I usually think about ethics in utilitarian and deontological grounds. It is useful to be reminded there is a virtue ethics dimension to the space too.
I agree that ethical discussion in the West tends to fall under deontology, utilitarianism or virtue ethics. There is another ethical framework which doesn’t have a standard name in English since you don’t see it much in Western philosophy. I like the name wuwei (無為) which roughly translates into “effortless action”. The idea is to act naturally.
Wuwei doesn’t constitute utilitarianism because it is focused on the present instant instead of some future result. It doesn’t qualify as deontology because all rules can be broken in the right context. To classify wuwei as utilitarian or deontological is to broaden the definition of “utilitarian” or “deontological” to meaninglessness.
Wuwei could be considered a quirky form of virtue ethics, except virtue ethics implies dualism (right and wrong) whereas wuwei is non-dualist (without right and wrong).
I usually think about ethics in utilitarian and deontological grounds. It is useful to be reminded there is a virtue ethics dimension to the space too.
I agree that ethical discussion in the West tends to fall under deontology, utilitarianism or virtue ethics. There is another ethical framework which doesn’t have a standard name in English since you don’t see it much in Western philosophy. I like the name wuwei (無為) which roughly translates into “effortless action”. The idea is to act naturally.
Wuwei doesn’t constitute utilitarianism because it is focused on the present instant instead of some future result. It doesn’t qualify as deontology because all rules can be broken in the right context. To classify wuwei as utilitarian or deontological is to broaden the definition of “utilitarian” or “deontological” to meaninglessness.
Wuwei could be considered a quirky form of virtue ethics, except virtue ethics implies dualism (right and wrong) whereas wuwei is non-dualist (without right and wrong).
It does seem like there’s a Western strain of wuwei in the form of the Western Pragmatists, but they tend to be left out of the discussion.