Daniel A. Bell’s new book, The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy (Princeton, 2015) has been published. Amazon is here. Unsurprisingly, the book is occasioning considerable discussion. One early review is here. Comments (and references to other reviews) are welcome!
Category Archives: Contemporary Confucianism
New Book: Kim, ed., Confucianism, Law and Democracy in Contemporary Korea
Sungmoon Kim, ed., Confucianism, Law and Democracy in Contemporary Korea (Rowman and Littlefield International; CEACOP Series in East Asian Comparative Ethics, Politics and Philosophy of Law) has been published. Congratulations to all involved: it looks terrific!
Symposium on Chan, Confucian Perfectionism
I am looking forward to this workshop on Joseph Chan’s important book, Confucian Perfectionism, to be held at HKU on May 15. Details (and free registration information) here.
Confucian Political Philosophy a Hot Topic in 2014
According to the Guangming Daily, “the interpretation of Confucian political philosophy” was one of the ten “hot” areas within Chinese academia in 2014. According to the newspaper’s staff, one of the key questions that scholars sought to answer was “What conceptual resources does the Confucian tradition have that can assist with the design of institutions in today’s China 儒家传统对今日中国之制度设计有哪些可资借鉴的思想资源？” For those with Chinese, some more details, and the other nine hot areas, are below. (It is item 3 on the list.)
New “Traditional Culture” Textbooks in China
China Daily reports: “A series of textbooks featuring gems of traditional Chinese culture, including Analects of Confucius and The Art of War, will be used by primary and middle school students across China, reported Beijing Daily. The new textbooks, compiled by China Center of Traditional Culture, aim to cultivate youngsters’ values and characters by teaching them Confucian classics, poems, Chinese medicine and the like….”
See: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2015-01/07/content_19262804.htm
New articles on Democracy and on Confucianism
Two new articles in the latest China: An International Journal may be of interest, one on “Chinese democracy” and one on “Confucianism” and Chinese labor activism.
Two New Books
Two valuable new works:
- Xinyan Jiang has published Knowledge, Culture, and Chinese Philosophy A Study and Translation of Zhang Dongsun’s Works with Global Scholarly Publications.
- Katrin Froese has published Ethics Unbound: Chinese and Western Perspectives on Morality with Chinese University Press.
Congratulations to both authors!
New book on Confucian revival
A promising-looking new collection of essays on the multi-faceted revival of Confucianism in contemporary China, to be released in February by SUNY Press:
The Sage Returns: Confucian Revival in Contemporary China
Summary
Until its rejection by reformers and revolutionaries in the twentieth century, Confucianism had been central to Chinese culture, identity, and thought for centuries. Confucianism was rejected by both Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek and Mao Zedong’s Communist Party, which characterized it as an ideology of reaction and repression. Yet the sage has returned: today, Chinese people from all walks of life and every level of authority are embracing Confucianism. As China turned away from the excesses of the Cultural Revolution and experienced the adoption and challenges of market practices, alternatives were sought to the prevailing socialist morality. Beginning in the 1980s and continuing through the years, ideas, images, behaviors, and attitudes associated with Confucianism have come back into public and private life. In this volume, scholars from a wide range of disciplines explore the contemporary Confucian revival in China, looking at Confucianism and the state, intellectual life, and popular culture. Contributors note how the revival of Confucianism plays out in a variety of ways, from China’s relationship with the rest of the world, to views of capitalism and science, to blockbuster movies and teenage fashion.
Review of Crane, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dao
Here is another in our occasional series of book reviews. Thanks to Mat for doing this, and comments are, of course, welcome!
Mathew A. Foust Central Connecticut State University
Review of Sam Crane, Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Dao: Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life (UK: Wiley Blackwell, 2013), xi + 201 pp.
Sam Crane intends this volume for “people who have an interest in seeing how ancient Chinese thought might cast new light on the present day but who are not yet familiar with the time-honored works” (3), with the belief that Chinese thought can “show us something about our world and ourselves that we might otherwise not see” (10). More specifically, Crane applies concepts and theories from Confucianism and Daoism to several contemporary issues dotting the American landscape. After a chapter explaining key concepts of Confucianism and Daoism, Crane explores how these teachings might be brought to bear on debates arising in virtually every sphere of human life, from birth (e.g., the issue of abortion) to death (e.g., the issue of euthanasia). Although his arguments are occasionally strained by inadequate textual support, his volume is largely able to achieve its stated objectives.
New Frontiers of Philosophy in China published
Frontiers of Philosophy in China 9:3 has been published, and is available on-line. Among other things, there are reviews of:
- Brook Ziporyn, Ironies of Oneness and Difference: Coherence in Early Chinese Thought; Prolegomena to the Study of Li 理. (By Steve Coutinho)
- Stephen C. Angle, Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy: Toward Progressive Confucianism. (By WANG Kun)
- Erica Fox Brindley, Music, Cosmology, and the Politics of Harmony in Early China. (By Heinrich Geiger)
In case some readers do not have access to this journal, I will add here some snippets from these three reviews.
