Confucian Political Philosophy: Dialogues on the State of the Field

Description

This book debates the values and ideals of Confucian politics―harmony, virtue, freedom, justice, order―and what these ideals mean for Confucian political philosophy today. The authors deliberate these eminent topics in five debates centering on recent innovative and influential publications in the field. Challenging and building on those works, the dialogues consider the roles of benevolence, family determination, public reason, distributive justice, and social stability in Confucian political philosophy. In response, the authors defend their views and evaluate their critics in turn. Taking up a broad range of crucial issues―autonomy, liberty, democracy, political legitimacy, human welfare―these author-meets-critic debates will appeal to scholars interested in political, comparative, and East Asian philosophy. Their interlaced themes weave a portrait of what is at stake in discussing Confucian values and theory. Most importantly, they engage and develop the state of the field of Confucian political philosophy today. Contents Contributors Introduction: Contemporary ConfucianPolitical Philosophy Part I: Harmony Chapter 1: Harmony as a Manifestation of the Central Confucian Concept of Benevolence: A Critique of Chenyang Li’s The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony 1 Introduction 2 Benevolence Is the Most Important Concept in Confucianism 2.1 Li’s View on the Centrality of Harmony in Confucianism 2.2 A Methodological Reflection 2.3 Benevolence Is the Most Important Concept in Neo-Confucianism 2.3.1 The Selection of Emphasis in Li’s Sources 2.3.2 Benevolence as the Most Important Concept 2.3.3 Some Challenges to Li’s Textual Interpretations 3 The Most Important Concept to Be Promoted in the Contemporary World Is Benevolence Instead of Harmony 3.1 The Theoretical Advantages of Benevolence Over Harmony in Ethical Encounters 3.2 The Practical Advantages of Benevolence Over Harmony in Ethical Encounters 4 Conclusion References Chapter 2: Harmony and Ren: A Response to Leung Yat-hung’s Critique of The Confucian Philosophy of Harmony 1 Introduction 2 What Is he 和? 3 What Is ren 仁? 4 Addressing Issues Raised 4.1 Is he the Central Concept of Confucian Philosophy? 4.2 Interpretations of the Wuxing 4.3 Whether Placing ren as More Important Than he Has More Advantage 4.4 The Standing of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism in the Tradition of Confucianism 4.5 Are There Eternal Pre-Set Moral Principles? 5 Conclusion References Part II: Family Determination Chapter 3: On Family Determination in Reconstructionist Confucianism 1 Introduction 2 Reconstructionist Confucianism on Family Determination 3 Examining the Textual Evidence for Family Determination 4 Fan’s Justification for Family Determination 5 Conclusion References Chapter 4: Which Confucianism? And What Liberty? 1 Introduction: The Theme of Reconstructionist Confucianism 2 Textual Support for Family Determination 3 Confucian Individual Liberty 4 Conclusion References Part III: Public Reason Chapter 5: On Confucian Public Reason 1 Introduction 2 Kim’s Perfectionist Reinterpretation of Political Liberalism and Reconstruction of Public Reason 3 What Equality, Whose Liberty? 4 Alternatives 4.1 Alternative One: Confucianism Within Political Liberalism 4.2 Alternative Two: Constructivist Confucian Public Reason 5 Conclusion References Chapter 6: Confucian Public Reason Beyond Rawls 1 Introduction 2 Why the Rawlsian Critique of Public Reason Confucianism? 3 Illiberal Democracy? 4 Confucian Initial Position? 5 Conclusion References Part IV: Justice Chapter 7: Distributive Justice in Pre-Qin Confucianism: Equality, Priority, and Sufficiency 1 Introduction 2 Interpretation of the Analects 3 Turning to Mencius and Xunzi 4 Conclusion References Chapter 8: Thinking About Justice and Interpreting the Analects References Part V: Order and Virtue Chapter 9: Virtue-Based Politics: A Dialogue with Loubna El Amine’s New Interpretation of Classical Confucian Political Thought 1 Introduction 2 El Amine on Political Order 2.1 Political Order But Not Virtue as the Criteria of Successful Politics 2.2 Virtue 2.3 Welfare 2.4 Political Order 2.5 Government for the People 3 Why Political Leaders Ought to Be Virtuous 3.1 Ethics-Based Political Theory: What Does It Mean? 3.2 Virtue as a Necessary Condition of Good Politics 3.3 The Intrinsic Value of Virtues for Political Rulers 3.4 The Criterion for Political Participation 4 Why Political Leaders Ought to Cultivate Virtues of the Common People 4.1 Welfare 4.2 Every Person Has Their Own Worth 4.3 The Relationship Between Welfare, Political Order and Virtue 4.4 Sense of Shame 5 The Internal Relationship Between the “Means” and the “End” – Xunzi’s Political Philosophy 5.1 Criticism of Mozi 5.2 Ritual and Moral Principles (Liyi) as Necessary and Sufficient Conditions of Political Order 6 Conclusion References Chapter 10: The Loftiness of Political Order: A Response to Chan Leong References Index