International Interfaith Centre Annual Lecture 1996: From Conflict to Harmony the Confucian response to interfaith dialogue

From Conflict to Harmony the Confucian response to interfaith dialogueIt is true that unlike other living faiths, Confucianism has lost its organisational and institutional mechanism. However, organisation and institution are never taken to be the sole foundation of Confucianism. Rather, the power and force of Confucianism lies in its values and ideals, the essentials of which have become part of the ways of the Chinese life. In this sense, we may say that Confucianism as a value system is still functioning in today's world and as a living force Confucianism holds not only the motives of social integration but also the solutions and resolutions of inter-religious conflict

CONFUCIANISM AND VIRTUE ETHICS: STILL A FLEDGLING IN CHINESE AND COMPARATIVE PHILOSOPHY

The past couple of decades have witnessed a remarkable burst of philosophical energy and talent devoted to virtue ethical approaches to Confucianism, including several books, articles, and even high-profile workshops and conferences that make connections between Confucianism and either virtue ethics as such or moral philosophers widely regarded as virtue ethicists. Those who do not work in the combination of Chinese philosophy and ethics may wonder what all of the fuss is about. Others may be more familiar with the issues but have doubts about the fruitfulness of this line of inquiry. It is therefore worth asking whether a constructive engagement between Confucianism and virtue ethics is worth turning into a significant, multi-generational research agenda. Most answers to this question will fall somewhere between two poles. At one end is the view that the line of inquiry has run its course, if ever there were a course to run in the first place; at the opposite end is the view that were only just getting started. And then there is a wide range of more moderate views falling between these two positions. Far from having exhausted the potential of virtue ethical approaches to Confucianism, I think we are standing on a philosophical gold mine that weve only just begun to tap. In what follows I would like to explain briefly why I take this to be the case

The Future of Confucian Political Philosophy

On February 14, 2017, Joseph Chan and Stephen Angle convened a Roundtable on the Future of Confucian Political Philosophy at the University of Hong Kong. Eight invited speakers each offered thoughts on the main topic, followed by discussion among the panelists and responses to questions from the audience. This transcript has been reviewed and edited by the main participants. Much of the discussion revolves around the relations and tensions between Confucian political philosophy as academic theory-construction and the lived realities of citizens in the modern world, especially in East Asia. How is Confucian theorizing connected to Confucian activism? Another central concern is democracy—as value or as institution, as necessary in pluralistic societies or as problematic monopolizer of political discourse. We also discuss translation, republicanism, meritocracy, the proposals of Jiang Qing and Daniel Bell, and the role of Confucianism in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea

Virtuous Life, Honored Afterlife and the Evolution of Confucianism

Confucius states that we must not focus on the afterlife, because we know so little of it, and we must focus on everyday life. However, Confucianism holds a philosophy of afterlife, even if it is not outright said or depicted. This paper will aim to prove just that. First, through Confucian ideals of being a dutiful person, to grant yourself an honored afterlife, and second, through how Confucianism influenced other religions such as Buddhism and Daoism, which will show a clear depiction of afterlife by considering death rituals, festivals, commune with ancestors, prayers, tomb decor, and the ideology of Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism – you will begin to see the depiction of afterlife within Confucianism. But also, you will get to see how Confucianism has evolved and took on traits of both Daoism and Buddhism, which in turn is called Neo-Confucianism. Furthermore, the paper also taps into the history of Confucianism within Modern China. When communism took power, it obliterated Confucianism within society, culture, and government. This left the Chinese people without an identity and there was a revival of Confucianism within China

"Cultural additivity" and how the values and norms of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism co-exist, interact, and influence Vietnamese society: A Bayesian analysis of long-standing folktales, using R and Stan

Every year, the Vietnamese people reportedly burned about 50,000 tons of joss papers, which took the form of not only bank notes, but iPhones, cars, clothes, even housekeepers, in hope of pleasing the dead. The practice was mistakenly attributed to traditional Buddhist teachings but originated in fact from China, which most Vietnamese were not aware of. In other aspects of life, there were many similar examples of Vietnamese so ready and comfortable with adding new norms, values, and beliefs, even contradictory ones, to their culture. This phenomenon, dubbed "cultural additivity", prompted us to study the co-existence, interaction, and influences among core values and norms of the Three Teachings--Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism--as shown through Vietnamese folktales. By applying Bayesian logistic regression, we evaluated the possibility of whether the key message of a story was dominated by a religion (dependent variables), as affected by the appearance of values and anti-values pertaining to the Three Teachings in the story (independent variables).Comment: 8 figures, 35 page

Religiosity, ethics and the spirit of capitalism in HRM

This chapter contributes to the debate on the extent to which religion and religiosity have had any effects on the management of people and employee relations in Asian countries and in particular in East Asia where there has been a revival of religious beliefs after many years of suppression on religious practices. The author observed that studies on the relationship between religious beliefs, organizational behavior, managerial practices and organizational outcomes are very limited and much of the debate over the rise of religiosity and spirituality as a form of personal identity has focused on the effects of religion at the national rather than the organizational and workplace level, and has been concerned with the negative aspects of religious extremism rather than on the positive implications of religious enlightenment on work and employee relations. This chapter addresses this imbalance and argues that the gap is still wider between the theory or what religious teachings promote and the reality or how people are managed in the workplace. The author provides emerging evidence that suggests that Asian ethical work behavior inspired by non-religious beliefs has had significant impact on HRM despite the spread of capitalism and the rise of religiosity, and calls for more empirical research on the topic to deepen our understanding

The Research Situation of Confucianism in Vietnam ―Focus on “filial piety” thought―

“A Bibliography on Confucianism in Vietnam” (Thư mục Nho giáo Việt nam) was compiled by the American HARVARD-YENCHING Institute and Hanoi Han Nom Research Institute. It was published in 2007 by Khoa hoc Xa hoi publisher. This book has summarized the materials and research paper about Confucianism in Vietnam from 1470 up to 2007. It can be said that at present in Vietnam, among the books that summarizes articles on researching Confucianism, “A Bibliography on Confucianism in Vietnam” is one of the largest scale. Throughout this book, we can see clearly not only the research situation of Confucianism, the thought of “filial piety” in Vietnam but also the obvious nature and characteristics of Confucianism in Vietnam of each period and how an interest in “filial piety” of Vietnamese researchers is. So, we have considered 1662 materials in this book in order to have a general view about the process historical development of Confucianism, the reception and the change of Confucianism in Vietnam, a tendency to research Confucianism, especially the research situation of “filial piety” of each period in Vietnam.東アジアの思想と構

Confuciansim and Korean Dramas: How Cultural and Social Proximity, Hybridization of Modernity and Tradition, and Dissimilar Confucian Trajectories Affect Importation Rates of Korean Broadcasting Programs between Japan and China

On April 3, 2004, five thousand Japanese citizens arrived at Haneda, Tokyo Airport to meet famous Korean actor Bae Yong Joon: the male love interest in the Korean drama Winter Sonata (Lee 12). Commonly referred to as Yon-sama (roughly translated to “Prince Yon”), Bae Yong Joon quickly amassed a fanbase of love-struck, middle-aged Japanese women who fell in love with his character. Never before had the relationship between Japan and South Korea been as amicable as it had when Bae made his debut. Not even the 2002 jointly hosted World Cup had succeeded in easing tensions between the two neighboring countries