Confucian Democracy and Equality

Philosophy East and West, 2018

2010

2021

In recent years, Philosophy Departments at universities in China and worldwide have experienced a renaissance in discussion on Confucian thought. As the country draws from indigenous traditions, rather than leaning completely on the importation of Western liberalism and Marxism, Confucianism has critical implications for politics, ethics, and law in modern China. At the same time, democracy never left the conversation. Democratic concepts cannot be ignored and must be disposed of, acknowledged, or incorporated. The relationship between Confucianism and democracy has been described by various authors as one of conflict, critique, compatibility, and hybridity. In this article, we examine a compatibility model, in which compatibility between Confucianism and democracy can be divided into four types: soft, hard, coexistence, and integration. We examine compatibility by examining “what is compatible” and “how compatibility can be achieved” so as to design speculative models for what a co...

Against those who consider "Confucian Democracy" an oxymoron, admirers of Confucianism, including Western scholars, have argued that Confucian democracy offers a viable alternative, even a superior alternative, to liberal democracy. This paper presents Confucian democracy against the background of the "politics of civilization," wherein Confucianism has been appropriated to serve authoritarianism. To offer East Asians who are increasingly open to diverse global cultural influences a way out of the false dilemma of having to choose between their Confucian heritage and a democratic way of life, Confucian democracy modernizes Confucianism with democratic values and modifies democracy with Confucian concerns. Which aspects in this complex comparative political conception are emphasized depends on the specific context. Through a critique of Daniel A. Bell"s proposal in "Taking Elitism Serious: Democracy with Confucian Characteristics" in his book, Beyond Liberal Democracy, I argue that the current circumstances of East Asia makes it a pragmatic priority to emphasize the value of equality in Confucian democracy, and to qualify the praise for Confucian meritocracy.

The Journal of Politics, 2017

In contemporary Confucian political theory, there is surprisingly little effort among the theorists to illuminate the value of democracy. When they do on rare occasions, their focus is largely on democracy's instrumental contribution to Confucian goods. In this paper, I argue that, given democracy's dual aspects as a political system and as a way of life, it has both instrumental and intrinsic values, and insomuch as it is a kind of democracy, Confucian democracy, too, ought to possess both values. Central to my argument is that, once introduced and justified instrumentally as a political system, democracy in a Confucian society attains its noninstrumental value as it becomes consolidated as a democratic-Confucian way of life in which democratic institutions, rights, and practices are socially mediated by and negotiated with Confucian values, civilities, and moral sentiments. I present my overarching normative framework in terms of pragmatic Confucian democracy. C ontemporary Confucian political theory largely re- volves around the compatibility between Confucianism and democracy, but quite surprisingly, theorists in this field rarely discuss the philosophical reasons for their interest in democracy. Confucian political theorists tend to take certain values of democracy for granted, which somehow requires creative "mixing" with Confucianism, which they find morally attractive (hence, styling their normative political theories as "Confucian"). 1 This tendency is widely found not only among Confucian participatory democrats (Angle 2012; Hall and Ames 1999; Kim 2014; Tan 2004) but, more interestingly, among the advocates of Confucian meritocracy (or "Confucian meritocrats") as well. Despite their rejection of some core democratic principles, such as popular sovereignty, political equality, and the right to political participation, virtually all Confucian meritocrats embrace democracy's minimum institutional apparatus, namely, regular and competitive elections that select members of the low (or the lowest) house in their proposed bicameral (or tricameral) legislature, without explaining their philosophical basis for acknowledging this limited value of democracy (Bai 2013;

institutions. This gives rise to a mixed model for rethinking the relationship between democracy and Confucianism. Unfortunately the mainstream thinking on Confucianism and democracy is still confined to either the conflict or compatibility model. Importantly the last two decades have witnessed the development of post, critical, or new Confucianism. 4 With the revival of Confucianism in the 1990s 5 and in particular in the context of the rise of China, some Chinese have become more confident in their tradition of Confucianism than before.They have reflected upon and criticized electoral democracy and developed a new critical model of rethinking the relationship between democracy and Confucianism.

2006

The subtle and complex relation between Confucianism and modern democracy has long been a controversial issue, and it is now again becoming a topical issue in the process of political modernization in contemporary China. This paper argues that there are some quite basic early Confucian values and principles that are not only compatible with democracy, but also may become the theoretic foundation of modern democracy in China. Early Confucianism considers ‘the people’s will ’ as the direct representative of ‘Heaven’s will’, with which it legitimizes political power. Confucian theory of ‘human nature is good ’ endorses equal potential good for every man. These principles can be used in reasoning towards a system of democracy. In terms of decision-making, the Confucian ‘Doctrine of the Mean ’ accords with certain democratic principles. The independent personality and committed individualism advocated by early Confucianism is a required civic merit in a democratic society. These fundamen...

Philosophy Compass, 2012

Confucianism's long historical association with despotism has cast doubts on its compatibility with democracy, and raise questions about its relevance in contemporary societies increasingly dominated by democratic aspirations. ''Confucian democracy'' has been described as a ''contradiction in terms'' and Asian politicians have appropriated Confucianism to justify resistance to liberalization and democratization. There has been a lively debate over the question of whether democracy can be found in Confucianism, from ancient texts such as the Analects and Mencius, to Confucian institutions such as those recommended by Song dynasty Huang Zongxi. Philosophers have examined similarities and differences between Western ideas, such as autonomy, liberty, and rights, that are central to democratic theories on the one hand and Confucian ideas of virtue, ren (humaneness), yi (appropriateness), li (rite), zhi (wisdom), exemplary person and authority. Scholars have studied the biographical accounts of prominent Confucians to understand the Confucian ideal person and society. Works arguing that there are elements of democracy in Confucianism, or that some Confucian ideas could provide the basis for a contemporary Confucian democracy, differ in the kind of democracy they choose as models. Liberal democracy was the model of earlier works; with increasing criticisms of liberal democracy in the past decades, a growing number of works arguing for Confucian democracy seek alternatives to liberal democracies, many proposing some kind of communitarian democracy as having affinity with the Confucian philosophical orientation. Besides conceptions of democracy that view it in terms of political systems, Dewey's conception of democracy as the idea of community and primarily a moral ideal has also inspired attempts to reconstruct Confucian democracy.

2021

This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.

Philosophy East and West, 2017

In the past two decades, normative Confucian political theory has emerged as one of the most vibrant subfields of political theory, spawning a variety of philosophical thoughts, normative ideas, and institutional suggestions that are relevant to the modern societal context of Confucian East Asia. Ideas such as "Confucian democ