The Confucian Filial Obligation and Care For Aged Parents

II. A Confucian Concept of Justice We may see the existential nature of adult children's filial duty to take respectful care of their aged parents much clearer in the Eastern Confucian moral tradition. It is well known that Confucianism in general can be seen as a theoretical expression and a systematic justification of traditional family values in ancient China (Fung, 1948, p.21).Xiao (filial piety), which primarily defines children's moral duty to their parents, has been understood in the 2500 year long Confucian tradition as the "root" of morality (Analects , 1:2).(10) It is, in Max Weber's words, "the absolutely primary virtue" which "in case of conflict, preceded all other virtues" in China (Weber, 1951, p.157).

Confucius' emphasis on*"xiao,"* as adult children's taking respectful care for their aged parents, had a tremendous influence in shaping the Chinese understanding of the nature of morality. On the one hand, taking good care of one's parents is often seen as a cardinal virtue of a moral person*(jun zi)* and constitutive of being a good citizen. On the other hand, that all the parents and the elderly received good care from their children in the last years of their lives is taken in Chinese tradition as proof of a good society and a good government. Because of this, Mencius, the second important figure in Confucianism, said that in a good society "a son and a younger brother should be taught their obligation of taking good care of their aged parents. The people with grey hair should not be seen carrying burdens on the street" (Mencius, 1A:7). Otherwise it would be a matter of shame for the children of those elderly persons as well as for the government.

This Confucian tradition of seeing one's taking good care of one's aged parents as a moral duty has been not only reflected in the Chinese moral life but also in the practice of the Chinese laws from the beginning. For example, according to the Chinese Marriage Law, adult children's moral duty of taking respectful care of their aged parents is defined as:

Children have an obligation to support and to assist their parents..... When children fail in such duty, parents who cannot work or have difficulty with their living have a right to demand alimony from their children.(11)

Obviously, taking respectful care of one's aged parents is one of the most important moral duties of an adult child in Confucian China as well as in all East Asian societies. However, when we compare the arguments used by the western liberals and those used by Confucians on this issue, we may find that their arguments are grounded in different concept of justice.

The Confucian concept of justice is called*"yi,"* which is also translated as righteousness. Traditionally, Confucians defined the meaning of*"yi"* from the interactive relations between my "personal self"(wo) and my surrounding social, historical, and natural communities (qun). For example, Dong Zhong Shu (c.179 - c.104 B.C.E.), the most famous Confucian scholar in the Han Dynasty, defined*"yi"* as follows:

Yi means yi* (appropriation) to one's own person. Only once one is appropriate to his own person can this be called yi (righteousness). Thus, the expression yi combines the notions of "appropriateness" (yi*) and "personal self" (wo ) in one term. If we hold on to this insight, yi as an expression refers to personal self. Thus it is said that to realize yi in one's actions is called attaining it in oneself (zi de); to neglect yi in one's actions is called self-negligence (zi shi).(12)

According to Dong and other Confucians during the time, yi should be defined in term of its homophone,yi* , which means "right, proper, appropriate, suitable." In both classical and modern Chinese, the wordyi* refers often to one's making oneself over to become appropriate to one's surrounding environments, e.g., one's familial, social, and natural communities. It refers also to making one's surrounding environments appropriate for one's self-attainment or self-accomplishment. Therefore, this Confucian interpretation of yi in terms ofyi* indicates an interplay or a dialectical interaction between yi and yi*, between the personal self and its contextual and communal environments out of which an individual person reaches her identity, realization, and accomplishment.(13) Based on this conception of yi as justice and righteousness and as the interplay between individual self and her surrounding communities, Confucians think that fulfilling one's obligations, such as being a lovely parent and taking good care of his/her young children, and/or being a filial son/daughter by taking respectful care of his/her parents when the parents are old, is simply part of the way of self-realization and of self-accomplishment. Failure to do this will be called "bu yi" (non-righteousness). Our natural and innermost moral feelings of*"xiu"* (shame) and*"wu"* (dislike), according to Confucians, are simply signals of both internal and social disapproval of these non-righteous actions, and thus marks the beginning of the development of righteousness and justice.(14) On the other hand, the interplay betweenyi andyi* not only asks a yielding or a sacrifice of my personal self to my environmental communities in the way of appropriation, it also affirms my uniqueness in such an appropriation. That not only includes my duties but also my privileges and rights, which are due to my specific situation in my surrounding communities. Thus understood, the Confucian concepts of social justice and righteousness are not against the idea of equality and fairness among the members of the society. It is rather an affirmation of it if we consider it within a larger social and historical context.

Some Westerners claimed that adult children's moral duty to take respectful care of their aged parents may be seen as an unfair request for the younger generation to make sacrifices for the well-being of the older generation (Daniels, 1988, pp.4-6). But if we, as a Confucian often does, take human life as an organic and dynamic process of birth, growing, flourishing, declining and dying, then the rationale behind the Confucian concept of filial obligation will become clearer. Nothing seems more natural and fair than, having received care from our parents when we were young, reciprocating this care by taking care of our parents when they are old.(15) Therefore, the charge of unfairness and inequality of Confucian filiality can only make sense on the assumption that the individuals in our social and communal life must be seen as undifferentiated, colorless, and isolated social atoms. But for a Confucian this assumption itself is questionable and unaccepted.