Sor‐hoon Tan
Biographic Data
| ID | 3602125 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Sor‐hoon Tan |
| GIVEN NAMES | Sor‐hoon |
| FAMILY NAME | Tan |
| SIGNATURE | TAN S H |
| AFFILIATIONS | National University of Singapore |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-9153-8284 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 30 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 18 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 30 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
Toward Confucian Economic Democracy: A Relational Alternative to Possessive Individualism
This article offers a Confucian conception of ownership and a different approach to equality based on a concept of relational person that could provide an alternative philosophical framework for economic democracy. The Confucian concept of nonexclusive and non-absolute co-ownership, conditional on owners fulfilling their social responsibilities and sustained in networks of relationships mitigates the drive to appropriation and resistance to redis…
Merit and Inequality: Confucian and Communitarian Perspectives on Singapore’s Meritocracy
This paper compares criticisms of Singapore’s meritocracy, especially against its impact on income disparities and class divisions, with Michael Sandel’s critique of the meritocratic ethic in the United States. Despite significant differences in their history and politics, meritocracy has similar dysfunctions in both societies, allowing us to draw theoretical conclusions about meritocracy as an ideal of governance. It then contrasts Sandel’s comm…
Confucian Family Ideal and Same-Sex Marriage: A Feminist Confucian Perspective
This article engages the views of PRC Confucian scholars who responded to the United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy's citing of Confucius in his majority opinion on same-sex marriage in 2015. It questions their separation of tolerance for homosexuality from legalization of same-sex marriage and argue that tolerance is not enough. The arguments in the mainland Confucian discourse about same-sex marriage highlights the historical and …
Texts and Traditions in Chinese and Comparative Philosophy
This article considers Quentin Skinner's critique and methodology in his seminal essay "Meaning and Understanding in the History of Ideas" vis-à-vis the current methodological debates in Chinese and comparative philosophy. It surveys the different ways in which philosophers who work with ancient Chinese texts in those related fields deal with the tension between textual contexts and autonomy and how some of the errors criticized by Skinner under …
Mou Zongsan’s concept of immanent-transcendence
Against Political Equality: The Confucian Case, written by Bai Tongdong
Bai Tongdong, Against Political Equality: The Confucian Case. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2019. 344 pages, ISBN: 978-0691195995.Debates over the compatibility of Confucianism with liberal democracy have raged for decades. Bai Tongdong identifies four camps in these debates: (1) prodemocracy incompatibility; (2) prodemocracy compatibility; (3) pro-Confucianism incompatibility; and (4) revisionists who might be prodemocratic or pro-Confu…
Secular Ethics, East and West
One can find secular ethics in Aristotle’s philosophy; one can also find secular ethics in Confucianism. Debates about the religious status of Confucianism date back several centuries and continue today. Ethical concepts in the Classical Confucian texts and the ethical life they advocate can be accepted on their own, independent of any otherworldly religious beliefs. This chapter reconstructs a Confucian secular ethics from the textual resources …
Challenging Citizenship: Group Membership and Cultural Identity in a Global Age
Over the last ten years citizenship has become an area of interdisciplinary research and teaching in its own right. This book highlights that globalization poses new challenges for established understandings and practices of citizenship, and that intellectual work is required to fashion models of citizenship better suited to present problems and realities. In particular, this volume emphasizes the pluralization of identities and communities withi…
Why Equality and Which Inequalities?: A Modern Confucian Approach to Democracy
This article challenges the conventional view that Confucianism has no place for the value of equality by shifting the focus from direct justification of equality (Why equality?) to concerns about actual social and political problems (Which inequalities are objectionable?). From this perspective, early Confucian texts endorse some inequalities, in particular those based on virtue, while objecting to others, especially socioeconomic inequalities. …
The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy Methodologies
The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy Methodologies presents a new understanding of the changing methods used to study Chinese philosophy. By identifying the various different approaches and discussing the role, and significance of philosophical methods in the Chinese tradition, this collection identifies difficulties and exciting developments for scholars of Asian philosophy. Divided into four parts, the nature of Chinese philos…
Xunzi and Naturalistic Ethics
The Concept of Yi (义) in the Mencius and Problems of Distributive Justice
This paper examines attempts to find a conception of justice in early Confucian contexts, focusing on the concept of yi (translated as ‘appropriateness’, ‘right’, ‘rightness’, even ‘justice’) in the Mencius. It argues against the approach of deriving principles of dividing burdens and benefits from the discussions of concrete cases employing the concept of yi and instead shows that Confucian ethical concerns are more attentive to what kinds of in…
Early Confucian Concept of Yi (议)and Deliberative Democracy
Contributors to the debates about the compatibility of Confucianism and democracy and its implications for China’s democratization often adopt definitions of democracy that theories of deliberative democracy are critical of. Attention to deliberative democracy is timely given its importance in democratic discourses and recent experiments in “deliberative” or “consultative” democracy in China. Would Confucian understanding of political deliberatio…
Li (Ritual/Rite) and Tian (Heaven/Nature) in the Xunzi: Does Confucian li need metaphysics?
Teaching & Learning Guide for: Democracy in Confucianism
This guide accompanies the following article(s): Sor-hoon Tan, "Democracy in Confucianism,"Philosophy Compass 7.5 (May 2012): 293-303, DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00481.xAuthor's IntroductionDebates about the relation between democracy and Confucianism have seen views that range from attempts to show that some form, or at least the seeds, of democracy could be found in Confucianism, or that it is compatible with liberal or other forms of democr…
Democracy in Confucianism
Confucianism's long historical association with despotism has cast doubts on its compatibility with democracy, and raise questions about its relevance in contemporary societies increasingly dominated by democratic aspirations. "Confucian democracy" has been described as a "contradiction in terms" and Asian politicians have appropriated Confucianism to justify resistance to liberalization and democratization. There has been a lively debate over th…
The Pragmatic Confucian Approach to Tradition in Modernizing China
This paper explores the Confucian veneration of the past and its commitment to transmitting the tradition of the sages. It does so by placing it in the context of the historical trajectory from the May Fourth attacks on Confucianism and its scientistic, iconoclastic approach to "saving China," to similar approaches to China's modernization in later decades, through the market reforms that launched China into global capitalism, to the revival of C…
The Dao of Politics: Li (Rituals/Rites) and Laws as Pragmatic Tools of Government
In the history of Chinese thought, Confucianism is often contrasted with Legalism in terms of the former’s emphasis on li (ritual or rite) and the latter’s emphasis on fa (laws). However, others have argued that the Confucian li have served some of the same purposes as laws in the Western world. This article shows that through an overlap between Dewey’s concept of custom and the Confucian notion of li, and Dewey’s understanding of the relationshi…
How can a Chinese Democracy be Pragmatic
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy - Volume 47, Number 2, Spring 2011
Authoritative Master Kong (Confucius) in An Authoritarian Age
Beyond Elitism: A Community Ideal for a Modern East Asia
It is often remarked that East Asian polities have been hierarchical and the elite category continues to figure prominently in works on Chinese society and politics.1 Many scholars believe that hierarchy and elitism are deeply rooted in Confucianism, which served as the state orthodoxy in imperial China and provided the psychocultural construct of the way of life in other East Asian cultural communities as well. It is therefore not surprising tha…
Modernizing Confucianism and ‘new Confucianism’
For some people, Confucianism, a philosophy that looks to a mythical past as an ideal for inspiration, has become obsolete as societies historically under Confucian influence modernize. However, reports of the death of Confucianism are premature. While it has been eclipsed by Western thought and practice for significant periods, Confucianism has undergone a revival in many East Asian societies in the last few decades. Many people continue to iden…
Confucian Democracy as Pragmatic Experiment: Uniting Love of Learning and Love of Antiquity
10.1080/09552360701445026
Imagining Confucius: Paradigmatic Characters and Virtue Ethics
Cultural Crossings Against Ethnocentric Currents: Toward a Confucian Ethics of Communicative Virtues
Early Confucian Concept of Yi (议)and Deliberative Democracy
Contributors to the debates about the compatibility of Confucianism and democracy and its implications for China’s democratization often adopt definitions of democracy that theories of deliberative democracy are critical of. Attention to deliberative democracy is timely given its importance in democratic discourses and recent experiments in “deliberative” or “consultative” democracy in China. Would Confucian understanding of political deliberatio…
Democracy in Confucianism
Confucianism's long historical association with despotism has cast doubts on its compatibility with democracy, and raise questions about its relevance in contemporary societies increasingly dominated by democratic aspirations. "Confucian democracy" has been described as a "contradiction in terms" and Asian politicians have appropriated Confucianism to justify resistance to liberalization and democratization. There has been a lively debate over th…
The Pragmatic Confucian Approach to Tradition in Modernizing China
This paper explores the Confucian veneration of the past and its commitment to transmitting the tradition of the sages. It does so by placing it in the context of the historical trajectory from the May Fourth attacks on Confucianism and its scientistic, iconoclastic approach to "saving China," to similar approaches to China's modernization in later decades, through the market reforms that launched China into global capitalism, to the revival of C…
Teaching & Learning Guide for: Democracy in Confucianism
This guide accompanies the following article(s): Sor-hoon Tan, "Democracy in Confucianism,"Philosophy Compass 7.5 (May 2012): 293-303, DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00481.xAuthor's IntroductionDebates about the relation between democracy and Confucianism have seen views that range from attempts to show that some form, or at least the seeds, of democracy could be found in Confucianism, or that it is compatible with liberal or other forms of democr…
How can a Chinese Democracy be Pragmatic
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy - Volume 47, Number 2, Spring 2011
Cultural Crossings Against Ethnocentric Currents: Toward a Confucian Ethics of Communicative Virtues
Experience as art
Chinese philosophy views experience as intrinsically aesthetic. This world view could be elucidated through a consideration of John Dewey's aesthetics and features of Chinese art. Dewey's philosophy of art starts with an understanding of experience as ‘live processes’ of living creatures interacting with their environment. Such processes are autopoietic in being self‐sustaining, ever‐changing, capable of increasing complexity, capable of generati…
Is Public Space Suited to Co-operative Inquiry
This article questions the nature of the philosophical commitment to the problem of 'the public' in modernity. To what extent does the natural form of the public determine the use and value of the instruments of pragmatism in the public-private divide. In this interpretation, John Dewey's ideas about 'the public' are presented in terms of how to solve a specific problem through what he sees as 'co-operative inquiry'. The article also examines the…
Political Implications of Confucian Familism
10.1080/0955236032000162709
From Cannibalism to Empowerment: An Analects -Inspired Attempt to Balance Community and Liberty
Developed here is a Confucian balance between two key democratic ideals, liberty and community, by focusing on the Confucian notion of li (ritual), which has often been considered hostile to liberty. By adopting a semiotic approach to li and relating it to recent studies of ritual in various Western disciplines, li's contribution to communication and its aesthetic dimension are explored to show how emphasizing harmony without sacrificing reflecti…
Filial Piety in Chinese Thought and History
Imagining Confucius: Paradigmatic Characters and Virtue Ethics
Cultural Crossings Against Ethnocentric Currents: Toward a Confucian Ethics of Communicative Virtues
Confucian Democracy as Pragmatic Experiment: Uniting Love of Learning and Love of Antiquity
10.1080/09552360701445026
Modernizing Confucianism and ‘new Confucianism’
For some people, Confucianism, a philosophy that looks to a mythical past as an ideal for inspiration, has become obsolete as societies historically under Confucian influence modernize. However, reports of the death of Confucianism are premature. While it has been eclipsed by Western thought and practice for significant periods, Confucianism has undergone a revival in many East Asian societies in the last few decades. Many people continue to iden…
Beyond Elitism: A Community Ideal for a Modern East Asia
It is often remarked that East Asian polities have been hierarchical and the elite category continues to figure prominently in works on Chinese society and politics.1 Many scholars believe that hierarchy and elitism are deeply rooted in Confucianism, which served as the state orthodoxy in imperial China and provided the psychocultural construct of the way of life in other East Asian cultural communities as well. It is therefore not surprising tha…
Authoritative Master Kong (Confucius) in An Authoritarian Age
The Dao of Politics: Li (Rituals/Rites) and Laws as Pragmatic Tools of Government
In the history of Chinese thought, Confucianism is often contrasted with Legalism in terms of the former’s emphasis on li (ritual or rite) and the latter’s emphasis on fa (laws). However, others have argued that the Confucian li have served some of the same purposes as laws in the Western world. This article shows that through an overlap between Dewey’s concept of custom and the Confucian notion of li, and Dewey’s understanding of the relationshi…
How can a Chinese Democracy be Pragmatic
Transactions of the Charles S. Peirce Society: A Quarterly Journal in American Philosophy - Volume 47, Number 2, Spring 2011
Li (Ritual/Rite) and Tian (Heaven/Nature) in the Xunzi: Does Confucian li need metaphysics?
Teaching & Learning Guide for: Democracy in Confucianism
This guide accompanies the following article(s): Sor-hoon Tan, "Democracy in Confucianism,"Philosophy Compass 7.5 (May 2012): 293-303, DOI: 10.1111/j.1747-9991.2012.00481.xAuthor's IntroductionDebates about the relation between democracy and Confucianism have seen views that range from attempts to show that some form, or at least the seeds, of democracy could be found in Confucianism, or that it is compatible with liberal or other forms of democr…
Democracy in Confucianism
Confucianism's long historical association with despotism has cast doubts on its compatibility with democracy, and raise questions about its relevance in contemporary societies increasingly dominated by democratic aspirations. "Confucian democracy" has been described as a "contradiction in terms" and Asian politicians have appropriated Confucianism to justify resistance to liberalization and democratization. There has been a lively debate over th…
The Pragmatic Confucian Approach to Tradition in Modernizing China
This paper explores the Confucian veneration of the past and its commitment to transmitting the tradition of the sages. It does so by placing it in the context of the historical trajectory from the May Fourth attacks on Confucianism and its scientistic, iconoclastic approach to "saving China," to similar approaches to China's modernization in later decades, through the market reforms that launched China into global capitalism, to the revival of C…
The Concept of Yi (义) in the Mencius and Problems of Distributive Justice
This paper examines attempts to find a conception of justice in early Confucian contexts, focusing on the concept of yi (translated as ‘appropriateness’, ‘right’, ‘rightness’, even ‘justice’) in the Mencius. It argues against the approach of deriving principles of dividing burdens and benefits from the discussions of concrete cases employing the concept of yi and instead shows that Confucian ethical concerns are more attentive to what kinds of in…
Early Confucian Concept of Yi (议)and Deliberative Democracy
Contributors to the debates about the compatibility of Confucianism and democracy and its implications for China’s democratization often adopt definitions of democracy that theories of deliberative democracy are critical of. Attention to deliberative democracy is timely given its importance in democratic discourses and recent experiments in “deliberative” or “consultative” democracy in China. Would Confucian understanding of political deliberatio…
Xunzi and Naturalistic Ethics
Why Equality and Which Inequalities?: A Modern Confucian Approach to Democracy
This article challenges the conventional view that Confucianism has no place for the value of equality by shifting the focus from direct justification of equality (Why equality?) to concerns about actual social and political problems (Which inequalities are objectionable?). From this perspective, early Confucian texts endorse some inequalities, in particular those based on virtue, while objecting to others, especially socioeconomic inequalities. …
The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy Methodologies
The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Chinese Philosophy Methodologies presents a new understanding of the changing methods used to study Chinese philosophy. By identifying the various different approaches and discussing the role, and significance of philosophical methods in the Chinese tradition, this collection identifies difficulties and exciting developments for scholars of Asian philosophy. Divided into four parts, the nature of Chinese philos…
Secular Ethics, East and West
One can find secular ethics in Aristotle’s philosophy; one can also find secular ethics in Confucianism. Debates about the religious status of Confucianism date back several centuries and continue today. Ethical concepts in the Classical Confucian texts and the ethical life they advocate can be accepted on their own, independent of any otherworldly religious beliefs. This chapter reconstructs a Confucian secular ethics from the textual resources …
Challenging Citizenship: Group Membership and Cultural Identity in a Global Age
Over the last ten years citizenship has become an area of interdisciplinary research and teaching in its own right. This book highlights that globalization poses new challenges for established understandings and practices of citizenship, and that intellectual work is required to fashion models of citizenship better suited to present problems and realities. In particular, this volume emphasizes the pluralization of identities and communities withi…
Mou Zongsan’s concept of immanent-transcendence
Sociology (24 works) · Chinese history and philosophy (22 works) · Law (21 works) · Philosophy (21 works) · Epistemology (20 works) · Political science (20 works) · Politics (15 works) · Democracy (12 works) · Philosophy (10 works) · Law (9 works)