{"id":323,"date":"2018-08-08T17:15:34","date_gmt":"2018-08-08T17:15:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jinburuxue.com\/english\/?page_id=323"},"modified":"2018-08-08T17:19:58","modified_gmt":"2018-08-08T17:19:58","slug":"progressive-confucianism","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/jinburuxue.com\/english\/progressive-confucianism\/","title":{"rendered":"Progressive Confucianism"},"content":{"rendered":"
To help you gaining a better understanding of Progressive Confucianism, we have prepared the content below:<\/span><\/div>\n
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Excerpt from ch. 1 of Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy\u00a0<\/i>(slightly modified for better reading experience) :<\/h4>\n
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\u2026\u00a0I mean \u201cprogressive\u201d to function in two different ways:\u00a0to describe the core Confucian commitment to individual and collective\u00a0moral progress, and to label the particular approach to Confucian political philosophy that I advocate, which bears certain similarities\u00a0to other contemporary \u201cprogressive\u201d social and political movements. Progressive Confucianism fits in between the Kantian New\u00a0Confucianism of Mou Zongsan and the Critical New Confucianism of someone like Lin Anwu. It is\u00a0like the former in endorsing the\u00a0importance of Mou Zongsan\u2019s \u201cself-restriction\u201d argument, though it is agnostic about the exact form that an account\u00a0of Confucian\u00a0ethics must take.54\u00a0It is like the latter in being much more\u00a0social-critical than Mou ever was, though it parts company with at least\u00a0some\u00a0of Lin\u2019s criticisms of Mou.<\/div>\n
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\u201cProgressive\u201d is often opposed to \u201cconservative,\u201d and yet there are\u00a0senses in which the Confucian tradition \u2013 including my reading of it\u00a0\u2013 is\u00a0progressive and conservative at the same time. As Mou\u2019s fellow New\u00a0Confucian Tang Junyi (1909\u201378) put it, \u201cconserving is based\u00a0on one\u2019s self-conscious a\u00a0formation of the value of the existence of one\u2019s life,\u201d and this\u00a0understanding of value ultimately leads to a\u00a0realization of the values of\u00a0all things, and this latter understanding is the ground for progress.\u00a0Mou\u00a0puts it this way: \u201cIf one is without\u00a0a firm commitment to life, penetrating\u00a0wisdom, and pervasive ethics, then one cannot speak of \u2018conserving.\u2019 True\u00a0conserving is\u00a0concretely embedded in the practice of creativity: the two\u00a0are not opposed.\u201d\u00a0According to the New Confucians, in other words,\u00a0insofar\u00a0as we \u201cconserve\u201d the virtuous characteristics and a\u00a0formation of\u00a0life that the tradition (as they interpret it) has shown us to be vital, we\u00a0are\u00a0thereby progressing \u2013 both growing ethically and making things better in\u00a0our world. Mou acknowledges that if \u201cconserving\u201d is\u00a0understood as a fixed\u00a0set of habits or attitudes, and creativity is glossed as unrestrained, radical\u00a0novelty, then they are obviously\u00a0opposed, but asserts that these descriptions fit with neither conservation nor creativity in their true and valuable\u00a0forms.<\/div>\n
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The idea that ethical insight leads to progressive political change,\u00a0which in turn leads to greater realization of our potential for virtue,\u00a0lies\u00a0at the heart of Progressive Confucianism. The institutions advocated by\u00a0Progressive Confucians are valued not because of their\u00a0ancient pedigree\u00a0but because of their capacity to assist in the realization of the fundamental\u00a0human virtues that Confucians have valued\u00a0since ancient times. Social\u00a0structures that set barriers to the realization of virtue, therefore, need to\u00a0be critiqued and changed.\u00a0Progressive Confucian criticism of social, economic, or political oppression will often\u00a0resemble the criticisms raised by other sorts of\u00a0progressivism, but Progressive Confucianism remains true\u00a0to its founding insights in many ways. Versions of hierarchy, deference,\u00a0ritual, and state-sponsored ethical education, among other things, are all\u00a0endorsed in [Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy<\/i>].\u00a0\u2026<\/div>\n
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Excerpt from the Preface to the Chinese Edition of Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy<\/i>:<\/h4>\n
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In English, I use the term \u201cProgressive Confucianism\u201d to label the version of Confucianism that I am advocating. The\u00a0obvious way to translate this into Chinese is as \u201c\u8fdb\u6b65\u5112\u5b66,\u201d and\u00a0\u97e9\u534e\u00a0has used that translation here. I agree that it is\u00a0probably the best translation, but I want to point out that \u201cprogressive\u201d (in English) and \u201c\u8fdb\u6b65\u201d (in Chinese) have\u00a0somewhat different meanings. In particular, the English word has strong social, political, and moral connotations,\u00a0whereas the Chinese word has a mainly economic meaning. In the early-twentieth-century United States, for example,\u00a0the \u201cProgressive Party\u201d advocated more equitable laws, criticizing those who sought only economic development.\u00a0Socialist movements are excellent examples of this kind of \u201cprogressivism,\u201d since they seek broad and equitable\u00a0development of society. So saying that Confucianism should be \u201cprogressive\u201d fits well with the many Confucian thinkers\u00a0in the twentieth century who also advocated varieties of socialism, such as Kang Youwei, Liang Shuming, Zhang Junmai,\u00a0and others. As I use the term,\u00a0\u8fdb\u6b65\u5112\u5b66\u00a0has many dimensions, including an emphasis on rule of law (because of the need\u00a0for\u00a0\u81ea\u6211\u574e\u9677), ritual minimalism, people\u2019s authority and political participation, global human rights, and a critique of\u00a0oppression.<\/div>\n
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Also See (some of the links may lead to content in Chinese):<\/h4>\n
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Interview about Progressive Confucianism<\/a><\/div>\n
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\u00a0– An interview with Stephen C. Angle in which he discusses the meaning of \u201cProgressive Confucianism\u201d and other matters.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Book Critique<\/a><\/div>\n
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\u00a0– A Review of\u00a0Contemporary Confucian Political Philosophy\u00a0<\/i>in which Bao Wenxin raises questions about Stephen Angle\u2019s use of the term \u201cProgressive.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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