Abstract
The problem of moral orientation is a fundamental problem in the study of moral psychology, and also a core issue in the moral value judgment. Many moral events that occurred in China in recent years are closely related to moral orientation in a deep way. There are two views about moral orientation in modern Western psychology: One is the orientation of “moral justice”, which is represented by Jean Piaget and Lawrence Kohlberg; and the other is the orientation of “moral concern”, represented by Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings. Although “moral justice” is the main part of moral judgment, as the supplement of moral justice, the effect of “moral concern” in moral judgment cannot be ignored.
Because of the long influence of history, geography, mode of production as well as traditional culture, especially the Confucian culture, the pattern of traditional Chinese society was differential. The concept of “differential pattern” was proposed by Mr. Fei Xiaotong in his book “Local China”, and he believes that the rural society in China is a society of acquaintances. In this kind of society, kinship and geographic region are unified; it’s clear and overlapped natural geographic and social life boundaries make the society a closed social space. The differential pattern of networks is based on Clan group, and the relationship between people is arranged by kinship. In this pattern, being the center, everyone has his own network. It is just like throwing a stone into the lake, there will be a circle of ripples around the stone, and the distance of ripples can represent the closeness of social relations.
Therefore, the Chinese people, especially those who are affected by the Confucian culture, show moral features of “differential pattern”. We can say with certainty, both view of moral orientation in Western psychology also exist in traditional Chinese moral system, i.e., we can find the concepts “moral justice” and “moral concern” in our traditional moral system. However, the difference is that moral justice and moral concern operate in the manner of “differential pattern” in Chinese traditional society, and so can be called “differential justice” and “differential concern”. We believe that the use of “differential justice” and “differential concern” is the most accurate way to describe the moral orientation of Chinese traditional society. This is not only the characteristic of the traditional Chinese moral orientation, but also a moral collective prejudice that flowing in the veins of Chinese people. We believe that with the deepening of the reform, the perfection of various social systems, and the improvement of the modernization level of Chinese people, the traditional moral collective prejudices can be overcome.
Key words
moral orientation /
differential justice /
differential concern /
face moral
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“differential justice” and “differential concern”: on the collective prejudices of Chinese moral orientation[J]. Journal of Psychological Science. 2013, 36(5): 1168-1175
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