Balanced perspective on autonomy and relationships

Daniel Fu-Chang Tsai writes in his recent paper that Confucius’ concept of person has two dimensions, namely, “the vertical dimension,” which is the autonomous, self-cultivating one, and “the horizontal dimension,” which is the relational, altruistic one (11). He says that “some may argue that there is no vertical dimension at all in the Confucian personhood. This is incorrect.” He concludes as follows:

When a person exercises autonomy, he is no choosing in a context-free, conceptual vacuum but considers himself a person-in-relation, with many roles to play and responsibilities to take, in accordance with different relationships (…). The tension might be difficult to resolve, but the traditional tendency of social orientation should surely be balanced by, and reconciled with, respecting the individual’s rights and autonomy (Tsai 2001: 48,49).

Here we can see a well-balanced perspective on “autonomy” and “relationships.” This kind of mature thinking can be found everywhere on this planet and is not the patent of Confucius or East Asia.

We sometimes use the words “Japanese bioethics,” “American bioethics,” and “Asian bioethics,” but these wordings are apt to make us think that there is “the” Japanese bioethics, “the” American bioethics, and so on. This is not true. There are various bioethical ideas and actions in each region. Of course there are clear cultural differences between distant countries, but if we take a closer look at one area, we can find considerable gender differences, religious differences, economic differences, etc., and at the same time it is also true that we actually share many things across borders. Hence, we should say “bioethics in Japan” instead of “Japanese bioethics,” “Genomics in Asia” instead of “Asian Genomics,” and so on. Anyway, we have to abandon the East/West dichotomy and its variations. [187/188]


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Cross-cultural Approaches to the Philosophy of Life in the Contemporary World
(2004)
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