Is Confucianism Compatible with a Laclauian Conception of Democracy?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.4312/as.2024.12.2.195-220Keywords:
Confucianism, democracy, virtue, ruler, LaclauAbstract
This paper will introduce a novel perspective on Confucian democracy by connecting it with Ernesto Laclau’s (2005) conception of democracy in On Populist Reason. Specifically, I argue that the normatively ideal ruler-ruled relationship in Confucian political theory can be conceptualized as the people making a radical investment in a virtuous leader. This argument will proceed in several steps. Firstly, I will provide context surrounding Confucianism and Laclau’s (2005) novel political ontology. Secondly, I will draw on the psychoanalytic work of Jacques Lacan (2001) to explore the notion of a radical investment and how it can be appealed to by politicians, rhetoricians and philosophers through their use of empty signifiers, signifiers without a fixed conceptual signified (such as MAGA or “Take Back Control”). In Laclau’s application of Lacanian psychoanalysis these represent an unachievable full harmonious community with no conflicts between different interests. I will then argue that a core part of Confucius’ political message, his constant advocacy for a virtuous ruler modelled on the Sage-Kings of the Zhou dynasty, is essentially a Laclauian conception of politics, because the Zhou kings are playing the role of empty signifiers in Confucius’ political theory. That is, they represent an unachievable ideal of a fully harmonious community. Finally, I argue that this increases Confucianism’s potential for compatibility with democracy since these psychoanalytic dynamics could be replicable in modern democracies and would be normatively desirable should a virtuous leader utilize them.
Downloads
References
BBC News. 2023. “Boris Johnson Faces Criticism over Burka ‘Letter Box’ Jibe.” BBC News, August 6, 2018. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-45083275. Accessed November 4, 2023.
Bell, Daniel A. 2015. The China Model: Political Meritocracy and the Limits of Democracy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400865505
Cartwright, Mark. 2017. “Ancient Chinese Warfare.” World History Encyclopaedia, November 17, 2017. https://www.worldhistory.org/Chinese_Warfare/#:~:text=One%20cannot%20ignore%20the%20common,when%20war%20was%20once%20again. Accessed May 20, 2022.
Chan, Joseph. 2013. Confucian Perfectionism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
Christiano, Tom, and Sameer Bajaj. 2022. “Democracy.” The Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, edited by Edward N. Zalta, Spring 2022 Edition. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2022/entries/democracy/. Accessed December 28, 2023.
Cohen, Luc, Patricia Zengerle, and Andrew Goudsward. 2023. “US Senator Menendez Charged with Bribery, Says he will not Resign.” Reuters, September 25, 2023. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-senator-menendez-charged-with-corruption-prosecutors-2023-09-22/. Accessed November 10, 2023.
Elstein, David. 2010. “Why Early Confucianism Cannot Generate Democracy.” Dao 9: 427‒43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-010-9187-9
Freud, Sigmund. 1921. Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego. Translated by James Strachey. Vienna: International Psychoanalytic Publishing House.
Friedman, Milton. 1953. “The Methodology of Positive Economics.” In Essays in Positive Economics, edited by M. Friedman, 145‒78. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511819025.010
Fukuyama, Francis. 1989. “The End of History?” The National Interest 16: 3‒18.
———. 1995. “Confucianism and Democracy.” Journal of Democracy 6 (2): 22‒33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/jod.1995.0029
Greve, Joan, and Joseph Cameron. 2023. “Donald Trump Case Tracker: Where does Each Investigation Stand?” The Guardian, October 19, 2023. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jul/28/donald-trump-investigations-criminal-charges-tracker. Accessed November 2, 2023.
Halpert, Madeline, and Max Matza. 2023. “E. Jean Carroll: Jury Finds Trump Sexually Abused Writer in NY Department Store.” BBC News, May 10, 2023. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-65531098. Accessed October 10, 2023.
Homer, Sean. 2005. Jacques Lacan. London, New York: Routledge. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203347232
Lacan, Jacques. 2001. Ecrits: A Selection. London, New York: Routledge.
Laclau, Ernesto. 2005. On Populist Reason. London, New York: Verso.
Lau, D.C., trans. 1970. Mencius. London: Penguin.
Li, Chenyang. 2011. “Chinese Philosophy.” In The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, edited by W. Edelglass, and J. L. Garfield, 9‒12. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Ni, Peimin. 2011. “Classical Confucianism I: Confucius.” In The Oxford Handbook of World Philosophy, edited by W. Edelglass, and J. L. Garfield, 26‒36. Oxford: Oxford University Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195328998.003.0004
Olberding, Amy. 2011. Moral Exemplars in the Analects: The Good Person is That. London, New York: Routledge.
Rashid, Raphael. 2022. “‘Devastated’: Gender Equality Hopes on Hold as ‘Anti-Feminist’ Voted South Korea’s President.” Guardian, March 11, 2022. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/south-korea-gender-equality-anti-feminist-president-yoon-suk-yeol. Accessed October 30, 2023.
Rawls, John. 1971. A Theory of Justice. Cambridge MA: Harvard University Press.
Rees, Rosemary. 2015. Searching for Rights and Freedoms in the 20th Century. London: Pearson.
Shin, Hyonhee. 2022.“Gaffes, Controversy Overshadow South Korean President’s Trips to U.N., London.” Reuters, September 23, 2022. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/gaffes-controversy-overshadow-skoreas-yoon-trips-un-london-2022-09-23/. Accessed November 1, 2023.
Slingerland, Edward, trans. 2003. Confucius Analects. Indianapolis: Hackett.
Tan, Sor-Hoon. 2004. Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction. Albany NY: SUNY Press. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/book4734
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2024 Thomas MOORE

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.