Democracy without Autonomy: Moral and Personal Autonomy in Democratic Confucianism

Abstract

Given contemporary international ethical and political norms, a viable democratic Confucianism must contend with the importance of autonomy. Joseph Chan’s modern reconstruction of Confucianism, in Confucian Perfectionism: A Political Philosophy for Modern Times, is one of the leading conceptions of neo-Confucianism, and claims to accept some forms of moral autonomy, while finding that personal autonomy not necessary for the Confucian democratic project. I argue that his modern Confucian perfectionism in fact does the opposite: it lacks genuine moral autonomy while relying on the exercise of personal autonomy. The respective absence and presence of moral and personal autonomy raises doubts about how Confucianism and democracy can be reconciled, if at all.