The Dimensions of Moral Creativity

The creative aspect of moral life is explored in this book by focusing on the role of paradigmatic individuals. Such individuals are seen as concrete embodiments of moral principles and ideals. Professor Cua's approach is transcultural, comparing the Confucian conception of paradigmatic individuals with the conceptions of classical Greek thought, Buddhism, Christianity, and modern Western ethics, anthropology, and psychology.

The valuative experience of an individual moral agent is viewed by the author in terms of three focal notions: form of life, way of life, and style of life. Form of life is the existential matrix. Way of life manifests how an individual orders and integrates his emotions, desires, needs, and aspirations. Style of life encompasses idiosyncratic features of identity. All three are partly personal, partly communal.

Given everyman's form-way-style of life and consequent apprehension of exemplary individuals, how can we interpret his moral ideals? One way is to regard them as norms with perceptive implications. Another way is to conceive of moral ideals as quasi-aesthetic themes: for example, Plato's Good, Christian agape, Confucian jen. An ideal norm is a blueprint for action, whereas an ideal theme is a point of orientation for the moral life as a whole. Both are exemplified in paradigmatic individuals.

The normative or rule-making dimension of morality can be understood through systematic theoretical analysis, but understanding its creative dimension is akin to artistic appreciation. Understanding the moral life as a whole, including its claims to justification, therefore requires a harmony of what the 18th century called reason and sentiment.