Confucian pluralism and China's dream of a harmonious world

Bibliographic Data

ID5122633
AuthorsPeter T C Chang (Monash University, corresponding author)
Year2014
Volume28
Issue3
Pages382-404
Publication date2014-11-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueChina Information (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0920-203X • E-ISSN: 1741-590X
PublisherSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0920203x14553371
OpenAlexW2070310755
LanguageEN
Citations received2
References cited24

This article will critique three aspects of the conservative re-sacralization project deemed incongruent with China's dream of a harmonious world. The first pertains to the prevailing Han-centric rendition of the Confucian tradition. Rebuttals are made in support of an emerging multicultural 'global Confucianism', an international movement that would further the Chinese quest for a universal ethical order. The next criticism relates to the proposal by conservatives for a Confucian church and the installation of Confucianism as China's state religion. In response, counterarguments are advanced for the re-institution of 'civil Confucianism'. One key issue is whether scholar-officials or clerics can restore a more holistic, pluralistic re-enchanted China. The final contention addresses the conservative melancholic Hobbesian worldview. The Confucian vision, I explain, is essentially sanguine and the clash of civilizations not inevitable. Moreover, China and the United States share core values for both to jointly sustain a harmonious world

China · Criticism · Dream · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Institution · Multiculturalism · Pluralism (philosophy · Political science · Sociology · China's Socioeconomic Reforms and Governance · Chinese history and philosophy · Japanese History and Culture · Law · Philosophy · Psychology

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