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For centuries, the starting points for serious thought about ethics, justice, and government were traditions founded, in China by Confucius, and in the West by his near contemporary Socrates. In both classical traditions, norms were based on human nature; to contravene these norms was to deny part of one's humanity. The Chinese and Western philosophical traditions have often been regarded as mutually unintelligible. This book shows that the differences can only be understood by examining where they converge. It describes the role of these traditions in two political achievements: the formation of the constitutions of Song dynasty China and the American Republic. Both traditions went into eclipse for similar reasons but with quite different consequences: in China, the growth of absolutism, and in the West, the inability of modern political and ethical thought to defend the most fundamental values.
List of contents
Part I . Two Ancient Traditions: 1. The beginnings of ethical philosophy; 2. The challenge to virtue and the discovery of human nature; 3. A normative psychology; 4. The universality of normative standards; 5. Justice, propriety and the common good; 6. Government; Part II. The Formation of Two Constitutions: 7. A confucian empire: song dynasty China; 8. A democratic republic: the United States of America; Part III. The Eclipse of Classical Thought: 9. Neo-confucianiam; 10. The path to orthodoxy; 11. The rise and fall of western rationalism; 12. The search for alternatives; 13. Conclusion; Appendix.
About the author
James Gordley is W. R. Irby Distinguished University Professor at Tulane Law School, and Shannon Cecil Turner Professor of Jurisprudence Emeritus at the Berkeley Law School. He is a Fellow of The American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a Corresponding Fellow of The British Academy and a membre titulaire of the Académie internationale du droit comparé. He has been a Guggenheim Fellow and a Fulbright Fellow. He is the author of numerous books and articles including The Jurists: A Critical History (2013), Foundations of Private Law (2006), and The Philosophical Origins of Modern Contract Doctrine (1991).
Summary
Tracing the common elements of the Chinese and Western classical traditions, this book examines their strengths, their role in shaping constitutions and the consequences of their eclipse. Presupposing no prior knowledge of philosophy, it offers an interpretation of these traditions and of the origins of modern ethical and political thought.
