This thesis aims to reassess Rule Ethics which is based on subjectivity in its essence, and makes an inquiry in the test of time -- its appropriateness within the parameter of contemporary interpretation of The Analects. Through an observation of growing interests in Aristotle’s Virtue Ethics amongst academics, the paper advances to explore how The Analects is deciphered by Virtue Ethics and Roger T. Ames’s Confucian Role Ethics, followed by an overall comparison to Rule Ethics.
By analyzing and comparing these three systems of Ethics, this study attempts to find a more flexible and inclusive discourse of The Analects within post-modern context; in hopes of relating more significantly to the characteristic practices in Chinese philosophy. In the end, to bring about wide applications of Confucius''s teachings, and serves as nourishment to the predicament of our civilization today.