齊家之道，要在功夫

Gongfu is Essential

Abstract

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract in English only.

Professor Ni’s paper, “The Way of the Family and the Gongfu of Regulating the Family,” tells us that the right way to regulate the family, the country, and the world relies on self-cultivation. Prof. Ni’s insightful description indicates that there is a misunderstanding of “authority” and absolute obedience, and proposes a healthy way of understanding respect for authority as “helping those to grow well”. Prof. Ni is confident of the advantages of the traditional family-centered life. In response to the example regarding informed consent and family decision making, the authors comment that Professor Ni ultimately depends on the competent parent who can grasp the skill and art of “balance and right”. How, though, can we expect and rely on such a person existing? This point is the main argument of this review. The Confucian notion of family embodies many functions, including the excellent core values of “love, trust, safety, etc,” but family cannot hold the responsibility for everything, including totally surrogate decision making.

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