'Ren-li', Reciprocity, Judgment, and the Question of Openness to the Other in the Confucian 'Lunyu'

Here the author takes "ren"-humanity to be, as Confucius says, an underlying, ineffable, potentially universal human quality, and draws a distinction between three different types of moral capacity in the "Lunyu": the man of "ren's" capacity for "li"-proper interactions, his capacity for total reciprocity with another, and his capacity to make moral discriminations. The nature of these moral judgments is then discussed in relation to the praxis of entering into "shu"-reciprocity with another and that of recognizing others' actions as being "li"-proper. A key question is that of whether even an intuitive feeling of commonality, if not identity, with another man-of-"ren" involves a subjective judgment. Confucius' view that foreigners can respect "ren" even if they may not possess it is also discussed. The author suggests that any viable ethical model would need to maintain a universal standard of humaneness while also including a maximum degree of openness to the other.