Wang Yangming’s Philosophy and Modern Theories of Democracy

Originally published in Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 7/3 (September 2008):

283–294. Reprinted with permission.

1. This book is contained in Liu Shipei ^劉師培, Liu Shenshu xiansheng yishu ^劉申叔 先生遺書 (Liu Shenshu’s posthumous works) (Taipei: Huashi chubanshe, reprint 1975), vol. 1, 675–713.

2. Ibid., 675.

3. Ibid.

4. Ibid., 701.

5. Ibid.

6. Ibid.

7. The original text was printed with different type sizes. Sentences and phrases con-taining smaller characters are enclosed in braces {}.

8. Ibid., 701–702.

9. Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Political Writings, trans. Frederick Watkins (Edinburgh:

Nelson, 1953), 37.

10. These three essays were all collected in the conference volume published by the conference organizers in 1989.

11. For further information regarding the main points and vicissitudes of this debate, see Lee Ming-huei, “Xu Fuguan yu Yin Haiguang” ^{徐復觀與殷海光} (Xu Fuguan and Yin Haiguang), in his Dangdai Ruxue zhi ziwo zhuanhua ^{當代儒學之自我轉化} (The self-transformation of contemporary Confucianism) (Taipei: Institute of Chinese Literature and Philosophy, Academia Sinica, 1994), 89–127; see also the simplified character edition (Beijing: Zhongguo shehui kexue chubanshe, 2001), 81–117. For a comparison of the two thinkers and the points of their arguments, see Ren Jiantao ^任劍濤, “Ziyouzhuyi de liang-zhong lilu: Rujia ziyouzhuyi yu xihua ziyouzhuyi—Xu Fuguan, Yin Haiguang zhengzhi

zhexue zhi bijiao” 自由主義的兩種理路：儒家自由主義與西化自由主義─徐復觀、

殷海光政治哲學之比較 (Two rationales for liberalism: Confucian liberalism and West-ernized liberalism—A comparison of the political philosophies of Xu Fuguan and Yin Hai-guan), in Li Weiwu ^李維武, ed., Xu Fuguan yu Zhongguo wenhua ^{徐復觀與中國文化} (Xu Fuguan and Chinese culture) (Wuhan: Hubei renmin chubanshe, 1997), 337–363.

12. This manifesto was originally published in Minzhu pinglun ^民主評論 (Demo-cratic review) 9/1 on January 5, 1958, and in Zaisheng ^再生 (Rebirth) 1/1 in January 1958 (see also note 12 in chapter 2). The relevant points are found in chapters 8 and 9 of the manifesto.

13. See chapter 3 of this book, “Zhizhi yinan ^致知疑難” (Difficulties in [the theory of ] extending the [original] knowing). The book was published first in two separate period-icals: Lishi yu wenhua ^{歷史與文化} (History and culture), no. 3 (August 1947), and Lixiang lishi wenhua ^{理想歷史文化} (Ideal, history, and culture), no. 1 (March 1947). It was later published as a book by Zhongyang wenwu gongyingshe, Taipei, in 1953. It is now included in Mou Zongsan xiansheng quanji ^{牟宗三先生全集} (Complete works of Mou Zongsan) (Taipei: Linking Publishing Co., 2003), vol. 8.

14. With regard to the meaning of the theory of “the self-negation of the original knowing,” see Lee Ming-huei, Ruxue yu xiandai yishi, 2nd edition, 133–145; and Dangdai Ruxue zhi ziwo zhuanhua, 66–71 (simplified character version, 60–64).

15. Yin Haiguang, Zhengzhi yu shehui ^{政治與社會} (Politics and society), in Lin Zhenghong ^林正弘, ed., Yin Haiguang quanji ^{殷海光全集} (Complete works of Yin Hai-guang) (Taipei: Guiguan tushu gongsi, 1990), vols. 11–12, 360. This article was originally published in Zuguo zhoukan ^祖國周刊 (Motherland weekly) 8/12 (January 3, 1955).

16. Zhang Foquan, Ziyou yu renquan ^{自由與人權} (Liberty and human rights) (Tai-pei: Taiwan shangwu yinshuguan, reprint 1993), 192.

17. Isaiah Berlin, “Two Concepts of Liberty,” in his Four Essays on Liberty (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1969), 118–172. This essay is traceable to a lecture he gave at Cam-bridge University on October 31, 1958. See Michael Ignatieff, Isaiah Berlin: A Life (Lon-don: Chatto and Windus, 1998), 225–229.

18. See Jacob Leib Talmon, The Origins of Totalitarian Democracy (London: Secker and Warburg, 1952), and Political Messianism: The Romantic Phase (London: Secker and Warburg, 1960).

19. See F. A. Hayek, The Constitution of Liberty (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1960), 54–56.

20. This position is close to Immanuel Kant’s position. For this reason, whether Kant’s political philosophy should be included in the “British tradition” or the “French tradition” is not easy to determine. This example can perhaps demonstrate that there is no simple distinc-tion between the “British tradidistinc-tion” and the “French tradidistinc-tion.”

21. Xu Fuguan, “Weishenme yao fandui ziyouzhuyi?” 為什麼要反對自由主義？

(Why oppose liberalism?), in his Rujia zhengzhi sixiang yu minzhu ziyou renquan ^儒家政治 思想與民主自由人權 (Confucian political thought and democracy, liberty, human rights), ed. Xiao Xinyi ^蕭欣義 (Taipei: Taiwan xuesheng shuju, 1988), 289.

22. See Charles Taylor, Philosophy and the Human Sciences: Philosophical Papers 2 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1985).

23. Michael Sandel, “The Procedural Republic and the Unencumbered Self,” Political Theory 12 (1984): 81–96.

24. Charles Taylor, Sources of the Self: The Making of the Modern Identity (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1999), 35.

25. Yu Ying-shih thinks that Confucianism contains a type of “individualism,” but his definition of “individualism” more closely resembles “personalism.” See his Cong jiazhi xitong kan Zhonguo wenhua de xiandai yiyi 從價值系統看中國文化的現代意義 (On the modern significance of Chinese culture from the perspective of value systems) (Taipei:

Linking Publishing Co., 1987), 27–36. In addition, although Wm. Theodore de Bary speaks of the “Confucian individualism” in late Ming thought, he understands that this type of individualism is not completely identical with recent Western conceptions, leading him to consider replacing it with the term “personalism.” See his “Individualism and Humanitarian-ism in Late Ming Thought,” in Wm. Theodore de Bary, ed., Self and Society in Ming Thought (New York: Columbia University Press, 1970), 147 and 225.

26. De Bary’s “Confucianism and Communitarianism” provides an excellent analy-sis of this point. This article is included in Chen Rongzhao ^陳榮照, ed., Ruxue yu shijie wenming ^{儒學與世界文明} (Confucianism and world civilization) (Singapore: Chinese Department of National University of Singapore/Bafeng wenhua qiye gongsi, 2003), 919–932.

27. Xu Fuguan, Rujia zhengzhi sixiang yu minzhu ziyou renquan, 291.

28. Zhang Hao, “Chaoyue yishi yu you’an yishi” ^{超越意識與幽暗意識} (Transcen-dent consciousness and obscure consciousness), in his You’an yishi yu minzhu chuantong ^幽 暗意識與民主傳統 (Obscure consciousness and the tradition of democracy) (Taipei: Link-ing PublishLink-ing Co., 1989), 33–34.