Abstract
This work presents a scholarly, yet personal endeavour to understand the relevance of Confucianism in modern political life. Evolving from Stephen Angle's earlier scholarship on Confucian ethics, this monograph attempts to reconcile that system of moral development with a meaningful lens through which Confucians might engage in present-day political issues. The work draws quite heavily on the neo-Confucianism of Mou Zongsan (1909–95) and particularly his interpretation of ‘self-restriction’. This book will be best received by those with some background in Confucianism and/or comparative political philosophy.
Recognising the difficulty that Confucianism has endured throughout its history, and especially over the last century, Angle identifies several key ideas that can be harmonised to cultivate ‘Progressive Confucianism’ as a guide for promoting ritually influenced virtue politics. This reappraisal honours the traditional Confucian tenets, but also offers a means to alleviate contemporary social justice concerns. The author charts the interesting history of Confucianism and reveals that despite a rather broad and lively tradition, much of the existing scholarship maintains a somewhat awkward grasp of its utility beyond a basis for ethical considerations. In this text, Angle attempts to identify the core elements of the Confucian tradition which can be universally applied so as to revitalise the tradition in order to manage modern social problems. In rescuing Confucianism from its perceived conservatism, Angle outlines a ‘Progressive Confucianism’ that calls upon ethical reflection as a key to re-evaluating institutions and their efficacy in promoting the actualisation of human virtues. This perspective relies on Confucian principles, but is ultimately progressive in its socio-economic and political criticism and vision.
Angle's treatise rests upon the relationship between ethics and politics derived from the neo-Confucianism of Mou Zongsan and his notion of ‘self-restriction’: the indirect link between the ethical and the political offers guidance to the individual for subjective moral action, but only within the limitations of a given objective political structure. In order to promote a broader system of public virtue, the individual must restrict substituting their personal aspirations of virtue for public ones. The overall aim of Progressive Confucianism is to illuminate the recognition of the interdependence of ethics, politics and rituals that form the intersubjective webs of meaning within a given society as well as providing the context for the advancement of human virtue. Ultimately, it is through self-reflection and self-restriction that a more solid foundation for establishing social justice can be developed.