Moral Perfection as the Counterfeit of Virtue

It is sometimes assumed that the best people-those whom it would be appropriate to admire and emulate-ought to be free of all moral defects. Numerous contemporary scholars have attributed this assumption to the early Confucian philosophers with moral perfection said to be a necessary condition for sage-hood. Drawing upon the early Confucian literature I will argue in support of two claims. The first is that the early Confucians did not insist on the moral perfection of the sage; on the contrary, the sage was explicitly understood to be morally fallible. The second claim is that the early Confucians were right to reject moral perfection as a suitable ideal. I conclude with a discussion of the relative merits of taking "love of learning " (haoxue (sic))-rather than moral perfection-as one's ideal.