Abstract: As a most important social and psychological theme, the idea of responsibility expresses specific values, and reflects the typical cultural-related characteristics. Different from Western responsibility viewpoints originated from an individualism background, traditional Confucianism places emphasis on exploring the role of responsibility in relational ethics systems. According to Confucianism, it is not subjectivity of individual but “harmony of man with nature” that constitutes the logical starting point of responsibility inquiry. Upon such premise, Confucian understandings of responsibility peculiarly exhibit the structural feature of “rationalizing human beings practice abiding by natural rules”. On this account, traditional Confucianism bases the concept of responsibility on plain blood kinship, and forms “ritual and fitness” principles, to which “the filial piety” is central. Furthermore, the extensive application of those principles to the whole society is suggested as well.
Practically speaking, responsibility is essential in individual undertaking the role of the master over the mass world, and also in the realization of Confucian moral ideals returning to the real life. The main contents of such responsibility are as follows: (1) the benevolence in the course of “Practicing humanitarianism”, which originates from family ethics and develops to cover all kinds of social relationships, (2) “Wang Dao”, the faith on “respecting morality through protecting people”, i.e. realizing the ideal of “Ren Yi” by serving for social governance, thus constituting central values of social politics in Confucianism, (3) the consciousness of concerns about the state and people, which comprises two aspects, about both the practice of “ritual and fitness” principles by oneself and the ritual governance of the whole nation. Confucianism further states that only with the development and transcendence of personality can the above contents of responsibility be achieved, and that under the guidance of the philosophy of “sacrificing oneself for others”, individual is molded in a wide-range relational background.
As for the cultivation of responsibility character, Confucianism emphasizes that it firstly is a process of internalizing the external rules through the “sincerity” and “respect” training. However, the promotion of inner moral knowledge and experiences is not the ultimate goal. For Confucianism, “unity of knowledge with practice” is most crucial during the process of cultivation, which, to a large extent, will help to create a responsible life style. Although such process is mainly dependent on some subjective factors, there are still some external intervention mechanisms, among which moral education and penalties are typical, that provide necessary supplements.

Key words: Confucianism, responsibility, harmony of man with nature, “ritual and fitness” principle, unity of knowledge with practice