space doing?
Financial Failure
Gravedigging
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to completion of grave Death
107
Digging a Financial Grave (normative implications)
Blend Digging a Financial Grave
Subject as both gravedigger and potential
financial corpse The deeper the grave, closer to
death Gravedigger not aware he is causing own
death Completion of grave causes
death Financial death
Unwitting Financial Failure
Death and Dying
Person as decision-maker and sufferer of
consequences Accumulation of (bad) financial
decisions Person unaware of consequences Decisio
ns cause failure Financial failure
Gravedigger Corpse Accumulative shovelfuls of
earth lead to deeper grave Death
108
Metaphors/Blends and Politics
George Lakoff, Moral Politics (1996) , Dont
Think of an Elephant! (2004) Chilton, Paul.
1996. Security metaphors Cold war discourse from
containment to common house. New York Peter
Lang. Seana Coulson, Semantic Leaps
(2001) Francis Beer Christl De Landtsheer
(eds.), Metaphorical World Politics
(2004) Slingerland, Edward, Eric Blanchard and
Lyn Boyd-Judson. 2007. Collision with China
Conceptual Metaphor Analysis, Somatic Marking,
and the EP-3 Incident. International Studies
Quarterly 5153-77.  
109
How does this help philosophers?
110
How does this help philosophers?

• we can use some of these insights and tools to
  analyze early Chinese philosophical debates

111
How does this help philosophers?

• we can use some of these insights and tools to
  analyze early Chinese philosophical debates
• e.g., Mencius / Gaozi debate in the beginning of
  Mencius 6A

112
Mencius / Gaozi debate
113
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• agree with imagists that it is

114
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• agree with imagists that it is
• not a mass of irrelevant analogies
• (Arthur Waleys description of Book Six)

115
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• agree with imagists that it is
• not a mass of irrelevant analogies
• (Arthur Waleys description of Book Six)
• nor atrociously inept and unconvincing
• (Chad Hansen, Daoist Theory of Meaning)

116
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• disagree with both strong and weak views by
  unpacking it according to blending theory,
  somatic marker analysis

117
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• disagree with both strong and weak views by
  unpacking it according to blending theory,
  somatic marker analysis
• not relying on common faith ininnate unity and
  goodness of natural processes and the person
  (Sarah Allen)

118
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• disagree with both strong and weak views by
  unpacking it according to blending theory,
  somatic marker analysis
• not relying on common faith ininnate unity and
  goodness of natural processes and the person
  (Sarah Allen)
• battle to succeed by emotionally framing the
  debate in a way that benefits one philosophical
  position over another

119
Mencius / Gaozi debate

• disagree with both strong and weak views by
  unpacking it according to blending theory,
  somatic marker analysis
• not relying on common faith on innate unity and
  goodness of natural processes and the person
  (Sarah Allen)
• battle to succeed by emotionally framing the
  debate in a way that benefits one philosophical
  position over another
• neither of interlocutors locked into
  convergence of ontological realms

120
Mencius 6A1 Gaozis initial blend
?????,?????,???????????,?????????
Gaozi said, Human nature is like the qi ?
willow. Morality is like cups and bowls. To make
morality (renyi ??) out of human nature is like
making cups and bowls out of the willow tree.
121
Mencius 6A1 Gaozis initial blend
Blend Moral Education as Carving
Human nature as raw material (no telos,
crude) Subject as artisan (exerts
force) Doctrines as tool (determines
shape) Education as Carving (changes human
nature) Moral person as artifact
(beautiful) (refined, no resemblance to
crude nature) care for all equally
Moral Education
Craft Production
Raw material (crude) (no proper shape or
direction) Artisan (determines shape) Cutting
tool Carving (changes shape) Cups, Bowls
(beautiful) (no resemblance to material)
Human nature (selfish) Subject (person) Moral
doctrines / Ritual Music Process of
education Educated person (refined)
122
Mencius 6A1 Menciuss response
??????????????????????????????????????????,??????
????????????????,?????!?
Mencius replied, Can you follow (shun ? lit.
flow with) the nature of the willow in making
your cups and bowls? Or is it in fact the case
that you will have to mutilate (qiangzei ??) the
willow before you can make it into cups and
bowls? If you have to mutilate the willow to make
it into cups and bowls, must you then also
mutilate people to make them moral? Misleading
the people of the world into bringing disaster
upon or considering to be disastrous
moralitysurely this describes the effects of
your teaching!
123
Mencius 6A1 Menciuss response
Living Thing
Craft Production
Living thing (has natural telos) Mutilator
(Person) (harms living thing) Weapon (cuts,
harms) Process of Mutilation (deforms) Living
thing mutilated (does not resemble natural self)
Raw material (no shape or direction) Artisan
(determines shape) Tool Carving (changes
shape) Cups, Bowls (no resemblance to
raw material)
Human nature has natural telos Mohist Educator
as Mutilator (harms human nature) Tool-Doctrine
as Weapon (cuts, harms) Mohist Education as
Mutilation (deforms human nature, leads to
disaster) Mohist moral person as cripple (no
longer resembles natural self)
Has natural direction (flows down) 6B2 Going
against flow difficult, leads to disaster cf.
6B11
Blend Mohist Moral Education
Water
124
Blending jujitsu strategy 1

• re-frame by introducing new spaces
• i.e., change the metaphor

125
Blending jujitsu strategy 1

• re-frame by introducing new spaces
• i.e., change the metaphor
• most common strategy

126
Mencius 6A2 Gaozis initial blend
?????,????,???????,??????????????????,???????????

Gaozi said, Human nature is like a whirlpool.
Cut a channel to the east and it will flow east
cut a channel to the west and will flow west. The
lack of a tendency toward good or bad in human
nature is just like waters lack of a preference
for east or west.
127
Mencius 6A2 Gaozis initial blend
Blend Moral Education as Channeling
Human nature is morally directionless Subject
(or Teacher) wisely decides upon the moral
direction Human nature moves in whatever
direction given to it (now useful, purposeful)
Human Beings
Irrigation Management
Human nature (self) Subject (or Teacher) Type
of Behavior (good, bad)
Whirling pond water (directionless) Irrigation
manager (wise, determines direction) Direction
of flow after cut (now useful, purposeful)
128
Mencius 6A2 Menciuss response
???????????,????????????,????????????,?????? ????
???,????,????,????,????????????????????,????????
Mencius replied, Water certainly does not
distinguish between east or west, but does it
fail to distinguish between up and down? The
goodness of human nature is like the downhill
movement of waterthere is no person who is not
good, just as there is no water that does not
flow downward. Now, as for water, if you strike
it with your hand and cause it to splash up, you
can make it go above your forehead if you apply
force and pump it, you can make it go uphill. Is
this really the nature of water, though? No, it
is merely the result of environmental influences
(shizeran ???). That a person can be made bad
shows that his nature can also be altered like
this.
129
Mencius 6A2 Menciuss response
Blend Moral development
Human nature has natural (internal) direction
(good) Environment can force it to be unnatural
(bad) Bad behavior is unnatural, unsustainable)
Irrigation Management
Human Beings (w/ Essence)
Human nature (self) Type of Behavior (good,
bad) Environmental outside influences Externa
l influences are unnatural
Waters nature (naturally internally flows
downhill) Direction of Flow (up, down)
Irrigation manager (external force) can force
water uphill Uphill flow unnatural,
unsustainable
130
Blending jujitsu strategy 2

• accept space, but map missed elements

131
Blending jujitsu strategy 2

• accept space, but map missed elements
• relevant features of given space an arguable
  issue itself

132
Blending jujitsu strategy 2

• accept space, but map missed elements
• relevant features of given space an arguable
  issue itself
• result completely subverts rhetorical effect of
  original metaphor

133
Image/emotion in human argumentation
134
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• (really strong) Barsalou

135
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• (really strong) Barsalou
• (moderate) Pinker, Lakoff Johnson

136
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• (really strong) Barsalou
• (moderate) Pinker, Lakoff Johnson
• be strange to deny altogether human capacity for
  relatively dispassionate, abstract reasoning

137
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• (really strong) Barsalou
• (moderate) Pinker, Lakoff Johnson
• be strange to deny altogether human capacity for
  relatively dispassionate, abstract reasoning
• (its slow and expensive)

138
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• (really strong) Barsalou
• (moderate) Pinker, Lakoff Johnson
• be strange to deny altogether human capacity for
  relatively dispassionate, abstract reasoning
• (its slow and expensive)
• (and boring!)

139
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• Mencius may employ clearly marked metaphors more
  comfortably than Kant

140
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• Mencius may employ clearly marked metaphors more
  comfortably than Kant
• engaged in essentially the same project

141
Image/emotion in human argumentation

• Mencius may employ clearly marked metaphors more
  comfortably than Kant
• engaged in essentially the same project
• i.e., deploying emotionally-laden images to urge
  their readers to favor a particular model of
  morality above another

142
Kant, Groundwork
143
Kant, Groundwork
reverence /dignity /awe
higher lower
autonomous, free passive servile
pure contaminated
proper alien

144
Kant, Groundwork
reverence / dignity / awe
higher lower
autonomous, free passive servile
pure contaminated
proper alien

Nietzsche at bottom it is an assumption, a
hunch, indeed a kind of inspirationmost often
the desire of the heart that has been filtered
and made abstractthat they defend with reasons
they have sought after the fact. They are all
advocates who resent that namewily spokesmen for
prejudices which they baptize truths
145
Conclusion
146
Conclusion

• swing against rationalism in cognitive science
  may have overshot the mark

147
Conclusion

• swing against rationalism in cognitive science
  may have overshot the mark
• clearly something different (if only in family
  sense) about arguments wed deem logical or
  rational

148
Conclusion

• swing against rationalism in cognitive science
  may have overshot the mark
• clearly something different (if only in family
  sense) about arguments wed deem logical or
  rational
• also clear differences between Warring States
  China and much of Western tradition in this
  respect

149
Conclusion

• Global philosophy
• no need to exaggerate cultural differences or
  reify them as essentialistic traits

150
Conclusion

• Goal of cross-cultural comparison

151
Conclusion

• Goal of cross-cultural comparison
• use differences to help us to recover aspects of
  our own tradition that have been lost or
  deemphasized
• recovery of Western virtue ethics tradition

152
Conclusion

• Goal of cross-cultural comparison
• use differences to help us to recover aspects of
  our own tradition that have been lost or
  deemphasized
• recovery of Western virtue ethics tradition
• use similarities to see how we are very much
  like the Chinese philosophers
• helps us get better insight into our own
  philosophical tradition
• overcome some our own entrenched self-conceits