Why Confucianism Matters for the Ethics of Technology

There are a number of recent attempts to introduce Confucian values to ethical analysis of technology. These works have not, however, attended sufficiently to one central aspect of Confucianism, namely ritual (“Li”). Li is central to Confucian ethics, and it has been suggested that the emphasis on Li in Confucian ethics is what distinguishes Confusion ethics from other ethical traditions. Any discussion of Confucian ethics for technology, therefore, remains incomplete without accounting for Li. This chapter aims to elaborate on the concept of Confucian Li and discuss its relevance to ethics of technology. Particularly, by referring to Li’s communicative, formative, and aesthetic functions, this chapter formulates an approach to ethics of technology with an emphasis on community, performance, and the aesthetic, and it demonstrates how this approach proceeds with the ethical analysis of technology. In doing so, the chapter attempts to answer the question of why Confucianism matters in ethics of technology.