Current Affairs
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Treating Adults as Children
I am finishing up a chapter for my book, a chapter on childhood and how Confucianism and Taoism would respond to the contemporary legal question of whether children should be tried as adults. And, lo and behold, yesterday… Continue reading
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More Details, Please
This headline caught my eye in The China Daily: "Ancient ideas could illuminate poverty fight." But the story that follows gives very little idea of what this might mean. It starts off well: Insights from Confucianism and Taoism… Continue reading
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What Confucius Would Say To Britney Spears
Britney Spears has lost custody of her children. Confucius, if asked by some cable TV guy, might say: Duke Ching asked Confucius about governing, and Confucius said: "Ruler a ruler, minister a minister, father a father, son a… Continue reading
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Getting Confucius Wrong on his Birthday
Here is what I am up against, as I try to make ancient Chinese thought relevant to modern American life: caricatures of historical Confucianism (the ways in which "Confucianism" was appropriated and used by patriarchal state power) that… Continue reading
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In Solidarity with the People of Burma
Prince T’ien asked: "What is the task of a worthy official?""To cultivate the highest of purposes," replied Mencius."What do you mean by the highest of purposes?""It’s simple: Humanity and Duty. You defy Humanity if you cause the death of a… Continue reading
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Parents and Education
Here’s something Confucius and Mencius would agree with: Children who are not learning basic skills in the home during the most important years of brain development (0-5 years) will enter kindergarten already at an educational disadvantage. Since new… Continue reading
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Capitalism Kills the Elderly
That might be the conclusion Confucius and Mencius would draw from the big front page article in the NYT yesterday: More Profit and Less Nursing at Many Homes. It seems that large private investment companies have bought up… Continue reading
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Mencius and the Jena 6
The large demonstrations this week in Jena Louisiana, protesting the apparent disproportionate punishment of six African-American high school students for beating up a white fellow student, raise many questions about race and justice in America. And Mencius can… Continue reading
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A Reminder for Bush as He Continues to Deny the Reality of Iraq
To find glory in victory is to savor killing people, and if you savor killing people you’ll never guide all beneath heaven. Tao Te Ching, passage 31 Continue reading
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Moral Models
It may be too early to rename the CCP the Chinese Confucian Party, but this story (hat tip, CDT) certainly demonstrates how seriously the Party takes the revival of Confucianism: The Chinese Communist Party has selected 53 "national… Continue reading
The Useless Tree 