Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Confucian Democracy as Pragmatic Experiment: Uniting Love of Learning and Love of Antiquity

2007; Routledge; Volume: 17; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/09552360701445026

1469-2961

Sor‐hoon Tan,

Japanese History and Culture

Abstract This paper argues for the pragmatic construction of Confucian democracy by showing that Chinese philosophers who wish to see Confucianism flourish again as a positive dimension of Chinese civilization need to approach it pragmatically and democratically, otherwise their love of the past is at the expense of something else Confucius held in equal esteem, love of learning. Chinese philosophers who desire democracy for China would do well to learn from the earlier failures of the iconoclastic Westernizers, and realize that a Chinese democracy cannot come about by ignoring or dismissing such an important part of China's history, its Confucian tradition. The best chances for democracy in China lie in transforming that tradition without destroying it. Eagerness to learn from others must be united with a proper appreciation of one's own past to nurture democracy as a way of life. Notes Notes [1] The New Culture Movement promoted new literature written in the vernacular instead of archaic Chinese and new thought emphasizing scientific attitudes and independent inquiry, criticizing traditional Chinese culture and learning from the West. Studies of the May Fourth Movement usually also discuss the New Culture movement. Some argue that the New Culture Movement is one of the causes of the May Fourth Movement; some treat them as synonymous, or one as part of the other; others consider them significantly distinct (Chow, Citation1960, pp. 2–3). For examples of writings attacking Confucianism during that period, see Chen Duxiu (Citation1960); Wu Yu (Citation1922). Hu Shih's preface to Wu's collected essays is the source of the slogan ‘Down with the Confucian Shop’ (dadao Kongjiadian ). [2] On Chiang Kaishek's Fascism, see Eastman (Citation1974, chap. 2). Scholars disagree about how fascist Chiang's rule was. Cf. Hsia (Citation1979); Eastman (Citation1979); Fewsmith (Citation1985, chap. 7); Ding Shouhe (Citation1994, pp. 103–111). [3] One of the many journals founded in that period was The New Enlightenment. Xu Jilin singled out 1984 as the beginning of the ‘new Enlightenment’ of the 1980s (Citation1999, p. 254). In his survey of contemporary Chinese thought, Wang Hui (Citation2001) held up ‘new enlightenment’ thought as the ‘most dynamic intellectual current of the 1980s’. [4] On rural and urban protest in provinces and local districts, see Unger (Citation2000); Ding Yijiang (Citation2001, p. 57); Patrick Tyler's New York Times report on rural poverty which had resulted in riots in Guizhong in 1994, in Schell and Shambaugh (Citation1999, pp. 357–361). Although the demonstrations by Falun Gong members in 1999 were impressive in number (nearly ten thousand members gathered outside Zhongnanhai, the residence of the Chinese leadership in Beijing), its connection with democracy is at best indirect in highlighting religious freedom and human rights problems in China. Chinese publications have been mostly pro-establishment and brand the Falun Gong as a cult with political motives and spreading pernicious superstitions, although its critics were careful to emphasize dealing with it according to the law, and the need to raise civic consciousness, scientific and cultural standards of the people to resist such cults. One Chinese writer even called on the ‘May Fourth spirit’ to expose and criticize it (Chen Hongxing & Dai Chenjing, Citation1999; Wu Wei & He Bingji, Citation2001, pp. 303–356). For studies in English, see Schechter (Citation2001) and Ng (Citation2000). [5] For writings on the humanist spirit debate and ‘academic norms’ debate, see Luo Gang and Ni Wenjian (Citation2000, pp. 3–161, 317–482). [6] An example of such a claim is found in Chen Yao-guang (Citation1993, pp. 18–22). The practice of democracy is included in Chen's understanding of the modernization process (p. 29). [7] A few examples of a large body of works, dating back to the early nineties, exploring the contemporary relevance of Confucianism include Huang Bingtai (Citation1995); Fang Keli (Citation1997); Wang Weixin (Citation1997); Lu Dusheng (Citation2001); Zeng Jianping and Liu Xiangrong (Citation2002); Tang Enjia (Citation2002); Lai Ping and Li Lihong (Citation2003); Yang Yun (Citation2003); Hu Jun (Citation2003); Zhang Zhaoduan (Citation2003). [8] For examples of Chinese writings on Confucianism and democracy, see Zhu Xueqin (Citation1992); Liu Xingbang (Citation1994); Cai Baowen (Citation1995); Chen Hanming (Citation1998). [9] Besides South Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, South East Asian countries in which the Chinese minorities dominate the business sectors—e.g. Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand—have also done relatively well. Within the United States, relatively speaking, the Chinese Americans have also fared better economically than other ethnic groups (Chan, Citation1993, p. 39). [10] Articles debating the relation between Confucianism and Modernization of Korea, Japan and South East Asia have appeared frequently in Chinese journals, for example, Liu Zhidong (Citation2000); Liao Yiping (Citation2002). Monographs on the topic include Rozman (Citation1991); Tu Wei-ming (Citation1996); Yu Mingsong (Citation2000); Xu Yuanhe (Citation2002); Liu Shu-hsien & Lin Yuehui (Citation2002). [11] At the regional meeting for Asia held in Bangkok in March/April 1993, state representatives from Asian countries boldly criticized the prevailing conception of universal human rights as being too Western, and expressed their intention to set their own ‘Asian standards’ for human rights. [12] Analects 2.4. Subsequent citations from the Analects giving book and chapter numbers will be in the text. Translations of the Analects are, occasionally with some modifications, mostly from Ames and Rosemont (Citation1998). A few translations are cited from other translations when I feel that Ames and Rosemont's translation leans too much in favour of my arguments wishing to avoid taking for granted our shared pragmatic interpretation. [13] In Analects 11.25, Zilu questioned the need to learn by reading books and Confucius reprimanded him for being ‘glib-tongued’ (ning ). [14] Other translations of zuo include ‘innovate’, ‘invent’, ‘make up something new’, in Lau (Citation1979); Leys (Citation1997); Waley (Citation1996). Ames and Rosemont (Citation1998) translate this passage as ‘Following the proper way, I do not forge new paths’. [15] Cf. Creel (Citation1949, pp. 143–144); Fingarette (Citation1972, p. 60); Ching (Citation1997, pp. 69–74). [16] The term zhi a is translated as wisdom or knowledge (wise, know, knowing, etc.). While wisdom, especially in the sense of practical wisdom, phronesis, is usually my preferred translation, I shall henceforth speak in terms of knowledge because this translation is neutral to my interpretive endeavour in this article and therefore poses the tougher challenge. [17] For more detailed accounts of Dewey's social conception of individuals, see Campbell (Citation1995, pp. 38–44); Tan (Citation2004b, pp. 22–29). [18] The key Confucian virtue of ren has been variously translated as benevolence, humanity, and authoritative conduct. My personal favourite is ‘co-humanity’ suggested by Peter Boodberg (Citation1953). For a more detailed account of how ren unites community building with personal growth, see Tan (Citation2004b, pp. 35–39, 82–88). The view that practicing the way originates in oneself and learning must be for oneself is elaborated in the idea of zide (), ‘finding it in oneself’ in the Mencius 4B14 (Lau, Citation1970, p. 130). Cf. de Bary (Citation1991) picks out zide as a theme of ‘learning for One's Self’ that highlights the individual in neo-Confucian thought. [19] This question of scientism is particularly important because some scholars considered it a legacy of Dewey's influence in China during the May Fourth period (Kwok, Citation1965, chap. 4; Lin, Citation1979, chap. 5). For an argument against a scientistic interpretation of Dewey's theory of democracy, see Tan (Citation2004a). [20] This is one of the meanings of culture that Dewey often referred to (Dewey, Citation1916b, p. 198; Citation1930, p. 99). Although Dewey sometimes further subdivided the ‘culminating aspects of civilizations’, including philosophy, politics, law, economics, and sports among the categories of culture, these could be treated as either belonging to science or art or as a combination of the two, insofar as science and art respectively comprises the achievements in the instrumental and consummative phases of human experience. For better understanding of this view of art and science, see Dewey (1925, 1934b). [21] The Master said, ‘I find inspiration by intoning the songs (shi), I learn where to stand from observing ritual propriety (li), I find fulfillment in playing music’ (Analects 8.8). On the aesthetic aspect of ritual education and performance, see Tan (Citation2004c, pp. 61–63). Emphasis on the aesthetic in contrast to the rationalistic pervades the work of David Hall and Roger Ames (Citation1987, pp. 131–138), for an explicit discussion of the primacy of aesthetic order in Confucian worldview. [22] Confucius also associated xue with seeing (jian a) and hearing (wen b) in Analects 2.18. Ames and Rosemont translate wen b as learning. The character, cong , which means both keenness of hearing and intelligence (as in congming ), has the ‘ear’ radical, semantically associating intelligence with hearing. Hearing is also associated with sageliness in the composition of sheng , the character for sage, and in Confucius’ description of his journey of learning in quest of sagehood (Analects 2.4). [23] The character jian b is a cognate of another which means ‘mirror, mirroring’ and often has the meaning of using something acting like a mirror (water, people, besides the usual metallic mirror) to improve not just physical sight, but more importantly, intellectual and spiritual insight. An example is the saying quoted in the Shujing, jiugao (Announcement on Drunkenness), ‘ren wu yu shui jian b, dang yu min jian b’ (), which James Legge translates as ‘Let not men look only into water, let them look into the glass of other people’ (Legge, Citation1960, p. 409).