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This leads us to inquire the third and the last dimension of human dignity: the emotive dimension, which contains both positive and negative aspects.
First, as stated earlier, the quality of justice in a Confucian gentleman gives him the sense of moral independence, andallows him to correspond with the Way of Heaven without having to blindly follow others.
This presupposes a considerable degree of confidence in his own moral righteousness, which is to be exhibited in easy but dignified outlook that naturally commands respect from others.In the words of Confucius, one becomes a gentleman “when he maintains a dignified ease without being arrogant; when he is majestic without being fierce”.
As he explains further, “Whether
has to do with many people or few, or with things great or small, he does not dare to indicate any disrespect;--is not this to maintain a dignified ease without any arrogance?He adjusts his clothes and cap, and throws a dignity into his looks, so that, thus dignified, he is looked at with awe;--is not this to be majestic without being fierce?”
The “dignified ease” (Tai) here stands for an appearance of magnificent composure that comes from the gentleman’s confidence in his own worth.
Second, negatively, a gentleman refrains from injustice because he feels the shame in doing unjust things to others--things that do not worth his effort and the commission of which would make him feel degraded.“Hence a gentleman feels no shame upon self-examination, and brings no embarrassment to his own will”.
And freedom from any sense of moral shame gives him both the confidence and courage that are found lacking in a littleman.The conscious feeling of self-respect within oneself, as reflected in the sense of shame, distinguishes a gentleman from a littleman.While a littleman can do anything, however low, without feeling degraded, a gentleman is fully conscious of the worth inherent in him and will do only those things that are consistent with or can help actualize his worth.
For this reason he regards himself highly.
If a gentleman committed a certain action that was not worthy of his nobility, then he merely degraded himself to a level lower than his intrinsic moral quality--a degradation for which he would feel shameful.Thus, Confucius insists that a gentleman should “maintain the sense of shame in his own conduct”;
those who would do anything without feeling the shame lack the very moral quality to do the right thing.As Mencius puts it aptly: “A man must first know what he ought not to do, before he can do what he ought to do”.
And both Confucius and Mencius have furnished examples for the kind of things that will make a gentleman feel shameful.“A gentleman”, for example, “thinks it shameful if his words exceed his deeds”,
because he would then make false claim on something which he did not do.And “a gentleman feels shameful if the prestige he receives exceeds his virtue”.
Likewise, “it is shameful if, serving as an official in the court, he cannot practice the principle of good government” because he would thenreceive many benefits for doing nothing;
for Confucius, “a good minister should serve his king through the Way and, finding it impossible, retire”.
It may be objected that the sentiments for dignity is not universal, but present only in those cultivated gentlemen who have succeeded in developing their innate virtues.Most often, however, even for those who do not believe in human virtues or make any conscious efforts to cultivate them, they nevertheless feel offended when they think that they are treated less than what they deserve, implying that they do attribute some worth to themselves--though perhaps unconsciously and inconsistently.This is particularly obvious when they are mistreated by others.Even a beggar would feel degraded if someone throws food on the floor for him to pick up, as if the latter were feeding an animal.
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