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This essay engages in a reading of the Zhongyong (뭷뾣 Doctrine of the Mean) through the lens of a reader and student of the Stoics. This, I hope, shall prove to be rewarding. True, what separates Confuciuss school from that of Zeno is considerable, and should be neither overlooked nor understated a comparative approach is possible, however, and the very foundations for such an undertaking are to be found in a famous saying from the Lun yu (Analects) in which the Master states that "by nature, men are nearly alike by practice, they get to be wide apart" (17.2).1 This essay focuses on the first thirteen chapters of the book. The first section (chapters 1, 2, 9 and 12 of the Zhongyong) deals with wisdom being an all-or-nothing affair and with the importance of intention over deeds. The second section (chapters 3 to 7 and 10) distinguishes perfection from excess and imitation from mimicry. The third section (chapters 8, 11, and 13) somewhat tempers the harsh opposition between the commoner and the sage, and contemplates the idea of moral progress and how that idea supposes that one makes efforts toward perfection without acting in an extravagant way. |
