Classical Confucian Political Thought: A New Interpretation

摘要

In this book, Professor El Amine argues for a division between Confucian ethical and political thought, going back to the very earliest writings on the subject: the Lunyu 論語 (Analects of Confucius), Mengzi 孟子 (Mencius), and Xunzi 荀子. Chapter One discusses the concept of virtue (de 德), arguing that early Confucian philosophers saw a very limited potential for people other than the ruling elite to acquire this key quality. Chapters Two and Three consider the mechanisms which early texts considered necessary for ensuring social stability and harmony, while Chapter Four describes the roles ascribed to government ministers. Finally, Chapter Five is concerned with the duty of the individual with respect to the state, particularly in terms of government service, and Chapter Six concludes with an account of the Confucian conception of tian 天 (Heaven), which validates their vision of an orderly society. The most successful part of Classical Confucian Political Thought is its discussion of English language scholarship on early Confucian thought in the last fifty years-this is thorough and comprehensive, and references the work of many of the most important scholars in the field, with a useful consideration of the strengths and weaknesses of their arguments. The remainder of the book is more problematic. In spite of the account of the historical background given in the Prologue, the subsequent handling of the main texts is unsophisticated and lacking in contextualisation. Since the Confucian texts under consideration are thought to be the products of different times and places, it is not appropriate to treat them as if the governments and political systems under discussion are as one. Of equal concern is the author's failure to even mention the developments which occurred during the Han dynasty. Prior to the first century BCE, Confucian scholars were at best limited to the lower levels of the bureaucracy, hence early Confucian political thought predating this period should be understood as Utopian. The cataclysmic political upheavals which took place in the reign of Han Wudi (r. 140-87 BCE) resulted in a situation where Confucian scholars were promoted to the highest level of officialdom, whereupon their attempts to introduce Confucian policies frequently met with predictably disastrous results. By eliding these two stages in the history of early Confucian thought, the author does her arguments no service.