The Confucian Political Imagination

This book critically examines the Confucian political imagination and its influence on the contemporary Chinese dream of a powerful China. It views Confucianism as the ideological supplement to a powerful state that is challenging Western hegemony, and not as a political philosophy that need not concern us. Eske Møllgaard shows that Confucians, despite their traditionalist ways, have the will to transform the existing socio-ethical order. The volume discusses the central features of the Confucian political imaginary, the nature of Confucian discourse, Confucian revivals, Confucian humanism and civility, and the political ideal of the Great Unity. It concludes by considering if Confucianism can be universalized as an ideology in competition with liberal democracy.

Presents a timely investigation of Confucianism in China Offers a novel approach to and analysis of Confucianism Asks the thought-provoking question of why the Chinese communist party embraced Confucianism

Auteur

Eske Møllgaard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rhode Island, USA.

Contenu

1. Introduction: The Confucian Challenge.- 2. The Imaginary.- 3. The Discourse.- 4. The Revivals.- 5. Humanism.- 6. Civility.- 7. Decline of the Great Unity.- 8. Can Confucianism be Universalized?