Education as a human right : a Confucian perspective

Joseph Chan’s Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times is a milestone in the contemporary study of Confucian political philosophy. In this remarkable work, Chan presents his version of Confucian perfectionism, aiming to balance liberalism and Confucianism as a solution to rec...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Li, Chenyang
Other Authors: School of Humanities and Social Sciences
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/10356/88548
http://hdl.handle.net/10220/45797
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Institution: Nanyang Technological University
Language: English
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Summary:Joseph Chan’s Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times is a milestone in the contemporary study of Confucian political philosophy. In this remarkable work, Chan presents his version of Confucian perfectionism, aiming to balance liberalism and Confucianism as a solution to reconstructing a political philosophy in response to contemporary challenges. I am sympathetic to much of what Chan has to say in the book. I agree that, rather than merely being an ethical theory, Confucianism can and should have a place in political philosophy. I also agree that Confucianism can coexist with democracy1 and that human rights can and should be instituted as a fallback apparatus. This essay is not meant to give a comprehensive assessment of Chan’s book, nor is it about praise. This essay is about how his version of Confucian perfectionism can be strengthened—from a Confucian standpoint.