Title: Confucianism and democracy: Uneasy Marriage or Productive Partnership?
Lecturer: Joseph C.W. Chan (Professor, Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Hong Kong)
Language: English in presentation and Chinese in question and answer
Chairman: FANG Xudong (Professor, Department of Philosophy, East China Normal University)
Commentator: LIU Qing (Professor, Department of Politics, ECNU)
Date: 10 am, June 15th, 2015 (Monday)
Venue: Room 5303, Building of School of Humanities, Minhang Campus, ECNU
Sponsor: Si-mian Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities, ECNU
Abstract of the Lecture:
Since the very beginning, Confucianism has been troubled by a serious gap between its political ideals and the reality of societal circumstances. Contemporary Confucians must develop a viable method of governance that can retain the spirit of the Confucian ideal while tackling problems arising from non-ideal modern situations. The best way to meet this challenge, Joseph Chan argues, is to adopt liberal democratic institutions that are shaped by the Confucian conception of the good rather than the liberal conception of the right. Chan decouples liberal democratic institutions from their popular liberal philosophical foundations and redefines their roles and functions by Confucian principles, thus mixing Confucianism with liberal democratic institutions in a way that strengthens both.
Brief Introduction of the Lecturer:
Joseph C.W. Chan is a professor in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, The University of Hong Kong. He was educated at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (B.Soc.Sc), the London School of Economics and Political Science (M.Sc), and the University of Oxford (D.Phil). He was head of department from 2002-2004 and 2011-2013, founding director of the Centre for Civil Society and Governance, Faculty of Social Sciences from 2003-2009, and chairman of the University’s Common Core Curriculum Committee. He teaches political theory and researches in the areas of Confucian political philosophy, contemporary liberalism and perfectionism, human rights, and civil society. His articles have appeared in various journals, including China Quarterly, Ethics, Journal of Chinese Philosophy, Journal of Democracy, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Philosophy and Public Affairs, and Philosophy East and West. He is the author of Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times (Princeton University Press, 2014), and co-editor of Political Legitimacy in East Asia: Bridging Normative and Empirical Analysis (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming) and Political Theory in China (Oxford University Press, 2001, in Chinese).