| Abstract: | The six sections of the essay discuss recurrent issues relative to the modern advocacy of human rights and the vicissitudes of the Chinese response—universal standards versus cultural and historical particularity, individualism versus community, traditional Confucian ethics versus Western modernism, nativism versus foreign influence, the stability of the social order versus individual well-being, and the possibility of developing a view of rights a part of which is drawn from the Chinese philosophical tradition. The concluding segment examines historical conditions of law and religion and their relevance for contemporary discussion on human rights. By looking closely at selected classical texts and events, the essay offers both a sustained critique of Confucianism in its traditional formulation and a suggested attempt to re-interpret aspects of the tradition for the current situation. |
