Sexual tools rather than perfect partners : a reconsideration of sex robots

In Chapter 11 “sex robots” of the book Contemporary Medicine and Confucian Thought, through the review of articles by three scholars, Fan Ruiping proposed his view on sex robots from a Confucian perspective, that is, sex robots cannot and should not be regarded as perfect partners for humans. This viewpoint may face a series of challenges. Challenge one : in the future, robots with realistic human appearances may evolve to a stage where they can not only satisfy users’ sexual needs but also provide emotional value and do household chores. Isn’t this kind of robot that combines multiple functions still considered perfect? Challenge two : since Confucianism opposes viewing sex robots as perfect partners, it is unlikely that Confucianism will support users who are unwilling to establish a partner relationship with real humans due to their addiction to the experience brought by sex robots. However, the question is how to avoid the addictive use of sex robots. Challenge three : can sex robots, which are only used as tools, be accepted by Confucianism for daily use between human partners? Attempt to respond to the above challenges from a Confucian perspective.