Family-related Partiality: Communitarianism, Care Ethics and Early Confucianism

Abstract

This thesis attempts to investigate the issue of family-related partiality within the frameworks of three theories, communitarianism, care ethics, and early Confucianism. The examination of family-related partiality in each theory will be further distinguished into two kinds, the general version and the particular version of family-related partiality. While the general versions may reveal the similarities among these three theories in general, especially in relation to the issue of partiality, the particular versions appeal to particular characteristics for each theory. When we consider together the general and the particular version of family-related partiality, we may conclude that communitarianism provides relatively weaker support for partial concerns for family members while care ethics and early Confucianism both provide stronger support, despite different interpretations of caring and the consideration of other essential ideas in early Confucianism.