Confucian value and democratic value

Journal of Value Inquiry

Volumn 31, Issue 2, 1997, Pages 183-193

  Li, Chenyang ^a  

^a MONMOUTH COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0346442349     PISSN: 00225363     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1004260324239     Document Type: Article

References (41)

1. Samuel P. Huntington, "The clash of civilizations," Foreign Affairs, 72:3 (Summer 1993), pp. 22-49.
2. Ibid.
3. For different versions of democracy, see C.B. Macpherson, The Real World of Democracy (New York: Oxford University Press, 1972).
4. Joseph A. Schumpeter, Capitalism, Socialism, and Democracy, 2nd edn. (New York: Harper, 1947), p. 269.
5. Francis Fukuyama, "The primacy of culture," Journal of Democracy, 6:1 (January 1995), pp. 7-14.
6. Jürgen Domes, "China's Modernization and the Doctrine of Democracy," in Sun Yat-Sen's Doctrine in the Modern World, ed. Chu-yuan Cheng (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1989), pp. 201-224.
7. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America, vol. 1 (New York: Schocken Books, 1974), p. 320.
8. For some liberal views on what kind of democracy China needs, see Hua Shiping, "All roads lead to democracy: A critical analysis of the writings of three Chinese reformist intellectuals," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, (January-March 1992), pp. 43-58; and Yu-sheng Lin, "Reluctance to modernize: The influence of Confucianism on China's search for political modernity," in Confucianism and Modernization: A Symposium, ed. Joseph P. L. Jiang (Taipei, Freedom Council, 1987), pp. 21-33.
9. For some liberal views on what kind of democracy China needs, see Hua Shiping, "All roads lead to democracy: A critical analysis of the writings of three Chinese reformist intellectuals," Bulletin of Concerned Asian Scholars, (January-March 1992), pp. 43-58; and Yu-sheng Lin, "Reluctance to modernize: The influence of Confucianism on China's search for political modernity," in Confucianism and Modernization: A Symposium, ed. Joseph P. L. Jiang (Taipei, Freedom Council, 1987), pp. 21-33.
10. The relation between democracy on the one hand and Taoism and Buddhism on the other is complex and cannot be adequately dealt with in this essay. Confucianism, the predominant value system in Chinese culture, is my main concern here.
11. For the view that Confucianism is democratic, see Leonard Shihlien Hsü, The Political Philosophy of Confucianism (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), particularly Chapter IX: Democracy and Representation, pp. 174-197; Huang Chun-chieh and Wu Kuangming, "Taiwan and the Confucian aspiration: Toward the twenty-first century," in Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, ed. Stevan Harrell and Huang Chun-chieh (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994), pp. 69-87; and more recently, Lee Teng-hui, "Chinese culture and political renewal," The Journal of Democracy, 6:4 (October 1995), pp. 3-8.
12. For the view that Confucianism is democratic, see Leonard Shihlien Hsü, The Political Philosophy of Confucianism (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), particularly Chapter IX: Democracy and Representation, pp. 174-197; Huang Chun-chieh and Wu Kuangming, "Taiwan and the Confucian aspiration: Toward the twenty-first century," in Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, ed. Stevan Harrell and Huang Chun-chieh (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994), pp. 69-87; and more recently, Lee Teng-hui, "Chinese culture and political renewal," The Journal of Democracy, 6:4 (October 1995), pp. 3-8.
13. For the view that Confucianism is democratic, see Leonard Shihlien Hsü, The Political Philosophy of Confucianism (New York: Harper & Row, 1975), particularly Chapter IX: Democracy and Representation, pp. 174-197; Huang Chun-chieh and Wu Kuangming, "Taiwan and the Confucian aspiration: Toward the twenty-first century," in Cultural Change in Postwar Taiwan, ed. Stevan Harrell and Huang Chun-chieh (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1994), pp. 69-87; and more recently, Lee Teng-hui, "Chinese culture and political renewal," The Journal of Democracy, 6:4 (October 1995), pp. 3-8.
14. Wing-Tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1963), p. 81.
15. Sun Yat-sen, "First lecture on democracy," in The Teachings of the Nation-Founding Father [Guo Fu Yi Jiao] (Taiwan: Cultural Book Inc., 1984), Section 3, p. 70.
16. Shu-hsien Liu, Confucianism and Modernization [Ru Jia Si Xiang Yu Xian Dai Hua], ed. Jing Hai-Feng (Beijing: Chinese Broadcasting and TV Publishing House, 1992), p. 19.
17. Female monarchs were evidently not a possibility at Mencius's time.
18. Lin Yutang, My Country and My People (New York: The John Day Company Books 1939), p. 206.
19. Other liberal Confucian philosophers like Huang Zongxi (1610-1695) were much less influential in the society. For some marginal liberal elements in Confucian tradition, see Wm. Theodore de Barry, The Liberal Tradition in China (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press and New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), and his "Neo-Confucianism and human rights," in Human Rights and the World's Religions, ed. Leroy S. Rouner (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988), pp. 183-198
20. Other liberal Confucian philosophers like Huang Zongxi (1610-1695) were much less influential in the society. For some marginal liberal elements in Confucian tradition, see Wm. Theodore de Barry, The Liberal Tradition in China (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press and New York: Columbia University Press, 1983), and his "Neo-Confucianism and human rights," in Human Rights and the World's Religions, ed. Leroy S. Rouner (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988), pp. 183-198
21. Liang Shu-ming, "Elements of Chinese culture [Zhong Guo Wen Hua Yao Yi]," Chapter 2, Section 5; in Collected Works of Liang Shu-ming, vol. 3 (Jinan, China: Shandoing People's Publishing House, 1990), p. 48.
22. Mou Tsung-san, "Preface to Philosophy of History," in Reconstruction of Moral Idealism, ed. Zheng Jiadong (Beijing: China Broadcasting TV Publishing House, 1992), pp. 128-132.
23. Ibid., p. 15.
24. Shu-hsien Liu, op. cit., pp. 17-40.
25. See Henry Rosemont Jr., "Why take rights seriously? A Confucian critique," in Human Rights and the World Religions, ed. Leroy Rouner (Notre Dame Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1988), pp. 167-182.
26. Confucius, Analects, 12:1, trans. D.C. Lau (New York: Penguin Books, 1979), p. 112.
27. See Fung Yu-lan, "China's road to freedom [Xin Shi Lun]," Chapter 4: On The Family and State, in Collected Work of Fung Yu-lan, ed. Huang Kejian and Wu Xiaolong (Beijing: Qun-Yan Publishers, 1993), pp. 270-280. Also Liang Shu-min, op. cit., pp. 19-24.
28. See Fung Yu-lan, "China's road to freedom [Xin Shi Lun]," Chapter 4: On The Family and State, in Collected Work of Fung Yu-lan, ed. Huang Kejian and Wu Xiaolong (Beijing: Qun-Yan Publishers, 1993), pp. 270-280. Also Liang Shu-min, op. cit., pp. 19-24.
29. Wing-Tsit Chan, op. cit., p. 41.
30. Ibid., p. 40.
31. Ibid., p. 69.
32. See Michael Walzer, "Philosophy and democracy," Political Theory, 9:3 (August 1981), pp. 379-399.
33. See Yu Rubo, "On the Confucian thought of Great Unity [Rujia Da Yitong Sixiang Jianyi], "The Academic Journal of Qilu [Qilu Xuekan], No. 1 (1995), pp. 51-54.
34. Confucius, Analects 3:14, op. cit., p. 69.
35. Quoted from Fung Yu-lan's A History of Chinese Philosophy vol. 1 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1952), p. 370.
36. Henry Rosement, Jr., A Chinese Mirror: Moral Reflections on Political Economy and Society (La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 1991).
37. Samuel P. Huntington, The Third Wave: Democratization in the Late Twentieth Century (Norman, Okla.: University of Oklahoma Press, 1991), p. 310.
38. Francis Fukuyama, "The end of history?," The National Interest, 16 (Summer 1989), pp. 3-18.
39. Wing-Tsit Chan, op. cit., pp. 184-185.
40. For a detailed account of how a person can incorporate different values, see my "How can one be a Taoist-Buddhist-Confucian?," International Review of Chinese Religion and Philosophy, 1 (March 1996), pp. 29-66.
41. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the Seventh East-West Philosophers' Conference at the East-West Center and the University of Hawaii. I would like to thank Joel Kupperman, Charles Hayford, Craig Ihara, Ira Smolensky, Walter Benesch, Ruiping Fan, and Qingjie Wang for reading previous drafts of the paper, and the Midwest Faculty Seminar, the Center for East Asian Studies of the University of Chicago, the Center for Chinese Studies of the University of Michigan, and Monmouth College for their generous support.