Thread by @Helenreflects

Next up in my philosophy of religion course #PORcourse is the role of ritual in Confucian philosophy. In western philosophy of religion, ritual (e.g., liturgy) is not as important as belief and has only recently been explored (e.g., Cuneo, Wolterstorff). 1/

But in classic Chinese philosophy, ritual (禮; pinyin: lǐ) is very important. Learning from authors such as Confucius (Kongzi) or Xunzi, we can get a glimpse of why ritual is important and why it matters. This has implications for ethics and for philosophy of religion. 2/

You can read a free version of the most well-known Confucian classic, the Analects (recorded sayings by Confucius) here: ctext.org/analects
If you look at this book as a newcomer to Chinese philosophy, it may strike you as difficult and inaccessible. For example, 3/

"Confucius, in his village, looked simple and sincere, and as if he were not able to speak. When he was in the prince's ancestral temple, or in the court, he spoke minutely on every point, but cautiously." (Analects 10, 1) 4/

"The stable being burned down, when he was at court, on his return he said,"Has any man been hurt?"He did not ask about the horses. (10,12)
And perhaps most perplexing and almost infuriating: "If his mat was not straight, he did not sit on it." (10,9).
What does it all mean? 5/

To the uninitiated it just looks like Confucius has an excessive eye for detail and is unnecessarily fastidious. Yet he is held up as an exemplar, a sage, that we can learn from and that we can emulate. Not only is Confucius wise in what he says, his conduct also is wise. 6/

Who was Confucius? This brief TED video by @BryanVanNorden gives a good overview of his philosophy and his ideas:
To summarize, Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn period (mid-6th c BCE), in the district of Zou. 7/

Confucius believed that political systems of the past were much better than in his time, a time characterized by political strife.
He thought people had lost “the way” (道, dao) – this is the term for a way of doing things, but also word for physical road. 8/

Why did people lose the way?

For Confucius, we have our ethics passed on to us through rituals, music, and poetry.

Rulers in his time disregarded these rituals or did not perform them with sincerity, which led to moral degradation (rituals had become an empty show) 9/

Confucius' moral exemplars were the rulers of the Zhou dynasty, including King Wen and the Duke of Zhou (who did not usurp the throne, but faithfully ruled as regent for his young nephew King Cheng.
These sage rulers of the past made the right rituals, music and poetry 10/

Rituals matter because they transform our conduct. Westerners tend to think about rituals as actions that entrench or that habituate us into certain patterns. But the early Confucians did not hold this belief. They thought the opposite: rituals can help us get out of our ruts 11/

According to the Confucians:
We are messy bundles of desires, wants, habits, which will clash with others (e.g., if you push someone out of the way).
Rituals are a way to smoothen our relationships with each other and the world so we don't have those clashes 12/

One interpretation of Confucianism can be found in Harvard philosopher Michael Puett. If you have time to spare, watch this wonderful one-hour lecture (for Google) which forwards Puett's interpretation of ritual
13/

In Puett's view, the aim of Confucian ritual is to intervene.
As an illustration, here's an example from Book of Rites, which has a funerary rite where a father and son participate.
The father (current ruler) and son (young man or child) switch place. 14/

So, the son pretends to be his own grandfather, the dead ruler. The father then reveres his own son (who pretends to be his father). This role reversal reminds the father what it’s like to be a son, and gives the son a preview of being in the position of authority 15/

This shakes up the normal order of things. It does not habituate father and son to take up opposite roles, but in that brief ritual space, they can readjust their relationships (fathers and sons always have gripes). 16/

This particular ritual has a religious character, but rituals need not be religious. Now we begin to see why it's so important for Confucius that the mat is well adjusted before he sits on it. This may seem like excessive fastidiousness, but such details matter 17/

Adjusting the mat even slightly alters the atmosphere of the room (angers, anxieties, etc)–this creates a different way of how you are positioned with respect to others.
Being mindful of ritual helps you develop dispositions to engage with others, not just passively respond 18/

This also indicates that we should be mindful of what rituals do and how they alter our conduct. Confucius believed the sage kings of the Zhou dynasty had it figured out. We can ask today: what rituals do we engage in, and are they still fit for purpose? 19/

Repetition in ritual is very important. Because bad habits form so quickly, we need to break out of them repeatedly. We need to do it again and again to disrupt the bad habits we would otherwise slide into. 20/

In other work, such as this excellent co-authored book (4 co-authors), Puett argues that there is a tension between sincerity and ritual, and that different cultures might make different tradeoffs, worth thinking about 21/
amazon.com/Ritual-Its-Con…

The demand for sincerity is that you respond in a way that reflects your true self. This is sometimes hard as you need to figure out: what are my true thoughts? It does not leave room for ambiguity, but prizes authenticity above all. Our culture seems big on that 22/

Ritual, on the other hand, gives you some breathing space to behave in an "as if" way. With ritual you can pretend, and your fellow participants in the ritual know you are pretending, so you are not lying. This allows room for ambiguity. 23/

Take for example
"How are you?"
Ritual answer: "I'm fine" (even if you are not in fact fine)
Authentic answer: "I don't know. I've been better. This staying at home is really getting to me. It's tough". /24

Puett thinks we prize the authentic answer but the ritual answer also has value. It creates a space of attentiveness. Asking “How are you” helps you to generate concern for the person you address. The response “I am fine, thank you” helps you to be in the right relationship /25

And in fact by saying "I'm fine" and doing that ritual with feeling, you might start thinking about all the reasons you are in fact fine although you also have worries, anxieties and concerns. In this way, ritual helps you to shape yourself. /26

I've been recently thinking of how lack of attention for ritual is leading to bad situations, because we are animals that need rituals. If we are not mindful of the rituals we're doing, we fall into ones that make us worse off. For example, hoarding toilet paper /27

Though you can rationalize hoarding toilet paper, it seems to me this is a ritualistic response to a situation people can't control (a pandemic). By buying a cheap, bulky product with associations to cleanliness they're telling themselves "At least I'm doing something" /28

So having the right rituals is important, particularly in a society that has prized authenticity at the expense of ritual. We have lots of rituals in our everyday life (holding doors open for others etc) that make us better people. /end

@threadreaderapp unroll for my class please!