228 228 Care and Justice: Reading Mencius, Kant, and Gilligan Comparatively (Bloomsbury Research Handbook to Chinese Philosophy and Gender, ed. Ann Pang-White, 2016) CHENYANG LI Two decades have passed since philosophers began to investigate intensely the intricate relations between Confucian ethics, on the one hand, and care ethics and justice ethics, on the other. Two streams of this trend of study have drawn particular attention. One is on the relation between Confucian ethics and feminist care ethics; we can call it the Confucian-care ethics stream. The other is on the relation between Confucian ethics and justice ethics; we can call it the Confucian-justice ethics stream. In the Confucian-care ethics stream, discussions have been mainly on similarities and differences between Confucian ethics and feminist care ethics, and their affinity or opposition (e.g., Li, 1994, 2000; Star, 2002). In the Confucian-justice ethics stream, important issues have included whether Confucian ethics embraces, or should embrace, universal values and impartiality. In recent years, some scholars have argued that Confucian ethics integrates both care and justice (e.g., Tao, 2000; Wee, 2003). In this chapter, I will defend a view of the relationship between the concepts of care and justice and the relationship between care ethics and justice ethics on the basis of the notion of “configuration of values,” 1 and show why care ethics and justice ethics cannot be integrated into one ethics. I will support this view by re-reading Confucian thinker Mencius 2 , justice ethicist Immanuel Kant, and feminist thinker Carol Gilligan, comparatively. I Advocating Confucian ethics as embracing both care and justice, some scholars have attempted to show that we find both of these values in Confucian ethics. Namely, Confucians embrace both care/responsibility with gradations, on the one hand, and impartiality and universal obligations on the other. For example, through a thought-provoking study of Mencius, Cecilia Wee has argued that “Mencius inhabits the ‘feminine’ perspective insofar as his morality is grounded in care and responsibility. However, he develops from this a philosophy of government which recognizes the need for impartial justice to apply among citizens” (Wee, 2003, p. 3). On the basis of this evidence, Wee concludes, “the standard picture in