Abstract
This chapter considers the question of whether Confucianism can be universalized in the contemporary world. After European imperialism, the fall of communism, and loss of faith in American neo-liberalism as the end of history, the notion of universality seems to be moribund. But China explicitly puts forward a claim to universality based on its Confucian culture and in competition with Western universality. Therefore the question if Confucianism can be universalized is not of purely academic interest. The salient features of European universality are contrasted with the characteristics of Confucian universality, and the chapter suggests a way Confucianism may be universalized in the contemporary world.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Angle, Stephen C. (2009) Sagehood: The Contemporary Significance of Neo-Confucian Philosophy, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Arrighi, Giovanni (2007) Adam Smith in Beijing: Lineages of the Twenty-First Century, London: Verso.
Billioud, Sébastien (2012) Thinking Through Confucian Modernity: A Study of Mou Zongsan’s Moral Metaphysics, Leiden: Brill.
Chan, Joseph (2014) Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Chan, Joseph (2013) “On the Legitimacy of Confucian Constitutionalism,” in Daniel A. Bell and Ruiping Fan (eds) A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China’s Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Ci, Jiwei (2014) Moral China in the Age of Reform, New York and Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
D’Agostini, Franca (2010) “Introduction: The Strong Reasons for Weak Thought,” in Gianni Vattimo, The Responsibility of the Philosopher, New York: Columbia University Press, pp. 1–45.
Elman, Benjamin A. and Martin Kern (2010) “Introduction,” in Benjamin A. Elman and Martin Kern (eds) Statecraft and Classical Learning: The Rituals of Zhou in East Asian History, Leiden: Brill.
Fan, Ruiping (2011) “Introduction: The Rise of Authentic Confucianism,” in Ruiping Fan and Erika Yu (eds) The Renaissance of Confucianism in Contemporary China, Dordrecht: Springer.
Gardner, Daniel K. (2014) Confucianism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Gasché, Rodolphe (2009) Europe, or the Infinite Task: A Study of a Philosophical Concept, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Guardian (2015) “Uniqlo sex video: film shot in Beijing store goes viral and angers government,” July 16.
Guénoun, Denis (2013) About Europe: Philosophical Hypotheses, trans. Christine Irizarry, Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Hösle, Vittorio (1998) “The Greatness and Limits of Kant’s Practical Philosophy,” in Objective Idealism, Ethics and Politics, Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.
Huntington, Samuel P. (1996) The Clash of Civilizations and the Remaking of World Order, New York: Simon & Schuster.
Husserl, Edmund (1970a) The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology, An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy, trans. David Carr, Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Husserl, Edmund (1970b) “The Vienna Lecture,” in Edmund Husserl (ed) The Crisis of European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology, An Introduction to Phenomenological Philosophy, trans. David Carr, Evanston: Northwestern University Press.
Jacques, Martin (2009) When China Rules the World: The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order, New York: The Penguin Press.
Ji, Zhe (2005) “Confucius, les libéraux et le Parti: Le renouveau du confucianisme politique,” La Vie des Idées 2: 9–20.
Jiang, Qing (2013a) “The Way of the Humane Authority: The Theoretical Basis for Confucian Constitutionalism and a Tricameral Parliament,” in Daniel A. Bell and Ruiping Fan (eds) A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China’s Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Jiang, Qing (2013b) “Debating with My Critics,” in Daniel A. Bell and Ruiping Fan (eds) A Confucian Constitutional Order: How China’s Ancient Past Can Shape Its Political Future, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Kant, Immanuel (1995) “Beantwortung der Frage: Was ist Aufklärung?” in Immanuel Kant: Werke in Sechs Bänden, Band 6, Köln: Könemann.
Lunyu zhengyi 論語正義 (1990) Annotated by Liu Baonan, Two Volumes, Beijing: Zhonghua.
Madsen, Richard (1995) “After Liberalism: What if Confucianism Becomes the Hegemonic Ethic of the Twenty-First Century?” Japan Policy Research Institute, JPRI Working Paper No. 14.
Makeham, John (2008) Lost Soul: “Confucianism” in Contemporary Chinese Academic Discourse, Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series, Cambridge: Harvard University Asian Center.
Mann, James (2007) The China Fantasy: How Our Leaders Explain Away Chinese Repression, New York: Viking Penguin.
Masuzawa, Tomoko (1998) “Culture,” in M. C. Taylor (ed) Critical Terms for Religious Studies, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
Mengzi zhengyi 孟子正義 (1987) Annotated by Jiao Xun, Two Volumes, Beijing: Zhonghua.
Pietz, William (1993) “Fetishism and Materialism: The Limits of Theory in Marx,” in Emily Apter and William Pietz (eds) Fetishism as Cultural Discourse, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.
Rancière, Jacques (2006) Hatred of Democracy, London: Verso.
Ryan, Alan (2012) On Politics: A History of Political Thought From Herodotus to the Present, New York: Liveright Publishing Corporation.
Siedentop, Larry (2014) Inventing the Individual: The Origins of Western Liberalism, Cambridge: The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Vattimo, Gianni (2004) Nihilism & Emancipation: Ethics, Politics, & Law, Santiago Zabala (ed), trans. William McCuaig, New York: Columbia University Press.
Žižek, Slavoj (2009) First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, London: Verso.
Žižek, Slavoj (2006) “A leftist plea for ‘Eurocentrism’,” in Slavoj Žižek, The Universal Exception: Selected Writings, Volume Two, London: Continuum.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2018 The Author(s)
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Møllgaard, E.J. (2018). Can Confucianism be Universalized?. In: The Confucian Political Imagination. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74899-3_8
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74899-3_8
Published:
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-74898-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-74899-3
eBook Packages: Religion and PhilosophyPhilosophy and Religion (R0)