Confucianism's Prospects: A Reassessment (Suny Chinese Philosophy and Culture)

Challenges descriptions of East Asian societies as Confucian cultures and communitarian Confucian models as a political alternative to liberal democracy. In Confucianism’s Prospects , Shaun O’Dwyer offers a rare critical engagement with English language scholarship on Confucianism. Against the background of historical and sociological research into the rapid modernization of East Asian societies, O’Dwyer reviews several key Confucian ethical ideas and proposals for East Asian alternatives to liberal democracy that have emerged from this scholarship. He also puts the following question to Confucian scholars: what prospects do those ideas and proposals have in East Asian societies in which liberal democracy and pluralism are well established, and individualization and declining fertility are impacting deeply upon family life? In making his case, O’Dwyer draws upon the neglected work of Japanese philosophers and intellectuals who were witnesses to Japan’s pioneering East Asian modernization, and protagonists in the rise and disastrous wartime fall of its own modernized Confucianism. He contests a sometimes Sinocentric and ahistorical conception of East Asian societies as “Confucian societies,” while also recognizing that Confucian traditions can contribute importantly to global philosophical dialogue, and to civic and religious life. Tags: Ethics & Moral Philosophy, Religion, Confucianism, Ethics, Philosophy Contents Preface Introduction Articulating an Ethical Individualist Standpoint The Focus and Plan of this Book Chapter 1: The Vicissitudes of Confucianism The Case for a Continued Confucian Identity: “Confucian Heritage Cultures,” Confucian Values, and Habits of the Heart The Philosophical Cases for East Asian Confucian Identity and their Challenges Avoiding the Cultural Identity Politics Trap in East Asian Philosophy Chapter 2: Ibsen’s Nora and the Confucian Critique of the Unencumbered Self Ethical Individualism in A Doll’s House Communitarians, Confucians, and the Disencumbered Self The Unencumbered and Disencumbered Self The Japanese Bluestockings and Ibsen’s Nora The Confucian Alternatives? Chapter 3: Confucian Ritual, Hierarchy, and Symmetrical Deference The Confucians and Mohists on Ritual Failure Ethical Individualism, Progressive Confucianism and the Problem of Oppressive Ritual Modern Confucian Justifications for Hierarchy-Enacting Ritual Ritual in Socially Egalitarian Settings Chapter 4: Filial Piety in East Asia and Beyond Filial Piety as a Virtue A Filial Piety Controversy in Georgian England The Revolt against Patriarchy in East Asia and the Predicament of Filial Piety in Postindustrial Societies Contrasting Modern Rights-Based and Virtue Ethical Approaches to Filial Piety Chapter 5: The Unity of Loyalty and Filial Piety: An East Asian Horror Story Instability in the Conceptual Relation between Filial Piety and Loyalty Japan’s Response to Western Encroachment: Aizawa Seishisai’s Protonationalism and the Oneness of Loyalty and Filial Piety Inoue Tetsujiro and the Political Philosophical Status of the National Morality Japan’s National Morality and the “China Incident” Confucianism, National Morality, and Civil Religion Today Chapter 6: Epistemic Elitism, Paternalism, and Confucian Democracy Epistemic Elitism and Paternalism in Pre-Qin Confucian Thought Confucian Role Ethics, Pragmatism, and Confucian Democracy Confucian Elite Governance and Democracy “With Confucian Characteristics” An Epistemically Elitist and Paternalist Counterargument Chapter 7: Perverse Doctrines and One Hundred Schools: Confucianism’s Place in Modern Pluralistic Societies Ethical Diversity in East Asia and the Liberalism of Fear Public Reason and Liberal Pluralism Liberal Pluralism and Nationalism Evaluating the Case for a Confucian Public Reason The Prospects for Confucianism: A More Modest Assessment Notes Index Challenges descriptions of East Asian societies as Confucian cultures and communitarian Confucian models as a political alternative to liberal democracy. In Confucianism's Prospects, Shaun O'Dwyer offers a rare critical engagement with English language scholarship on Confucianism. Against the background of historical and sociological research into the rapid modernization of East Asian societies, O'Dwyer reviews several key Confucian ethical ideas and proposals for East Asian alternatives to liberal democracy that have emerged from this scholarship. He also puts the following question to Confucian scholars: what prospects do those ideas and proposals have in East Asian societies in which liberal democracy and pluralism are well established, and individualization and declining fertility are impacting deeply upon family life? In making his case, O'Dwyer draws upon the neglected work of Japanese philosophers and intellectuals who were witnesses to Japan's pioneering East Asian modernization, and protagonists in the rise and disastrous wartime fall of its own modernized Confucianism. He contests a sometimes Sinocentric and ahistorical conception of East Asian societies as "Confucian societies," while also recognizing that Confucian traditions can contribute importantly to global philosophical dialogue, and to civic and religious life. Shaun O'Dwyer is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Languages and Cultures at Kyushu University