Category Archives: Contemporary Confucianism

A Busy Week at Fudan University

In addition to the lectures by Kurtis Hagen on Xunzi that I just posted about, there are several other events taking place over the next week at Shanghai’s Fudan University. In chronological order:

Friday May 24, 10:00am, P. J. Ivanhoe (Chair Professor of East Asian Philosophy and Religion, City University of Hong Kong) is speaking on “Kongzi and Aristotle as Virtue Ethicists.” Details are here.

Friday May 24, 6:30pm, P. J. Ivanhoe is delivering the first lecture of a series on “Chinese Research on Confucianism in Global Perspective”; Prof. Ivanhoe’s lecture is titled “Confucian Cosmopolitanism.” Details on this and the subsequent lectures in the series are here.

Saturday and Sunday, May 24-25, an international conference on the topic “Chinese Research on Confucianism in Global Perspective” will take place; details on all speakers and titles are here.

Tuesday May 28, 10:00am, I am speaking on the topic “Progressive Confucianism on Social Criticism and the Values of Deference.” Details are here.

I hope that blog readers lucky enough to be in Shanghai will be able to enjoy some of these lectures!

Request for Comments on the Dissemination of Confucianism

Professor Peimin Ni writes with an intriguing request:

A friend of mine works as a local policy making/consulting officer at Confucius’ hometown Qufu. I received a request from him, saying that he would like to get help from the international community of scholars in Chinese philosophy. He wants to know what we perceive as the current situation, problems, and difficulties in (1) disseminating Confucianism outside of China, and (2) the establishment and operation of Confucius Institutes in the world. He would also like to know that (3) on the basis of our assessment of these situations, what we recommend for promoting broader understanding of Chinese culture in the world, and (4) what particularly relevant material we would recommend him to read. Any idea or suggestion would be appreciated.

The call for help, I think, is a good sign that the local government is conscientious about the cultural heritage. It would be great if we can help, even if just offering him bits and pieces of information or opinions.

Anyone with comments or suggestions can post theme here as comments, and Peimin will collect them and summarize them for his friend (who does not read English). Alternatively, if you wish you can just write to Peimin directly. Of course, general discussion of the issues raised here (which may or may not be helpful to an official in Qufu) is also welcome.

Can Confucianism Be “Progressive”? A Debate on Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy

There will be a friendly debate on some of the ideas in my Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy: Toward Progressive Confucianism book, held next week at Hong Kong University. Please come and join in the fun — though note that registration is required, just to keep track of numbers. The “critics” with whom I will be conversing are Joseph Chan, Fan Ruiping, and Sungmoon Kim. It will be held 16 April 2013 (Tuesday), 14:30 – 17:30. More information on the location and schedule, as well as on-line registration, is available here.

Malik on Confucianism and Communism

Friend of the blog Patrick O’Donnell suggested that Warp, Weft, and Way readers might enjoy this posting by Kenan Malik on the intertwining of Confucianism and Communism in the last hundren years in China. Malik writes that:

What had been a surreptitious nod towards Confucian ideology in Maoist China, became after Mao an open embrace, as China opened itself up to competition and the market, and hence also potentially to greater social dislocation and disorder. The quicker has been the pace of economic reform over the past three decades, the greater has been the desire of the Chinese government to proclaim its commitment to Confucianism…. Alongside the government’s new-found admiration for Kongzi, there has emerged a new cadre of Confucian academics. Many work independently of the state, and many have found themselves at times in conflict with the state.  Nevertheless, the academic renovation of Confucianism and the state’s embrace of Kongzi have become closely intertwined.

Malik ends with some discussion of Jiang Qing, whom he calls “perhaps the most important of the new generation of Confucian philosophers.” I have just finished writing a review of Jiang Qing’s new book in English, A Confucian Constitutional Order, and plan on publishing an excerpt or two here soon. In the meantime, any comments on Malik’s ideas or on Jiang Qing would be welcome.

What Would a Confucian University in the US Look Like?

The rather surprising question in my title is inspired by three things. Most immediately, I have just returned from the AAS Conference in San Diego, where I participated in a panel on Elite and Popular Confucianism, presenting a paper called “American Confucianism: Between Tradition and Universal Values.” Second, I have heard some talk about the establishment within one or more Chinese universities of explicitly Confucian-themed academic units. Finally, I recently became aware of Soka University, a liberal arts college in Southern California that was founded by the Soka Gakkai Buddhist organization from Japan.

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Weber, The Politics of Confucian Political Philosophy

In this guest post, Ralph Weber of the University of Zurich shares with us his English translation of an opinion piece just published in Germany (as “Politik, Konfuzianismus und konfuzianische politische Philosophie in der VR China heute.” In: Widerspruch – Münchner Zeitschrift für Philosophie, Nr. 56, 2013.) Please direct comments to Dr. Weber.

The Politics of ‘Confucian Political Philosophy’

Ralph Weber, University of Zurich

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In the People’s Republic of China (PRC), Confucius, the Master, is “standing tall” again, as a People’s Daily headline put it (13 January 2011), referring to a ten meter bronze statue which since January was standing right next to Tiananmen Square in Beijing, before it was dislocated to a less prominent spot in April 2011 for reasons as yet unknown.[1] Not to be mistaken, the statue was not the latest version of the Goddess of Democracy, which students had erected in June 1989 as a symbol of protest and reform. The Confucius statue was not erected against the Chinese government; it had been put there with official endorsement – something that only decades ago would have been unthinkable – and surely it was also dislocated again with official endorsement. The short but prominent appearance of the Confucius statue at one of the most symbolic places in all of China showcases the wavering attitude of the Chinese government on what to do with Confucianism and perhaps reveals once more how split the government is in terms of doctrine and ideology.

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Review of Angle, Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy

NDRP has published a review by BAI Tongdong of Fudan University of my recent book, Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy: Towards Progressive Confucianism (Polity, 2012). Many thanks to Tongdong for this generous review!

I’d like to take this opportunity to respond very briefly to a couple of the things that Tongdong says in his review. He feels that both Mou Zongsan and I, in our related but separate ways, have left largely unaddressed the question: “can Confucianism make any constructive and systematic contributions to fundamental issues in political philosophy other than being only a “cheerleader” (a sincere one, as Angle tries to show) of liberal democracy?” This is related to some of the other critical remarks he raises late in the review, including the suggestion that in my chapter on human rights, I rest content with the current “responsibility to protect” doctrine, and also Tongdong’s questions about how “Confucian” Progressive Confucianism is.

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Review of Book on Contemporary Chinese Political Thought

Sungmoon Kim (City University of Hong Kong)’s thought-provoking review of Fred Dallmayr and Zhao Tingyang (eds.), Contemporary Chinese Political Thought: Debates and Perspectives, has just been published at NDPR. Kim focuses primarily on the book’s chapters on contemporary Confucianism by Chen Ming, He Baogang, and Ni Peimin, plus paying some significant attention to Jiwei Ci’s chapter, “The Dialectic of the Chinese Revolution Revisited.” By focusing his attention in this way, Kim is able to make some novel and stimulating points: this is no mere summary of the book. Comments welcome!

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CFP From AAR Confucian Traditions Group

The Confucian Traditions Group of the AAR invites proposals concerning any aspect of Confucianism from any geographical area. Topics of particular interest this coming year are:

  • Confucianism, death, and after
  • Confucian interaction with Buddhism
  • archaeological discoveries and Confucian texts
  • contemporary representations of Confucianism, post-modern Confucianism, and/or Confucius Institutes
  • roles and agency in Confucianism
  • feelings and emotions

Proposals for a panel with a well-conceived theme and structure stand the strongest chance of acceptance, whereas proposals for an individual paper do not.

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New Books on the Revival of Confucianism

Some intriguing new books have been published in a new series featuring essays by many of the leading voices calling for a revival of Confucianism—people like Jiang Qing, Kang Xiaoguang, Chen Ming, and so on. See below for some information  on the volumes in the series that have been published in 2012. (For some further information, see this website.)

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