Research On The Political Philosophy Of The Third Generation Neo-Confucianism

This dissertation highlights the political philosophy of the third generation Neo-Confucianism.Specifically,it focuses on its origin,inheritance and development.The dissertation attempts to provide the answers to two questions:whether the political philosophy of the Neo-Confucianism can provide ideological resources for China's society transformation,and whether the theories which are based on Confucianism,and are expected to make response to the new challenges can be established?Particularly,this study concentrates on four representatives of the Neo-Confucianism,Tu Weiming,Cheng Chungying,Liu shu-hsien and Lin Anwu.Their thoughts regarding the relation between the politics and the state,and their implication will be analyzed thoroughly.The third generation is the result of the continuous development of the contemporary Neo-Confucianism.The thinkers of the third generation are more open-minded and flexible than their precedents because they received both Chinese and western education.Due to their efforts and contributions,the contemporary Neo-Confucianism spread across East Asian and become an independent and widely recognized knowledge system all over the world.Because the thinkers of third generation are more involved in the discussion of modern social problems,they attracted more and more attentions of the Western researchers.The political philosophy of the contemporary Neo-Confucianism is rooted on the disposition theory with the pursuit of Confucian ethics.Absorbing the core of the western freedom and democracy,it attempts to establish the modern democratic politics based on the Chinese traditional culture.Although the theories concerning the Neo-Confucianism are homogeneous,the thinkers take different perspectives and their focuses are also different.For instance,Xiong Shili,Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi's political thoughts are knowing-oriented.In contrast,Liang Shuming,Zhang Junmai and Xu Fuguan's political thoughts are pragmatic-oriented,tending to activate the modem value of Chinese traditional political thoughts.Being based on this recognition,this dissertation firstly identifies the two approaches of the Neo-Contemporary:philosophical explanation-oriented and pragmatics-oriented.It argues that the thoughts of the third generation are pragmatics-oriented in spite of that they also make contributions to the philosophical explanation.In the view of the third generation,the Neo-Confucianism should be not confined to the metaphysical interpretation,but integrate into the social and political practice,and expand its research areas.The theoretical foundation of the Neo-Confucianism is the traditional Chinese politics.This is regarded as starting point of the contemporary Neo-Confucianism.The Third Generation distinguish the popular and critical Confucianism from the politicized Confucianism.They recognized the contributions of their precedents in terms of the value of democracy.However,they also criticized their ignorance of the social and political practice.This study proposes that the thoughts of the third generation should be analyzed from three perspectives:political value,political system and political ideal.In terms of political values,they claim that the individual has been completely ignored.The pursuit of virtue becomes a never-ending obligation for the individuals,but their rights are always ignored.Actually,right and independence never have been defined clearly.Therefore,the modern democratic politics must pay attention to the individual rights with the pursuit of the Confucian moral ideal.From the perspective of political system,the third generation point out the differences between the people-oriented thoughts and democracy.They recognize the value of modern democratic politics and argue that the key to the integration of Confucianism and democracy can be only found at the level of its structure rather than its originality.Although there was no concepts of liberty and democracy intraditional Chinese society,it does not mean that the democracy cannot be realized by gradual introduction and learning.In terms of political ideal,they focus on political modernization and the modernization of Confucianism theory.After reflecting on the maladies of rationalism and scientism in modernity,they advocate the dialogue between pluralistic civilizations on the basis of equality.The thesis also distinguishes between the Mainland New Confucianism and the Contemporary Neo-Confucianism.The former advocates political Confucianism and the return of Confucian Orthodoxy(Daotong).They explicitly oppose modern liberal democracy and try to establish Confucianism as a state religion and attempts to realize its Confucian constitutionalism.It is claimed that the differences can be understood in terms of "political theology" and "political poetics".The political philosophy of the Mainland Neo-Confucianism lacks modernity and basic values of modern democratic politics.Its future is not bright because of the lack in operational political philosophy.The third generation of Contemporary Neo-Confucianism make contributions to not only the conceptualization but also to the methodology.The research paradigm has been shifted from the literature interpretation to the political interpretation in the light hermeneutics.The most prominent significance of the third generation is its distinct practice-orientation.It argues for the shift from "external-sage" to "internal-sage".This shift lead to the expansion of its research frontier.They no longer pursue the establishment of a spontaneous "extended order",but the establishment of a "learning order" in the light of modem democratic political values and through progressive learning and practice.At the same time,they take postmodern perspective and try to find an approach in the tradition.Therefore,the theories are much more open.However,it should be pointed that the third generation does not find a perfect solution to the "internal-sage with external-sage"dilemma.In the political system design and the political practice,their performance is out of expectation and confined to the category of liberal political idea.Thus,in the face of the current situation of China's political development,the third generation of Contemporary Neo-Confucianism still faces many difficulties and challenges.