ABSTRACT
MAATIAN ONTOLOGY <::::>.J1~~~ ~n~~ 1J1ItJrI I I<::::>~PI I I
Cua (1988, 292) argues that one of the main tasks of moral theory is critical attention to moral metaphysics. Comparing this concept to Kant's (1959, 7) "metaphysics" of morals which "is meant to investigate the ideas and principles of pure will," he suggests a task of investigating the metaphysical presuppositions of a moral tradition. He thus defmes moral metaphysics as "an inquiry into the underlying conception of a moral tradition in terms of its worldview or vision of the relation between the world of human affairs and the natural order." For Confucianism, Tao is that conceptual focus for such an inquiry (Hall and Ames 1987, 226ft). In the Maatian tradition, Maat is such a point of orientation both for ethics and ontology of the tradition. In fact, it is the ground of their interrelatedness. This chapter, then, will offer a critical discussion of Maatian ontology and its interrelatedness to Maatian ethics, especially in terms of its serving as the locus of metaphysical presumptions which undergird and inform the Maatian ethical tradition.
