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The “Confucian” Ideal Person(ality) and Pacifism
ID Paul, Gregor (Author)

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Abstract
So-called Confucianism (rujia 儒家) developed a notion of an ideal person(ality), the junzi 君子, who eschews solving problems or eliminating disagreement by use of force. Instead, guided by principles of humaneness (ren 仁) and righteousness (yi 義), he uses well-founded arguments, and he does this in a becoming way, displaying no show of superiority. Moreover, the junzi highly values human dignity (tianjue 天爵, literally “no­bility of Heaven”), i.e. individual moral autonomy, not giving in to the temptations of power, fame, public reputation, or wealth. Similar ideas were developed in European history. Evidently such ideal persons would be pacifists, but they are individuals, whereas wars concern whole nations and masses of people. So which role does, and can, the ideal individual actually play if it comes to the question of war? Is not there a vast difference between ideal individual character and behaviour on the one side, and an individual’s actual position and options (possibilities) with regard to war on the other? As to Chinese ethics and history: did the notion of junzi have any influence on concepts and occurrences of pacifism and war? And if so, in what respect? And how should we understand the jun­zi’s ideas about punishment and wars led in the name of humaneness? In short, taking as starting point and focusing on the “Confucian” concept of junzi, I deal with what may be called “individual pacifism”—or more precisely, individual rejection or renunciation of war—and the impact such individual pacifism can and ought to have on decisions about war and peace. In so doing, I also speculate about combining a “rule of virtue” with a “rule of law”, thereby considering the role of individuals in 21st century wars. Finally, I utilize my results to propose a notion of pacifism that sharply contrasts with contemporary arguments in favour of wars, including those for uncompromising wars of defence.

Language:English
Keywords:war, pacifism (renunciation of war), humaneness, ideal individual, governments
Work type:Article
Typology:1.01 - Original Scientific Article
Organization:FF - Faculty of Arts
Publication status:Published
Publication version:Version of Record
Publication date:09.01.2026
Number of pages:Str. 175-191
Numbering:Vol. 14, no. 1
PID:20.500.12556/RUL-178338 This link opens in a new window
ISSN:2232-5131
eISSN:2350-4226
DOI:https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2026.14.1.175-191 This link opens in a new window
Publication date in RUL:23.01.2026
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Downloads:129
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Record is a part of a journal

Title:Asian studies
Publisher:Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Znanstvena založba Filozofske fakultete, Založba Univerze v Ljubljani
ISSN:2232-5131
COBISS.SI-ID:265206272 This link opens in a new window

Licences

License:CC BY-SA 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
Link:http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Description:This Creative Commons license is very similar to the regular Attribution license, but requires the release of all derivative works under this same license.

Secondary language

Language:Slovenian
Title:Konfucijanski ideal osebe (osebnosti) in pacifizem
Abstract:
Tako imenovano konfucijanstvo (rujia儒家) je razvilo pojem idealne osebe (osebnosti), junzi君子, ki se izogiba reševanju problemov ali odpravljanju nesoglasij z uporabo sile. Namesto tega, v skladu z načeli sočlovečnosti (ren仁) in pravičnosti (yi義), uporablja utemeljene argumente in to počne na primeren način, brez izkazovanja večvrednosti. Po-leg tega junzi visoko ceni človeško dostojanstvo (tianjue 天爵, dob. »plemenitost neba«), to je individualno moralno avtonomijo, in se ne podreja skušnjavam moči, slave, javnega ugleda ali bogastva. Podobne ideje so se razvile tudi v evropski zgodovini. Očitno bi bili takšni idealni ljudje pacifisti, vendar pa so to le posamezniki, medtem ko vojne zadevajo cele narode in večje množice ljudi. Kakšno vlogo torej dejansko igra in sploh lahko igra idealni posameznik, ko gre za vprašanje vojne? Ali ni med idealnim značajem in veden-jem posameznika na eni ter dejanskim položajem in možnostmi (izbire) posameznika v zvezi z vojno na drugi strani velika razlika? Kar zadeva kitajsko etiko in zgodovino: ali je pojem junzi vplival na pojmovanje ter pojavljanje pacifizma in vojne? Če da, v kakšnem smislu? In kako naj razumemo junzijeve ideje o kaznovanju ter vojnah, ki se dogajajo v imenu sočlovečnosti? Na kratko, »konfucijanski« pojem junzi si jemljem za izhodišče in fokus ter skozenj obravnavam to, kar bi lahko imenovali »individualni pacifizem« – ali natančneje, indi-vidualno zavračanje vojne oziroma odpoved vojni – ter vpliv, ki ga tak individualni paci-fizem lahko ima in bi ga moral imeti na odločitve o vojni in miru. Podajam tudi razmislek o združevanju »vladavine kreposti« z »vladavino prava« ter s tem o vlogi posameznikov v vojnah 21. stoletja. Nazadnje na podlagi svojih ugotovitev predlagam pojem pacifiz-ma, ki je v ostrem nasprotju s sodobnimi argumenti v prid vojnam, vključno s tistimi, ki zagovarjajo nekompromisne obrambne vojne.

Keywords:vojna, pacifizem (odpoved vojni), sočlovečnost, idealni posameznik, vlade

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