: Ruiping Fan
: Reconstructionist Confucianism Rethinking Morality after the West
: Springer-Verlag
: 9789048131563
: 1
: CHF 74.30
:
: Östliche Philosophie
: English
: 296
: Wasserzeichen/DRM
: PC/MAC/eReader/Tablet
: PDF

Contrasting with conventional Neo-Confucian attempts to recast the Confucian heritage in light of modern Western values, this book offers a Reconstructionist Confucian project to reclaim Confucian resources to meet contemporary moral and public policy challenges. Ruiping Fan argues that popular accounts of human goods and social justice within the dominant individualist culture of the West are too insubstantial to direct a life of virtue and a proper structure of society. Instead, he demonstrates that the moral insights of Confucian thought are precisely those needed to fill the moral vacuum developing in post-communist China and to address similar problems in the West. The book has a depth of reflection on the Confucian tradition through a comparative philosophical strategy and a breadth of contemporary issues addressed unrivaled by any other work on these topics. It is the first in English to explore not only the endeavor to revive Confucianism in contemporary China, but also brings such an endeavor to bear upon the important ethical, social, and political difficulties being faced in 21st century China. The book should be of interest to any philosopher working in application of traditional Chinese philosophy to contemporary issues as well as any reader interested in comparative cultural and ethical studies.

Acknowledgements6
A Note on Chinese Sources and Characters7
Contents8
Introduction12
Part I Beyond Individualism: Familism as the Key to Virtuous Social Structure22
1 Confucian Morality: Why It Is in Tension with Contemporary Western Moral Commitments23
2 Virtue, Ren, and Familial Roles: Deflating Concerns with Individual Rights and Equality31
2.1 Introduction31
2.2 Are Rights Persuasive?31
2.3 The Confucian Virtue-Based Personhood34
2.4 Reflections on Equal Rights Vs. Unequal Virtues38
2.5 Towards a Reconstructionist Confucian Bioethics41
3 A Family-Oriented Civil Society: Treating People as Unequals42
3.1 Introduction: Civil Society, Rule of Law and Conflicting World Views42
3.2 Liberal Democratic Civil Society: Treating People as Equals45
3.3 Confucian Anti-Egalitarian Civil Society: Treating People as Relatives47
3.4 The Family: Stumbling Block for Justice or Keystone of Virtue?51
3.5 Is a Confucian Family-Oriented Civil Society Possible?53
3.6 Concluding Reflections: Towards a Familist Civil Society58
Part II Virtue as a Way of Life: Social Justice Reconsidered61
4 Virtue as the True Character of Social Obligations: Why Rawlsian Social Justice is Vicious62
4.1 Introduction62
4.2 The Distribution of Instrumental Goods Vs. The Pursuit of Intrinsic Virtues64
4.3 Equality Vs. Harmony68
4.4 Liberal Democracy Vs. Confucian Aristocracy72
4.5 Liberal Rights Vs. Confucian Rights73
4.6 Neutral Vs. Non-Neutral78
4.7 Election Vs. Examination79
4.8 Contractarian Neutrality Vs. Private-Property Economy80
4.9 Conclusion84
5 Giving Priority to Virtue Over Justice and Rebuilding Chinese Health Care Principles86
5.1 The Challenges of Health Care in Todays China86
5.2 Two Misleading Ethical Views89
5.3 Reconstructionist Confucian Ethical Principles for Health Care91
5.3.1 The Principle of Ren-Yi (Humanity-Righteousness) 393
5.3.2 The Principle of Cheng-Xin (Sincerity-Fidelity)94
5.4 Health Care Policy Reforms95
5.5 Concluding Remarks99
6 Which Care? Whose Responsibility? And Why family? Filial Piety and Long Term Care for the Elderly100
6.1 A Shocking Fact: Contemporary Elderly Persons in East Asia Tend to Commit Suicide100
6.2 Family Care: Reminiscence or Renaissance?102
6.3 Why has Family Care Become Difficult in Contemporary Society?106
6.4 Childrens Responsibility: The Manifestation of De (Virtue) and Xiao (Filial Piety)112
6.5 Why Family? A Confucian Account of the Family for Elderly Care116
6.6 Concluding Remarks118