Political Liberalism, Confucianism, and the Future of Democracy in East Asia (Philosophy and Politics - Critical Explorations Book 12)

This book contributes to both the internal debate in liberalism and the application of political liberalism to the process of democratization in East Asia. Beyond John Rawls’ original intention to limit the scope of political liberalism to only existing and well-ordered liberal democracies, political liberalism has the potential to inspire and contribute to democratic establishment and maintenance in East Asia. Specifically, the book has two main objectives. First, it will demonstrate that political liberalism offers the most promising vision for liberal democracy, and it can be defended against contemporary perfectionist objections. Second, it will show that perfectionist approaches to political Confucianism suffer from practical and theoretical difficulties. Instead, an alternative model of democracy inspired by political liberalism will be explored in order to achieve a multivariate structure for citizens to come to terms with democracy in their own ways, to support a neutral state that ensures the establishment and stability of democracy, and to maintain an active public role for Confucianism to prevent it from being banished to the private sphere. This model represents a more promising future for democracy in East Asia. Acknowledgments 7 Contents 9 Chapter 1: Introduction 10 1.1 Background and Objective 10 1.2 Scope and Terminology 13 1.3 Chapter Preview 16 Chapter 2: Political Liberalism and the Paradigm Shift of Political Philosophy 18 2.1 Introduction 18 2.2 A Theory of Justice: A Response to Hobbes 19 2.3 The Political Turn 24 2.4 Five Pillars of Political Liberalism 27 2.5 Defending Political Liberalism: Three Objections 32 Chapter 3: The Public Conception of Morality in Political Liberalism 35 3.1 Introduction 35 3.2 Rawls’ Conception of Morality: A Puzzle 38 3.3 The Source of Moral Pluralism 41 3.4 The Objective Prescriptivity of Morality 47 3.4.1 Two Senses of Objectivity 47 3.4.2 Two Types of Justification 50 3.5 Toward a Public Conception of Morality 55 3.6 Conclusion 61 Chapter 4: Against the Asymmetry Objection 63 4.1 Introduction 63 4.2 The Asymmetry Objection and Recent Engagement 65 4.3 Defending the Foundational-Justificatory Distinction 70 4.4 The Instability of Moderate Perfectionism 74 4.5 Conclusion 80 Chapter 5: The Idea of Hyperpluralism and Pluralism in East Asia 81 5.1 Introduction 81 5.2 Hyperpluralism and Multivariate Democracy 83 5.3 Application of Hyperpluralism Beyond Mature Liberal Democracies 90 5.4 Pluralism in East Asia 92 5.5 Internal and External Pluralism 96 5.6 Conclusion 102 Chapter 6: Confucianism and Comprehensive Confucian Perfectionism 104 6.1 Brief Introduction to Confucianism 104 6.2 Contemporary Confucian Political Theories 110 6.3 Against Comprehensive Confucian Perfectionism 114 6.4 Conclusion 123 Chapter 7: The Discontents of Moderate Political Confucianism 124 7.1 Introduction 124 7.2 The Inherent Instability of Confucian Political Perfectionism 126 7.3 Three Problems of Public Reason Confucianism 131 7.4 Conclusion 137 Chapter 8: Political Confucianism and Multivariate Democracy in East Asia 140 8.1 Introduction 140 8.2 A Pragmatic Turn in Confucian Democratic Theory 143 8.3 The Problem with Pragmatic Confucian Democracy 145 8.4 Public Reason Confucianism Revisited 147 8.5 Multivariate Democracy in East Asia 152 8.5.1 Multivariate Structure 153 8.5.2 A Neutral State 155 8.5.3 The Public Role of Confucianism 157 8.6 Conclusion 161 Chapter 9: Toward a Pluralistic Approach to Antiperfectionism 163 9.1 Introduction 163 9.2 The Ethics of Ethical Liberalism 164 9.3 What Is it Like to Have a Good Life: A Response to Quong 170 9.4 A Companion Theory to Political Liberalism 176 9.5 Conclusion 178 Chapter 10: Respect, Recognition, and Toleration: A Concentric Theory of Global Justice 179 10.1 Introduction 179 10.2 Elements Toward a Concentric Theory of Global Justice 180 10.3 Respect for Persons: From Local to Global 184 10.4 Recognition: Autonomous Status and Self-Realization 188 10.5 Toleration: Alternative Models of Development 194 10.6 Conclusion 198 Conclusion 200 Bibliography 204 Front Matter ....Pages i-ix Introduction (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 1-8 Political Liberalism and the Paradigm Shift of Political Philosophy (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 9-25 The Public Conception of Morality in Political Liberalism (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 27-54 Against the Asymmetry Objection (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 55-72 The Idea of Hyperpluralism and Pluralism in East Asia (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 73-95 Confucianism and Comprehensive Confucian Perfectionism (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 97-116 The Discontents of Moderate Political Confucianism (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 117-132 Political Confucianism and Multivariate Democracy in East Asia (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 133-155 Toward a Pluralistic Approach to Antiperfectionism (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 157-172 Respect, Recognition, and Toleration: A Concentric Theory of Global Justice (Zhuoyao Li)....Pages 173-193 Back Matter ....Pages 195-206