Is Confucianism Democratic?
That is the central question posed by the interviewer, picking off where the examination left off, as our conversation continued on the topic of Oriental ideologies in modern-day world affairs. The interviewer's argument was not that Confucianism can be revised to be compatible with democratic values, but that it is fundamentally democratic from the day of its very inception...it is simply not conceived as so by anyone with excess "Western bias" because the idea of what is considered democratic under Confucian socio-economic system is completely different from the Western sense.
By its very definition, democracy, whether it is Western or not, has one central principle of the populace being able to collectively choose who is their leader by the means of weighing the opinion of all qualified members against a pool of potential candidates, all of whom are represented to the candidates in relatively fair and unbalanced manner. It also means that any member of that populace may personally decide to support anyone of those potential candidates and not face personal danger as result, no matter who becomes the winning candidate at the end.
The choice does exist in a Confucian society. Its central ideology stipulate that it is the people who give legitimacy to the ruler to continue ruling, and that if the majority of the populace decide that the rule by one particular ruler is not beneficial for the general populace, the populace have divine duty to replace that ruler with a more capable one. The new ruler candidate can technically by anyone within the society, and the ruler deemed not worthy by the general populace should not resist the change in leadership.
Yet, Confucianism is by its very nature a hierarchical system prone to creation and maintenance of absolute power. Society is thought of as an extended family, with a wise supreme ruler using all in his power to lead the ignorant populace to greater prosperity. Those who submit themselves to the hierarchy will be rewarded by the ruler, in forms of property, personal safety, wealth, and any other positive externality of being obedient. Those who oppose are deemed the enemy of societal harmony, and quickly purged to guarantee holistic peace.
Two characteristics of this hierarchic nature makes execution of even its own democratic principles very difficult in a Confucian society. One is the belief that the material and physical well-being of those at the lower end of the hierarchy is always granted by those above them, or more symbolically, at the very top. The other is the collective mechanism ingrained in the social psyche to quickly eradicate any form of dissidence toward the existing hierarchical arrangement, featuring a predefined line of rulers for whose choosing those at the bottom have little say.
These two characteristics together make the implementation of that "divine duty" to remove unwise ruler extremely costly for the dissident individuals. Those who seek to rebel must foster enough force to overcome greater wealth of the existing ruler and his loyal cronies who have only too much to gain under his "lack of wisdom." Furthermore, there are endless stories of true heroes in East Asian histories who devoted their lives defending their masters, who, by any definition under Confucianism, would be considered unwise and worthy of overthrow.
As a result, supposedly peaceful and widely supported change of rulers in a Confucian system realistically only occurs in the form of violent mass rebellion featuring armies of hungry rioters who have nowhere to go but death if they do not rebel. The leaders of the rebellion are often opportunists who can incite enthusiasm with great oration, manipulation, and trickery...and definitely not the wisest choice for the new supreme ruler when the rebellion does succeed in toppling the existing hierarchy after great human and economic damages..
Thus, while it is arguable that Confucianism, in principle, does offer a mechanism for peaceful transition from one leader to an opposing leader as anything invented in the West, Confucian society's very nature of emphasis on hierarchic harmony prevent such peaceful transition from becoming anything close to a plausible reality. People on the verge of starvation are not great decision-makers, and easily allow themselves to be manipulated by leaders who offer much of the same as the last ruler whose he topples by sheer mass destruction.
By its very definition, democracy, whether it is Western or not, has one central principle of the populace being able to collectively choose who is their leader by the means of weighing the opinion of all qualified members against a pool of potential candidates, all of whom are represented to the candidates in relatively fair and unbalanced manner. It also means that any member of that populace may personally decide to support anyone of those potential candidates and not face personal danger as result, no matter who becomes the winning candidate at the end.
The choice does exist in a Confucian society. Its central ideology stipulate that it is the people who give legitimacy to the ruler to continue ruling, and that if the majority of the populace decide that the rule by one particular ruler is not beneficial for the general populace, the populace have divine duty to replace that ruler with a more capable one. The new ruler candidate can technically by anyone within the society, and the ruler deemed not worthy by the general populace should not resist the change in leadership.
Yet, Confucianism is by its very nature a hierarchical system prone to creation and maintenance of absolute power. Society is thought of as an extended family, with a wise supreme ruler using all in his power to lead the ignorant populace to greater prosperity. Those who submit themselves to the hierarchy will be rewarded by the ruler, in forms of property, personal safety, wealth, and any other positive externality of being obedient. Those who oppose are deemed the enemy of societal harmony, and quickly purged to guarantee holistic peace.
Two characteristics of this hierarchic nature makes execution of even its own democratic principles very difficult in a Confucian society. One is the belief that the material and physical well-being of those at the lower end of the hierarchy is always granted by those above them, or more symbolically, at the very top. The other is the collective mechanism ingrained in the social psyche to quickly eradicate any form of dissidence toward the existing hierarchical arrangement, featuring a predefined line of rulers for whose choosing those at the bottom have little say.
These two characteristics together make the implementation of that "divine duty" to remove unwise ruler extremely costly for the dissident individuals. Those who seek to rebel must foster enough force to overcome greater wealth of the existing ruler and his loyal cronies who have only too much to gain under his "lack of wisdom." Furthermore, there are endless stories of true heroes in East Asian histories who devoted their lives defending their masters, who, by any definition under Confucianism, would be considered unwise and worthy of overthrow.
As a result, supposedly peaceful and widely supported change of rulers in a Confucian system realistically only occurs in the form of violent mass rebellion featuring armies of hungry rioters who have nowhere to go but death if they do not rebel. The leaders of the rebellion are often opportunists who can incite enthusiasm with great oration, manipulation, and trickery...and definitely not the wisest choice for the new supreme ruler when the rebellion does succeed in toppling the existing hierarchy after great human and economic damages..
Thus, while it is arguable that Confucianism, in principle, does offer a mechanism for peaceful transition from one leader to an opposing leader as anything invented in the West, Confucian society's very nature of emphasis on hierarchic harmony prevent such peaceful transition from becoming anything close to a plausible reality. People on the verge of starvation are not great decision-makers, and easily allow themselves to be manipulated by leaders who offer much of the same as the last ruler whose he topples by sheer mass destruction.
Comments
Post a Comment