Rethinking Reconstructionist Confucianism's Rethinking

Lauren F. Pfister

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

2 Citations (Scopus)
8 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

In this review of Fan Ruiping's book, I am concerned first of all about how representative his account of Confucianism/Ruism is in relationship to the multiform traditions associated with that teaching through more than two thousand years of its existence. Fan emphasizes pre-imperial forms of Confucian traditions, but neglects many alternatives from later sources. Secondly, his account of "familism" lends itself to questions related to the problem of revenge that is associated with traditional Confucianism. This raises further ethical doubts about the effectiveness of his reconstructed Confucianism within contemporary Chinese society. Finally, his "familism" appears to focus on extended family structures, but whether this is suitable and relevant for the structures of modern family transformations in mainland China is questioned.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)395-401
Number of pages7
JournalDao
Volume13
Issue number3
Early online date3 Jul 2014
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Sept 2014

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Philosophy

User-Defined Keywords

  • Reconstructionist Confucianism
  • Pre-imperial Ruism
  • Traditionalism
  • Revenge
  • Familism
  • Contemporary Neo-Confucians
  • Neo-Confucianism

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