Reconstructive Confucianism: Resistance to Neoliberal-New Confucian Resonance

Abstract

My dissertation explores resonances between neoliberalism and New Confucianism and howto resist it. Confucianism never disappears from East Asia; it has been the kernel foundation of East Asian societies (and East Asian diasporas in the world), and it is a crucial component for neoliberal subscription in Confucian societies. Confucianism has been interacting with other thoughts such as Daoism and Buddhism, and New Confucianism emerged in 20 th century to face the Western modernization for its ontological survival. While New Confucianism consists of wide ranges of Confucian scholars and approaches, many overlooks the detrimental issues of neoliberal axiomatics. My dissertation therefore focuses on such acquiescence of New Confucianism and a particular resonance between neoliberalism and New Confucianism. It explores how New Confucianism appears to compete against the West as an alternative ‘One’ yet resonates with neoliberal axiomatics in reality, which exacerbates everyday life of the ordinary people in Confucian societies. The neoliberal-New Confucian resonance, which politicizes some (mal)interpretations of Confucianism, produces docile labor, justifies soft-authoritarian states, discourages democratic spirits, and unequally distributes moral and societal responsibilities to the working-class people. Facing the plights of such resonance in Confucian societies, what I call reconstructive Confucianism seeks post-neoliberal societies by ‘rag-picking’ and refurbishing alternative interpretations of Confucian thoughts and local Confucian-based practices that survived from neoliberal reconfiguration of the societies. Through this process, reconstructive Confucianism challenges not only neoliberalism but also seeks ‘self-cultivation’ of Confucianism itself.