Confucianism and democracy

• Main Author: TAN, Sor-hoon
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Institutional Knowledge at Singapore Management University 2010
• Subjects: Arts and Humanities
• Online Access: https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/soss_research/2552; https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/context/soss_research/article/3809/viewcontent/Tan_SH_2010_.pdf
• Institution: Singapore Management University

Is Confucianism democratic or antidemocratic? Could Confucianism anddemocracy at least coexist in a society? Could there be more than coexistence:positive mutual transformation that brings the two closer or even effects afruitful merger? These are questions of importance beyond the ivory tower.Th ey have consequences for the future of many societies in East Asia, and therelationship between East Asian societies and other societies in a globalizingera. Th is chapter will begin with a brief introduction to the wide and growingrange of literature on the relationship between Confucianism and democracyby highlighting and comparing some major positions. It then advocates aConfucian democracy by reconstructing, in the sense of a transformativeunderstanding that renders past meanings relevant to the future, some keyaspects of Confucianism.