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Confucianism and
Ecology: Potential and Limits
Mary Evelyn
Tucker
Yale University
The
Confucian tradition has a long historical legacy in
East Asia extending from China across Korea and Japan
and into Vietnam. The influence of Confucianism has
been significant in political thought and institutions,
social relationships and ritual exchange, educational
philosophy and moral teaching, cultural attitudes, and
historical interpretation. Indeed, Confucian values
still play an important part in East Asian life despite
the striking inroads of modernization and westernization.
Although we are concerned here with the potential positive
contribution of Confucianism to environmental thought,
acknowledgment is made of the inevitable gaps between
theories and practices as well as the limitations of
Confucianism. Nonetheless, the potential of the Confucian
tradition is significant for continuing to shape East
Asian societies in their quest for sustainable development
and environmental integrity.
While this tradition has enormous historical variations,
cultural particularities, and national differences in
the region, nonetheless, there are certain central ideas
and values which have spread across the area. These
values constitute key elements of the tradition which
have endured despite historical changes and political
upheavals. These include: a dynamic cosmological context
or worldview for promoting harmony amidst change; the
embeddedness of each person in concentric circles of
relationships and ethical responsibilities, the importance
of the family including past, present, and future generations;
the function of a hierarchical social system where loyalties
to elders and to teachers are critical; the significance
of education in cultivating the individual, enriching
the society, and contributing to the political order;
the role of government in establishing a political bureaucracy
for ruling large numbers of people, and the value of
history as an element of civilizational continuity and
moral rectification. These values will be discussed
in relation to their potential contribution to environmental
thought. Of singular importance in these discussions
is the rich cosmological worldview of Confucianism which
promotes harmony amidst change. This is an invaluable
perspective for seeing nature as intrinsically valuable
and for understanding the role of the human in relation
to natural processes as critical. This worldview is
characterized by four key elements: an anthropocosmic
rather than an anthropocentric perspective, an organic
holism of the continuity of being, a dynamic vitalism
of material force (ch’i, qi), and a comprehensive
ethics embracing both humans and nature.
By “anthropocosmic” we refer to the great
triad of heaven (a guiding force), earth (nature), and
humans. This idea is central to Confucian thought from
its earliest expressions in the classical texts to its
later developments in Neo-Confucianism which arose in
the eleventh century. This seamless interaction of these
three forces contrasts markedly with the more human
centered orientation of western traditions where personal
salvation in relation to a divine figure is central.
By “organic holism” the universe is seen
as unified, interconnected, and interpenetrating. Everything
interacts and affects everything else, which is why
the notion of microcosm and macrocosm is so essential
to Chinese cosmology. The elaboration of the interconnectedness
of reality can be seen in the correspondence of the
five elements with seasons, directions, colors, and
even virtues. This type of classification began in the
third millennium BCE and resulted in texts such as the
I Ching (Book of Changes). This sense
of holism is characterized by the view that there is
no Creator God behind the universe. Chinese thought
is less concerned with theories of origin or with concepts
of a personal God than with the perception of an ongoing
reality of a self-generating, interconnected universe
described by Tu Weiming as a “continuity of being.”
“Dynamic vitalism” refers to the basis of
the underlying unity of reality which is constituted
of ch’i, the material force of the universe.
This is the unifying element of the cosmos and creates
the basis for a profound reciprocity between humans
and the natural world. Material force (ch’i)
as the substance of life is the basis for the continuing
process of change and transformation in the universe.
The term sheng-sheng, namely, “production
and reproduction” is repeatedly used in Confucian
texts to illustrate the creativity of nature. This recognition
of the ceaseless movement of the cosmos arises from
a profound meditation on the fecundity of nature in
continually giving birth to new life. Furthermore, it
constitutes a sophisticated awareness that change is
the basis of the interaction and continuation of the
web of life systems—mineral, vegetable, animal,
and human. Finally, it celebrates transformation as
the clearest expression of the creative processes of
life with which humans should harmonize their own actions.
In essence, human beings are urged to “model themselves
on the ceaseless vitality of the cosmic process.”
Confucian ethics in its most comprehensive form relies
on a cosmological context of the entire triad of heaven,
earth, and humans. Human actions complete this triad
and are undertaken in relation to the natural world
and its seasonal patterns and cosmic changes. In this
context humans are biological-historical-ethical beings
who live in a universe of complex correspondences and
relationships. Cultivation of the land and of oneself
are seen as analogous processes requiring attention,
care, and constant vigilance. Virtues are described
as seeds which sprout through moral practice and flower
over time. The ethical vitality of the individual is
situated against the backdrop of the dynamic pattern
of ch’i in nature. The Chinese martial arts
and medical practices reflect this attempt to balance
and cultivate one’s ch’i as part of
maintaining one’s physical and moral health. For
many Confucians this meant not only reciprocity with
the patterns of nature but also responsibility for the
health of nature as well. It was thus critical for the
government to support agriculture through irrigation
systems as creating the basis for a sustainable society.
Human livelihood and culture was seen as continuous
with nature, as the following passage by a leading Han
Confucian, Tung Ch’ung-shu (c. 179–c.104 BCE),
indicates: “Heaven, earth, and humans are the basis
of all creatures. Heaven gives them birth, earth nourishes
them, and humans bring them to completion. Heaven provides
them at birth with a sense of filial and brotherly love,
earth nourishes them with clothing and food, and humans
complete them with rites and music. The three act together
as hands and feet join to complete the body and none
can be dispensed with.”
Within this broad cosmological pattern of Confucian
thought the person is seen in relationship to others
and not as an isolated individual. Thus there are more
grounds in Confucianism for emphasizing the common good
which is critical for developing environmental ethics.
Western traditions tend to underscore the importance
of the individual, highlighting her/his rights and freedoms.
The Confucian tradition stresses the importance of cooperative
group effort so that individual concerns are sublimated
to a larger sense of the common good. In this view,
self-interest and altruism for a common cause are not
mutually exclusive, and responsibilities rather than
rights are stressed. Such a communitarian value system
may be indispensable for fostering sustainable communities.
With the Confucian emphasis on the continuity of the
family there is a strong ethic of indebtedness to past
generations and obligations to descendants. Within this
moral framework there is the potential for evoking a
sense of self-restraint and communal responsibility
toward the environmental well-being of future generations.
In other words, the Confucian emphasis on lineage (ensuring
continuity from the ancestors to the heirs) may be raised
to another ethical perspective, namely, intergenerational
obligations toward maintaining a healthy environment.
On this basis it could be argued that unlimited development
or unrestrained consumption should be curtailed.
The hierarchical social system of Confucianism can
also be expanded to place humans in relation to the
biological lineage of life in the natural world. In
this sense, loyalty to elders, teachers, and those who
have gone before may be broadened to include respect
for the complex ecosystems and forms of life that have
preceded humans. Thus biodiversity can be valued. The
total dependence of humans on other life-forms for survival
and sustenance may be underscored in this scenario.
“Loyalty” is thus enlarged from the human
world to include the natural world itself.
Confucian education as essentially a form of moral
cultivation has been viewed as a means of contributing
to the betterment of the sociopolitical order. By extension,
ethical restraint toward the unlimited use of the environment
can be seen as adding to the social and political stability
of the region as a whole. From a Confucian perspective
moral suasion and education are a viable means of evoking
communal changes that would promote such stability through
personal choice and voluntary measures rather than simply
through legislation from above.
Confucian forms of government are generally highly
centralized and interventionist. Thus, they can afford
to engage in long range planning with other key sectors,
especially the business community. Because this long
term policymaking is not unfamiliar in East Asian societies,
it is possible to include environmental issues in these
kinds of centralized strategic planning. Rather than
only being concerned about immediate goals or quarterly
profits, such planning can assist processes of environmental
preservation.
History is valued in Confucian societies as a means
of maintaining civilizational continuity and collective
memory. Thus, there is a greater sense of the importance
of the transmission of ritualized behavior as a means
for deriving lessons from the past for the present.
In other words, history is often narrated through a
moral framework as a means of guiding present decision
making. This may be helpful in raising issues of what
is currently at stake in the precarious rush to global
consumerism by contemporary civilizations, especially
in light of resource limits and the current ecological
crisis. The long range civilizational perspectives which
East Asia holds may be invaluable in reorienting societies
toward long term sustainable policies and practices.
It is this worldview which has enormous potential for
renewed appreciation of nature as intrinsically valuable
but also as the source of personal vitality and moral
integrity for sustaining the community of life. Moreover,
this perspective values nature as the origin of all
that sustains life itself from the basics of food, clothing,
and shelter to innumerable sources of employment. This
is not to deny the negative dimensions of the Confucian
tradition nor to claim that historically China was a
model of ecological fitness. It is, however, to suggest
ways in which a rethinking of Confucianism may be helpful
in our contemporary context. Such a reinterpretation
from within the Confucian tradition is already taking
place through the efforts of Tu Weiming and other New
Confucians. This paper reflects many of their insights.
The extent of this revival has still to be fully expressed
in East Asia and beyond. Yet its potential for affecting
the formation of a global environmental ethic remains
significant.
Mary Evelyn Tucker, Visiting Scholar at the Graduate Theological Union, teaches courses in world religions, Asian
religions, and religion and ecology. She received her
Ph.D. from Columbia University in the history of religions,
specializing in Confucianism in Japan. She has published
Moral and Spiritual Cultivation in Japanese Neo-Confucianism
(Albany, N.Y.: SUNY, 1989). She co-edited with John
Grim, Worldviews and Ecology (Maryknoll, N.Y.:
Orbis, 1994), with Duncan Williams, Buddhism and
Ecology (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard/CSWR, 1997),
with John Berthrong, Confucianism and Ecology
(Harvard/CSWR, 1998), and, with Christopher Chapple,
Hinduism and Ecology (Harvard University Press/CSWR,
2000). She and John Grim are editors for the Orbis series
on Ecology and Justice.
This article was originally
published in Earth Ethics 10, no.1 (Fall 1998).
Copyright © 1998 Center for Respect of Life and
Environment.
Reprinted with permission.
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