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<p>The are two necessary presuppositions of transcendent moral perfectionism: moral failure is always avoidable, and it is possible to know when a response to a given situation can never be improved upon. Following up on my previous essay, “Moral Perfection as the Counterfeit of Virtue,” and replying to the critical responses to that essay offered by Andrew Lambert, Hagop Sarkissian, and Aaron Stalnaker, I argue that transcendent perfectionism is not compatible with either the <i>Mengzi</i> 孟子 or <i>Xunzi&#xa0;</i>荀子. I locate, in these texts, three different sources of the sage’s inevitable moral failure: irresolvable conflicts between moral values, insurmountable barriers to moral success, and the incessant novelty of life that requires the sage to perpetually learn and improve. I conclude with a brief depiction of the type of moral perfectionism I believe can be attributed to the early Confucians, and an outline of its moral psychology.</p>

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The Inevitability of Moral Failure: A Response to Andrew Lambert, Hagop Sarkissian, and Aaron Stalnaker

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2025年10月15日

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  • Thorian R. Harris

摘要

The are two necessary presuppositions of transcendent moral perfectionism: moral failure is always avoidable, and it is possible to know when a response to a given situation can never be improved upon. Following up on my previous essay, “Moral Perfection as the Counterfeit of Virtue,” and replying to the critical responses to that essay offered by Andrew Lambert, Hagop Sarkissian, and Aaron Stalnaker, I argue that transcendent perfectionism is not compatible with either the Mengzi 孟子 or Xunzi 荀子. I locate, in these texts, three different sources of the sage’s inevitable moral failure: irresolvable conflicts between moral values, insurmountable barriers to moral success, and the incessant novelty of life that requires the sage to perpetually learn and improve. I conclude with a brief depiction of the type of moral perfectionism I believe can be attributed to the early Confucians, and an outline of its moral psychology.