Anxiety over the Filial Body: Discussions on Xiao in Early Confucian Texts

Journal of the American Oriental Society 140 (2):301 (2022)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

This paper reexamines the concept of filial piety from a specific perspective, asking how filial piety is performed by and observed on the body. I argue that in pre-Qin and Han Confucian texts, there was a strong anxiety over the potential hypocrisies of filial deeds; that is, the fact that filial piety could be abused and transformed to become a mere show intended for gaining fame and reputation. Because of this, early commentators felt the need to create methods and criteria for evaluating filial piety. One important way to do this was to examine how filial piety was materialized through the ritual performance of the body. Filial piety was thus embodied and evaluated in terms of corporality. Ironically, this embodiment of filial piety had its own paradox as filial piety could become oversimplified as physical care of the parents and the ritual of xiao be reduced to a performance.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 103,486

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

Confucius and Filial Piety.Thomas Radice - 2017 - In Paul Rakita Goldin, A Concise Companion to Confucius. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons. pp. 185–207.
On the Legalization of "Filial Piety" in Han Dynasty from The Second Year Law.Min Liu - 2006 - Nankai University (Philosophy and Social Sciences) 2:91-98.
Han'guk ŭi hyo sasang.Ik-su Kim - 1977 - Sŏul: Sŏmundang.
Tong Asia hyo munhwa ihae.tŏK-Kyun Kim - 2021 - Taejŏn Kwangyŏksi: Sia Puk.
A temporal analysis of the consciousness of filial piety.Xianglong Zhang & Huang Deyuan - 2007 - Frontiers of Philosophy in China 2 (3):309-335.
Normativity of Filial Piety (xiao) in Early Confucian Ethics.Sariya Arunkhajornsak - 2018 - Proceedings of the XXIII World Congress of Philosophy 9:5-9.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-07-09

Downloads
23 (#997,657)

6 months
8 (#432,306)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Citations of this work

No citations found.

Add more citations

References found in this work

The Place of Filial Piety in Ancient China.Donald Holzman - 1998 - Journal of the American Oriental Society 118 (2):185-199.
Confucian Piety and Individualism in Han China.Michael Nylan - 1996 - Journal of the American Oriental Society 116 (1):1-27.

Add more references