Description
Over the last century, Confucianism has been searching for a place in the modern political world. This ancient tradition was once the philosophical cornerstone upon which powerful political orders were built, but the collapse of monarchies in the twentieth century has removed Confucianism from its institutional manifestations. And despite the liberal turn of Confucianism in the 1950s that sought to adopt liberal democracy as the tradition's political future, there appears to be an increasing revival of the authoritarian strands of thought among Confucian scholarship. In Towards Confucian Republicanism, Elton Chan develops a theoretical framework of Confucianism for the twenty-first century. Chan argues that liberal Confucians must take seriously the internal authoritarian leanings of Confucianism--and then argue against such strands of the Confucian tradition. He shows that Confucians are keen on concentrating power in the hands of the virtuous not merely for promoting order and material livelihood, but also for general moral cultivation. Yet this use of political and moral hierarchy as institutional platforms for perfectionist development is self-defeating. To counter the authoritarian turn in Confucian scholarship, Chan articulates a vision of a hybrid political order that brings together Confucianism and republican democracy. He makes the case that Confucianism stands a much higher chance of achieving its political and moral ideals--good governance and collective virtuous cultivation--when merged with republicanism. Covering a uniquely wide range of Confucian classics and outlining his novel vision for Confucianism, Chan addresses pressing issues in contemporary political philosophy, including virtue politics, balance of power, civic education, public reason constraint, and the role of civil society. In so doing, Chan convincingly argues that to materialize Confucianism's ideals is to collectively practice democracy as a virtuous way of life.
Table of Contents
AcknowledgmentsIntroduction: For Better or Worse: The Return of Confucianism to the Modern WorldChapter 1. Awakening the People: A Mission of the Sage KingsChapter 2. Anyone Can Be a Sage: The Ideal Theory of JiaohuaChapter 3. As Virtuous as Heaven and Earth: The Ideal Confucian Man Chapter 4. "Heaven and Earth Need Not Worry Like the Sage": Confronting Non-ideal RealityChapter 5. To Reform the People: The Transformative Non-ideal Theory of JiaohuaChapter 6. From Non-ideal to No Ideal: Second-Best Theory and Its FailureChapter 7. Toward Confucian Republicanism I: A New Non-ideal Proposal for JiaohuaChapter 8. Toward Confucian Republicanism II: The Confucian Soul of a Republican CitizenChapter 9. Cultivation without Oppression: The Public Reason Proviso for Confucian Republican DemocracyChapter 10. Civil Society: The Heart of the Confucian RepublicConclusion: The Journey of Confucian DemocracyNotesBibliographyIndex
