“Mencius on Becoming Human” (Jim Behuniak Jr., 2004) offers a philosophically rigorous and comparative interpretation of Mencius’ moral psychology, emphasizing the processual, developmental, and embodied nature of humanity in the Mencian worldview. Behuniak seeks to situate Mencius not as an essentialist or moral realist, but as a process thinker—and to read Mencius through the lens of American pragmatism and process philosophy, especially that of John Dewey and Alfred North Whitehead.
Here are the main points:
1.
Human Nature is Not Fixed, But a Dynamic Process
- Contrary to essentialist readings, Behuniak argues that Mencius did not see “human nature” (性, xìng) as a static essence, but as a capacity in process—a potential to become human.
- This becoming is shaped through experience, environment, and moral cultivation.
Human nature is not “what we are” but what we are in the process of becoming—a direction rather than a substance.
2.
The Four Beginnings (四端) as Proto-Ethical Tendencies
- Mencius famously described the “four beginnings” (compassion, shame, deference, and discernment of right/wrong) as the roots of the virtues.
- Behuniak interprets these not as innate moral truths but as proto-affective capacities—rudimentary moral feelings that require nurturing through ritual, education, and social interaction.
- They are like embodied impulses that, when cultivated, blossom into ethical behavior.
3.
Becoming Human is a Situated, Relational Task
- For Mencius, moral growth is not individualistic or transcendent, but embedded in human relationships and social contexts.
- Behuniak stresses the Confucian emphasis on embodied rituals (禮, lǐ), family life, and interpersonal resonance (感應, gǎn yìng).
- In this sense, to become human is to live well in relationship, shaped by context, history, and social roles.
4.
Process Thought as a Framework for Understanding Mencius
- Behuniak draws heavily on process philosophy (especially Whitehead) to frame Mencius as a thinker of emergence, change, and immanence.
- Moral truths are not eternal ideals but emergent properties of evolving life, where feeling, action, and reflection co-arise.
- This interpretation avoids both Western moral absolutism and postmodern relativism, situating Mencius as a contextual, participatory ethicist.
5.
Critique of Dualism and Moral Essentialism
- Behuniak critiques Western-style readings of Mencius that project Platonic or Christian dualisms (e.g., mind vs body, spirit vs matter).
- Instead, he argues for a holistic, embodied, and affective understanding of moral life—where mind and body, self and other, nature and nurture are co-constituting.
6.
Humanity is a Lifelong Practice
- For Mencius (and Behuniak), “becoming human” is never finished. It is a daily cultivation, marked by vulnerability, failure, and possibility.
- The model human (君子, jūnzǐ) is not a saint or a rule-follower, but a responsive and evolving person, grounded in compassion and shaped by life.
Summary
Jim Behuniak Jr.’s Mencius on Becoming Human presents:
- A non-essentialist, processual reading of Mencius
- A view of moral development as contextual, affective, embodied, and relational
- An interpretation that uses American pragmatism and process philosophy to situate Mencius in global philosophical dialogue
- A rejection of dualisms in favor of a Confucian ontology of interdependence and becoming
Would you like a comparative synthesis between this reading of Mencius and Winnicott’s or Kohut’s idea of the emergent self?
