Confucianism for the modern world.pdf

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CONFUCIANISM FOR THE MODERN WORLD

While Confucian ideals continue to inspire thinkers and political actors, dis-

cussions of concrete Confucian practices and institutions appropriate for the

modern era have been conspicuously absent from the literature. This volume

represents the most cutting-edge effort to spell out in meticulous detail the

relevance of Confucianism for the contemporary world. The contributors to

this book – internationally renowned philosophers, lawyers, historians, and

social scientists – argue for feasible and desirable Confucian policies and insti-

tutions as they attempt to draw out the political, economic, and legal impli-

cations of Confucianism for the modern world. The book is divided into three

parts that correspond to the basic hallmarks of modernity as a social and

political system – democracy, capitalism, and the rule of law. This is a

thought-provoking defense of distinctively Confucian practices and institu-

tions that will stimulate interest and debate among students of politics, law,

philosophy, and East Asian studies. Moreover, this book helps to bridge the

gap between theory and practice and may be relevant for policy makers as

well.

Daniel A. Bell is currently Visiting Fellow at the Center for Advanced Study

in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University and Associate Professor at

the City University of Hong Kong. He has also taught at the National Uni-

versity of Singapore and the University of Hong Kong. He is the author of

East Meets West: Human Rights and Democracy in East Asia (2000) and Commu-

nitarianism and Its Critics (1993), and coeditor of The East Asian Challenge for

Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 1999).

Hahm Chaibong is Professor in the Department of Political Science at Yonsei

University, Seoul, Korea. He is the author of numerous books and articles in

both Korean and English, including Confucianism, Capitalism, and Democracy

(2000) and Postmodernity and Confucianism (1998 [in Korean]). He has been a

visiting professor at Duke, Georgetown, and Princeton Universities and in

fall 2003 will assume the post of Director of Social Science Research and Poli-

cies at UNESCO, Paris, France (on leave from Yonsei).

CONFUCIANISM FOR THE

MODERN WORLD

Edited by

DANIEL A. BELL

City University of Hong Kong

HAHM CHAIBONG

Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea