自然と倫理 : 環境倫理と老子の道徳

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My starting point, in this essay, is the differences between European meaning of the word 'moral' or Ethics' and that of the ancient Chinese, especially Lao-tsuean meaning of the corresponding words. I tried to explain the meaning of the conception of Dotoku (moral) and Shizen (nature) and tried to interpret these old Chinese meaning of the words in the context of contemporary way of thinking. In the 'TE Ching' (徳経) of Lao-Tsue he divided four different levels of the word 'morality' (徳) - that is 'levels of mastering the way of Tao (道)' - from the best to the worst ones. The best one is not knowing and not telling that the best one is such and such. The man who has mastered the Tao does not think that he is right nor telling people anything. He keeps himself silent. The theory of the contemporary so-called 'Situation Ethics' will be, in my opinion, interpreted as a modern version of Lao-Tuse's moral thinking. The Chinese conception of '自然' (nature) comes from 'what does behave like myself'. It includes human beings and other things that behave by themselves. These new interpretations of morality and nature will open a new vista in the coming theoretical systematization of ecological ethics.
慶應義塾大学の論文