Abstract

My thesis is based on the methodological assumption that the Analects of Confucius should be interpreted within the greater context of the Four Books, Five Classics, Xunzi, and works of Neo-Confucian literati. Here I argue that the Analects can be consistently modeled as an environmental ethics of weak anthropocentrism so long as it is read according to two provisos: first, that “weak anthropocentrism” be used in its standard sense in the context of contemporary environmental ethics, and, second, that the hermeneutic method of situating the Analects within the system of the Four Books, Five Classics, Xunzi, and Song-Ming Confucian texts be suspended. As soon as the hermeneutic suspension required by the second...