A Comic Confucius?

Abstract

Part II analyses Chinese philosophical texts in order to examine how the comic and humour are employed in them. While Western philosophy is known for its exaltation of reason, Chinese philosophy is not. The veneration of abstract reason that is divorced from concrete experience and emotion is largely alien to Chinese culture. However, the constraints of convention and ritual are recognized, as is the perpetual inadequacy of language to convey experience. Chapter 5 examines the Analects attributed to Confucius and maintains that the comic does play an important role in this work, albeit a role that has not been acknowledged by conventional commentaries. Confucius is well known for the important role his philosophy accords to li 裡, (ritual propriety). The inculcation of these rituals cannot become mechanistic and empty. Confucius shares an aversion to what Bergson would call mechanism. If we just blindly follow ritual through social conformity, we do a disservice to the rituals themselves, which become lifeless and insincere. The comic is often used in these texts as an educative device that mocks people who use ritual in this sycophantic and pedantic manner. Using levity, Confucius attempts to prevent ritual from becoming moribund.

This chapter is derived in part from an article published in Asian Philosophy on December 2, 2014, available online: http://wwww.tandfonline.com/http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09552367.2014.983669