The Trouble with Confucianism (Tanner Lectures on Human Values) [Paperback]

Wm. Theodore de Bary (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 1996 | ISBN-10: 0674910168 | ISBN-13: 978-0674910164

In Singapore, Korea, Taiwan, Japan, and other parts of East and Southeast Asia, as well as China, people are asking, "What does Confucianism have to offer today?" For some, Confucius is still the symbol of a reactionary and repressive past; for others, he is the humanist admired by generations of scholars and thinkers, East and West, for his ethical system and discipline. In the face of such complications, only a scholar of Theodore de Bary's stature could venture broad answers to the question of the significance of Confucianism in today's world.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

As Confucian thinking makes a comeback in contemporary China, people are wondering if it will merely serve as a conservative tool for a despotic government as in imperial times, or if it could act instead as a liberalizing force. Wm. Theodore de Bary, depicting Confucius and certain later Confucians as Old Testament prophetlike figures, suggests that the true Confucian spirit is one of protesting and rectifying governmental injustices. This model of Confucianism, de Bary illustrates, is not a backward dogmatist intent on maintaining the status quo at all costs, but a whistle-blower, a moralizing evangelist responsible to the people and to heaven for speaking out against existing evils and abuses. Throughout, de Bary sympathizes with the scholar-official who feels trapped between the needs of the people and the will of an autocratic government, which reflects a parallel dilemma in today's China.

Review

It is a pleasure to read a book by a fine scholar who is not distracted from his discussion of the evolution of Confucianism from the time of Confucius himself (who drew on earlier traditions) by the trouble Confucianists had, and created, over the millennia. Gu Jiegang, who said we should study one Confucius at a time--he changed from a historical figure to a mythological one (even a magician) and a sage--would have liked this book. (Asian Studies Review )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 148 pages
• Publisher: Harvard University Press (February 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0674910168
• ISBN-13: 978-0674910164
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,873 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #71 in Books > Religion & Spirituality > Other Eastern Religions > Confucianism