Mencius pro Humanitate Concreta: MengZi and Schweitzer on Practical Ethics of Humanity

Title

Mencius pro Humanitate Concreta: MengZi and Schweitzer on Practical Ethics of Humanity

Author

Hans Lenk

Page

77-98

DOI

Abstract

Ancient Chinese philosophy already developed a philosophy of humanitarianism or humanity in the general sense. The concept of "Ren" / "Jen" was indeed a main idea already in Confucianism. It was to my mind Mencius, who was the most explicit, if not even the first, philosopher of what I call concrete humanity. The article takes up Albert Schweitzer's discussion of MengZi's philosophical humanitarianism and relates it to some modern ideas of Schweitzer's philosophy of reverence for life and humanity. In addition, some traits of what concrete humanity means are listed and discussed, including the special idea of a moral or ethical claim towards human dignity. Thus, it seems, that the ancient philosophers of china have already developed a moral theory of human rights–a fact which had been forgotten for a long time.

Keyword

Mencius, Albert Schweitzer, Practical ethics, humanity, moral theory, human rights, jen

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