Abstract
Whereas cosmopolitanism—in the tradition of Kant—entailed the noble notion of a common humanity, current trends in world politics have made us aware of another—less noble—side of cosmopolitanism. As Ullrich Beck has pointed out in his book Global Risk Society, through the interdependence of the world and its global threats we have all become cosmopolitans, however not by choice but by force.
The chapter will attempt to look at the possibility of a cosmopolitanism by choice, seen from the perspective of Confucianism as China’s longest and most enduring tradition. Considering that Confucianism is an ethical teaching, it will focus on its potential for a “global ethics”—or for an ethics of cosmopolitanism.
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Notes
- 1.
Martin Meyer in: Neue Züricher Zeitung (New Zurich Newspaper), March 6, 2007.
- 2.
See also K.-H. Pohl, “Chinese and Western Values: Reflections on a Cross-Cultural Dialogue on a Universal Ethics” in R. Elberfeld and G. Wohlfart (Eds.), Komparative Ethik. Köln 2002, pp. 213–232, and K.-H. Pohl and A. Müller (Eds.), Chinese Ethics in a Global Context. Moral Bases of Contemporary Societies, Leiden 2002.
- 3.
Robert Cummings Neville, Boston Confucianism: Portable Tradition in the Late-Modern World, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2000.
- 4.
For a discussion of this issue, see also Charles Taylor, The Ethics of Authenticity (originally published in Canada as The Malaise of Modernity), Cambridge, MA, 1991, and K.-H. Pohl, “Communitarianism and Confucianism—In search of Common Moral Ground”, in K.-H. Pohl (Ed.), Chinese Thought in a Global Context—A Dialogue Between Chinese and Western Philosophical Approaches, Leiden 1999.
- 5.
Lunyu (Analects), 6.28.
- 6.
Mencius, VIA.15.
- 7.
Zhongyong (The Doctrine of the Mean), 22, James Legge, The Chinese Classics, I, p. 415f.
- 8.
Tu Weiming, Centrality and Commonality, Honolulu 1976, p. 115f.
- 9.
Wing-tsit Chan, A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy, Princeton 1969, p. 497f.
- 10.
“Treat with the reverence due to age the elders in your own family, so that the elders in the families of others shall be similarly treated; treat with the kindness due to youth the young in your own family, so that the young in the families of others shall be similarly treated: do this and the kingdom may be made to go round in your palm.” (Mencius, IA.7).
- 11.
Fung Yu-lan, The Spirit of Chinese Philosophy, London 1962, p. 3. The last words in this quote are “borrowed” from The Doctrine of the Mean.
- 12.
See, for example, William Pfaff, “In America, Radical Globalizers Talk Like Missionaries”, International Herald Tribune, July 9, 1998.
- 13.
The connection to morality is still visible in the word “right”, meaning both “not morally wrong” and “a subjective right to something”.
- 14.
Charles Taylor, “Conditions for an Unforced Consensus on Human Rights” in Joanne R. Bauer and Daniel A. Bell, The East Asian Challenge for Human Rights, Cambridge 1999, p. 127.
- 15.
Edmund Pincoffs, “Quandary Ethics,” Mind, vol. 80, pp. 552–71. Reprinted in Stanley Hauerwas and Alasdair MacIntrye (Eds.) Revisions: Changing Perspectives in Moral Philosophy, Notre Dame 1983, pp. 92–112.
- 16.
Lunyu, 12.5.
- 17.
As to the universal relevance of Confucianism, see the insightful article of the Korean scholar Hahm Chaibong, “Confucianism and Western Rights: Conflict or Harmony?”, The Responsive Community. Rights and Responsibilities, 10/1 (Winter 1999/2000), p. 56. Also Li Shenzhi, the former Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Peking, made a strong plea for the universal value of Confucian thought as a contribution to a world civilization. Li Shenzhi, “Quanqiuhua yu Zhongguo wenhua” (Globalization and Chinese Culture), Chuantong wenhua yu xiandaihua (Chinese Culture: Tradition and Modernization), 4/1994, pp. 3–12.
- 18.
See also Karl-Heinz Pohl, “Communitarianism and Confucianism”.
- 19.
See, for example, the phenomenal liability suits in the American legal system today, according to the motto: “Hit me! I need the money.”
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Pohl, KH. (2018). Ethics of Cosmopolitanism: The Confucian Tradition. In: Giri, A. (eds) Beyond Cosmopolitanism. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-5376-4_7
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