In this paper, I will discuss Confucian moral psychology of the human heart from the perspectives of embodied moral emotion. Unlike the other theories of ethics, Confucian moral philosophy is founded upon the embodied human heart that develops into the moral excellence of the ideal human character. Based on this embodied and affective foundation, Confucian masters combine emotion and virtue in their explanation of moral disposition (virtue), learning (moral development), and moral community. Whether this particular combination of emotion and virtue can be regarded as a variant of virtue ethics or moral sentimentalism remains to be seen but it is clear that the way moral

emotions are described, characterized, and discussed in Confucian moral philosophy is very unique and, for that reason, Confucian moral philosophy warrants its own school of moral philosophy and moral psychology: it is a moral tradition of the excellence in the human person founded upon the embodied emotion of the human heart. In the following sections, I will compare and contrast different models of moral cognition and carefully search for the possibility of embodied moral psychology, particularly in the context of Confucian tradition. I will use Mencius’s discussion of moral emotions as a testing ground to see how the embodied approach to the human heart can provide a viable and unique model of moral philosophy and moral psychology.