The democratic potential of confucian Minben thought

Asian Philosophy

Volumn 10, Issue 1, 2000, Pages 33-47

  Murthy, Viren ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 29744444398     PISSN: 09552367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09552360050001752     Document Type: Article

References (20)

1. The literature in this area is vast. A recent collection in which various distinguished sinologists discuss Confucianism in relation to human rights and democracy is DE BARY WM T. & TU WEIMING (Eds) (1998) Confucianism and Human Rights (New York, Columbia University Press).
2. See AMES, ROGER T. & HALL, DAVID L. (1999) The Democracy of the Dead: Dewey, Confucians and the Hope for Democracy in China (Chicago, Lasalle, II) for an attempt to read Confucius as a communitarian democrat.
3. Scholars are unsure of the exact dates when Mencius was born or died so the above dates are approximate. For a discussion see LAU, D. C. (Ed & Trans.) (1970) Mencius (London, Penguin Group), pp. 8-11.
4. Officially, the first reference relating people (min) and root (ben) is in the Shang Shu (The Book of History): 'The people are the root of the state; a strong root means that the state is at peace'. However, there has been some debate as to whether this is a forgery. See QU WANLI (1956) Shang Shu Shiyi (An Exegesis on the the Book of History) (Taipei, Taipei Publishing Co.), p. 171. Qu claims that this phrase should be attributed to the Huai Nanzi which was compiled after Jia Yi's death.
5. Quotations from Confucius and Mencius will be given by chapter and section number so that readers can refer to either the original or the translations. The Chinese edition I used for both Confucius and Mencius is LIU GUNTIAN, LIN SONG & SHU KEKUN (Eds) (1990) Si Shu Quanyi (The Four Books) (Guinzhou, Peoples Publishing Co.).
6. The translations are my own but I consulted with LAU, D. C. (Ed. & Trans.) (1979) Analects (London, Penguin Group), and Lau op. cit., note 4.
7. Ren is usually translated as 'humanity' or 'benevolence', but I use Roger Ames' 'authoritative humanity', since in addition to capturing the altruistic aspect of the concept, it shows that people whose conduct is characterised by 'ren' are models for others. It is in this sense that they are 'authoritative' (See AMES, ROGER T. & HALL, DAVID L., (1987) Thinking Through Confucius (Albany, State University of New York), pp. 110-127 for a discussion.)
8. FENG TIANYU (1984) Ming-Qing Wenhuashi Sanlun (Essays on Ming and Qing Dynasty Cultural History) (Wuchang huazhong Gongxueyuan Publishing Co.), pp. 244-247.
9. LAU, Ming-Qing Wenhuashi Sanlun, 1984, op. cit., note 4, p. 52.
10. Quoted from AMES & HALL, Ming-Qing Wenhuashi Sanlun, 1984, op. cit., note 8, p. 258.
11. HSU CHUOYUN (1991) Comparisons of Idealized Societies in Chinese History, in: JULIA, CHING & R. W. L. GUISSO (Eds) Sages and Filial Sons, (Hong Kong, CUHK), p. 144.
12. JIA YI (1996) Jia Yi Wenyi Quanyi (The Complete Works of Jia Yi), FU HANNIKG Ed. (Jiangxi, Baizhou Weni Publishing Co.)
13. JIA YI, Jia Yi Wenyi Quanyi, op. cit., note 13, p. 241.
14. JIA YI, Jia Yi Wenyi Quanyi, Ibid.
15. cf. Thinking Through Confucius, pp. 195-249. Full citation in note 7.
16. cf. J. S. MILL (1951) Utilitarianism, Liberty and Representative Government (London, Dent)
17. J. BENTHAM (1843) The Constitutional Code, in: J. BROWNING (Ed.) The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Vol. IX (Edinburgh, W. Tail).
18. J. BENTHAM, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, Ibid., p. 261.
19. JIA YI, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, op. cit., note 13, p. 259.
20. Ames and Lau translate the term 'zhong' as 'doing one's best'. Now while this adds a new dimension to the earlier 'loyalty', it is, as it stands, misleading in this context. Ames quotes the Shuo Wen, which defines zhong in the following manner: 'It is because exhausting oneself' (jinji), means zhong that zhong has the import of having integrity (you cheng) (AMES & HALL, The Works of Jeremy Bentham, op. cit. note 3, p. 285). This translation obscures the way in which zhong is enmeshed in a hierarchical structure. Ministers are often defined as zhong, but Rulers are not. Zhong is related to a nation of serving someone higher. Thus is better translated as 'doing one's best in serving someone above you'. This is in harmony with the rest of the text, which compares serving the ruler to serving one's parents.