Sacrifice As If Present The Moral Dimensions Of Sacrifice In Pre-qin Confucianism

The performance of ritualistic sacrifices to supernatural beings informs the mythology and history of almost every culture to a staggering degree. Though relatively rare among most peoples today, the ancient Greeks, Romans, Hebrews, Egyptians, Aztecs, and Yoruba (to name just a few) regularly felt the need to assuage and honour their respective gods in a number of very systematic, colourful, violent, odd, and fascinating ways. In the distant past, China could also count itself amid similar ranks. As a continent of spirits, there too developed in ancient China an extremely elaborate system of sacrifice, and hierarchy of deities. And where this formed the basis for much of its mythology and history, so too did it later become, largely at the hands of Confucius, an indispensible component of its political and moral philosophy.A rather common trend among modern philosophers is to ignore the sacrificial and supernal within Confucianism because it is supposed to be a philosophy of man rather than of the spirits. However, what I show throughout this thesis is that sacrifices to the spirits are a defining aspect of Confucianism because of their role within the crafting of benevolence 仁—the moral zenith that defines the superior man or gentleman 君子. This process of becoming a Confucian gentleman is a remarkably complex one, characterized in part by sentiments of respect for elders 敬 and compliance with filial obligations 孝. While I do illustrate the conventional view that Confucianism is essentially humanist, it is nonetheless the case, strangely, that its religiosity informs its humanism.In Part One, my focus is primarily historical. Sketching an outline of the social, cultural, and political context of the time period in which Confucianism developed is essential to a proper understanding of why it took the shape that it did. In particular, I offer definitions and explore the nature of two critical concepts, namely sacrifice 祭 and supernatural beings (ghosts, spirits, and ancestors, respectively鬼, and 神, according to primary pre-Qin texts—most importantly the Classic of Rites (Li Ji 礼记). The contemporary research conducted on this topic typically ends there, and treats it as a purely historical issue (tackled mainly by historians, sinologists, sociologists and anthropologists). Yet the most important contribution of this work lies in Part Two.In Part Two, my argument takes a noticeably philosophical turn, using the historical foundations of Part One to interpret passages in the Analects 论语 that concern sacrifice and supernal entities. Throughout, I clarify the connections between a number of things, including sacrifice to the spirits, respect, filial piety, and benevolence. I also consider why, despite the fact that sacrifice to deities is a recurring theme within his philosophy, Confucius curiously didn’t endorse its open discussion. In concluding, it becomes clear how, despite the presence (and indeed importance) of the supernatural, Confucianism is essentially humanistic. As such, I show how the command to ’sacrifice as if present’ 祭如在 is actually much more about the human performers of the sacrifices rather than the supernal recipients.