Confucius/Confucianism
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Thoughts on Chinese Atheism
A map popped up in the Washington Post last week, illustrating a recent report (pdf) on expressions of religiosity and atheism around the world. It seems China has the greatest share of the global population of self-identified atheists. And this… Continue reading
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Elderly caring for elderly may be good, but it’s not Confucian
A sadly familiar story – the declining amount of time and attention younger Chinese people can and do spend with their aging parents and grandparents – was in the news again this week. On Sunday, Reuters ran a piece: "Greying… Continue reading
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Confucianism is not catching on in the United States
As my semester winds down, and grading final papers and exams presses in on me, I find my attention turning (don't worry, I'll get back to the grading shortly) to more pleasant summer pursuits. For me, this year, those include… Continue reading
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Organizational Psychology Confirms Confucius: Helping Others is the Best Way to Help Yourself
Just saw this piece in the NYT: "Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?" This graf gets at the main idea: Organizational psychology has long concerned itself with how to design work so that people will enjoy it and want… Continue reading
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Confucian Rectitude in “The Crucible”
I saw a riveting production of Arthur Miller's classic, The Crucible, here at Williams College last Friday. It was directed by the brilliant Omar Sangare, my friend and colleague. I hadn't seen the show for many years, way back when… Continue reading
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Confucian Learning, or not
David Brooks has a piece in the NYT today, discussing a new book by Jin Li, Cultural Foundations of Learning: East and West. Let me say right up front that I have not read the book (though I look forward… Continue reading
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Confucian Constitutionalism in defense of Freedom of Expression
The Southern Weekend censorship row (good reports can be found here, here, here, here and here) has cast light on the limits of political reform in China. I am one of those who sees this, initially at least, not as… Continue reading
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Yang Jisheng is a Confucian Sage, and Mao Zedong was an Inhumane Qin Shihuangdi Wannabe
We hear a lot these days about the revival of Confucianism in China. Some argue that it will bring something like political meritocracy and moral leadership to the PRC. But these outcomes are fairly remote, obstructed as they are by… Continue reading
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Confucianism and Corruption in the PRC
My recent post on how a Confucian might understand the corruption surrounding Wen Jiabao sparked a couple of comments that have pushed me to think a bit more about the topic. But I am thinking more broadly about both Confucianism… Continue reading
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Has Wen Jiabao Failed the Confucius Test?
Everyone's talking about the big NYT piece on the vast wealth of the family of China's Prime Minister, Wen Jiabao. At one level this is utterly unsurprising. This is how the PRC's political economy works. Those people who stand at… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 