Shan: The Relational Good

When asked what would be his first priority if given administration of a state, Confucius replied that it would be “to insure that names were used properly.” The emphasis placed on precise and true language in the Analects is unmistakable. It is the language used that gives structure and meaning to the ideas. Chinese and English are notoriously different languages between which it is difficult to translate. The difference in the moral terms in existence and in use in the two languages is indicative of the nature of the different moralities.

Shan is a term for “good” that can only be understood on a relational basis. Shan, a moral term, is a purely relational term. It is translated situationally as, “good at”, “good for” and “good in”. Ames and Rosemont translate it as many different terms, sometimes “truly adept”, sometimes “felicitous”. From the various terms with which shan has translated to English, its relative nature is revealed. From the essential noun “good” to the relational noun phrase “good at” to the adjective phrase “truly adept”, shan proves itself unpin-able. Though understood as a noun, on its own it cannot stand in the manner of English nouns. Rather, in the manner of an English verb it requires more to make it understandable. Like an English verb, shan cannot simply exist on its own as a meaningful statement.

The character for shan in a combination of the character for sheep (yang) and an abbreviation of the character for words (yan). Figuratively, and all Chinese should be understood in a figurative sense, one takes the meaning of speaking like a sheep. Sheep are gentle, so a sense is understood of speaking gently, perhaps carefully. Sheep are not thought of individually, being experienced for the most part in herds, so a sense is understood of goodness only being present in the presence of others, with consideration for others. Sheep are historically also ceremonially important as in sacrifice, so a sense is taken of ceremonial appropriateness and proper deference.

Used on a case-by-case basis, shan indicates no absolute morality with regards to behavior that is universally and unconditionally good in the Western sense. In The Analects, in Confuciansism, there exists nothing analogous to the Thomistic rules of rational behavior. For example Confucianism will talk about war, suggesting that a country should do its best to not got to war, but though there is a general feeling of aversion with regards to war, there is nothing in the way of a absolute prescription of how a country should act in the face of war, no list of qualifications for a just versus an unjust war. In Confucianism, Kant’s morality based on universalizable maxims would never arise. What is appropriate behavior with regards to one person is not necessarily appropriate with regards to another. The West takes the primary unit of existence to be the individual, and in sanctifying the individual seeks to nurture and protect him. A Western ethic, by identifying what is good and what is bad, seeks to describe what man ought to do. Classical Western ethics, based on Aristotelian ideas attempts to derive individual morality with respect to man’s highest end, his summum bonum. The Chinese ethic is, on a radically different bent, not individually based. The primary unit of existence is, instead, the society. The ultimate end is in no way individual; it lies in harmony. The good of man lies in fulfilling his piece of the whole. It is said that for the Chinese there is no person if there are not two people. Confucian moral prescriptions are suggestions for how to achieve harmony, more than they are hard-line oughts and ought-nots. Because society is composed of individual people with different roles and responsibilities and each individual person is a unique human, there can be no absolute terms of behavior. Instead, a person expresses himself uniquely within his role. His treatment of a particular role, even, is not absolute. It changes in relation to the other persons in the relationship. He is uniquely himself while fulfilling he role of parent to one child and his actions within that role will change with respect to another child. This emphasis on thoughtful and appropriate action places all importance on action as opposed to intention as is often done in Western ethics. One in the West is judged on what he intended to do as opposed to what he actually did. In the Confucian lexicon there seems to be no word for intention. There is what one says, and what one does. There is no possibility of the doctrine of double effect. To throw something out of harmony in an effort to bring other elements together, still means that as a whole society is out of order.

As time goes on, the nature of relationships change, the relationships themselves are created or fade away situationally. The relationship between friends becomes the relationship between lovers, or the relationship between a sixteen-year-old boy and his father eventually becomes the relationship between a forty-year-old man and his father. If a person is the sum of his relationships, and his relationships are always changing, the person himself is always changing and what can be termed “good”, shan, must be defined with respect to a given, unique situation. Harmony is in no way static. A person lives one cycle of life that transforms him from child to old man. As his life coincides with other lives, with other persons at different stages of their lifecycles, he draws on his experiences, draws on their experiences.

Confucius’s high regard for music and its association with ritual propriety can be understood in terms of this ultimate good. The parts of a musical piece shift constantly in relation to each other. The tenor line is the tenor line only in relation to the other musical parts. The pitch voiced at one time will not be the pitch voiced at another and though each line has its own singular sense and beauty, it can only be fully appreciated, and fully understood, when all parts are taken together.

Shan is a term that forms a net of meaning with other Confucuian moral terms. What is shan is relationally good, is situationally appropriate. In seeking the relational good we become people—we become human—and this striving for humanity brings us into relation with others. The authoritative conduct that comes as a result of taking responsibility for oneself, for being able to stand by one’s word, to back word with action, conduces to a society in harmony.