Overview
- Presents a timely investigation of Confucianism in China
- Offers a novel approach to and analysis of Confucianism
- Asks the thought-provoking question of why the Chinese communist party embraced Confucianism
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
Keywords
About this book
This book critically examines the Confucian political imagination and its influence on the contemporary Chinese dream of a powerful China. It views Confucianism as the ideological supplement to a powerful state that is challenging Western hegemony, and not as a political philosophy that need not concern us. Eske Møllgaard shows that Confucians, despite their traditionalist ways, have the will to transform the existing socio-ethical order. The volume discusses the central features of the Confucian political imaginary, the nature of Confucian discourse, Confucian revivals, Confucian humanism and civility, and the political ideal of the Great Unity. It concludes by considering if Confucianism can be universalized as an ideology in competition with liberal democracy.
Reviews
“Eske Møllgaard’s book is likely to become the seminal philosophical monograph on contemporary China and the ongoing revival of Confucianism. His analysis of Confucian political culture is extremely sophisticated, though critical, even iconoclastic. While reading, I finally understood how knowing Chinese philosophy, combined with the insights of European critical theory (Hegel, Adorno, Žižek), will help us prepare for the post-American world. A must read for anyone interested in the twenty-first century.” (Kai Marchal, National Chengchi University, Taipei)
“Møllgaard undertakes two tasks with one strike, one being a critique of the Confucian political imagination, considering its conditions, presuppositions, limits, and possibilities and the other being a Confucian critique of the world, both ancient and contemporary, both Chinese and Western, holding it up to the standard of the Confucian political imagination. He does both tasks elegantly, masterfully, and magnificently.” (Huang Yong, The Chinese University of Hong Kong)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Eske Møllgaard is Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Rhode Island, USA.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: The Confucian Political Imagination
Authors: Eske J. Møllgaard
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74899-3
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2018
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-74898-6Published: 23 May 2018
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-09100-2Published: 12 January 2019
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-74899-3Published: 07 May 2018
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XVII, 191
Topics: Non-Western Philosophy, Political Theory, History of China