A Confucian Hybrid Regime and Its Superiority to Liberal Democracy

Vortrag von Prof. Dr. Tongdong Bai (Ordentlicher Professor und Dongfang Chair Professor an der School of Philosophy der Fudan University in China.)

Zeit: Dienstag, 6. Oktober 2015, 14 - 15.30 Uhr

Ort: Seminarraum SR 09.53, Institut für Philosophie, Heinrichstr. 26/V, A-8010 Graz

China is rising, but what messages can and should a rising China bring to the world? Focusing on the normative aspect of this question, Prof. Tongdong Bai argues that we should look into traditional Chinese philosophy, especially Confucianism, in order to discover these messages. Taking Confucianism as an universal teaching that is meant for all, not just the Chinese, and is still relevant for contemporary political issues in the world, he argues that it can offer alternative and even better political models than the mainstream Western ones.
New Models of Governance: With regard to the issue of national identity and international relations, Prof. Bai argues that Confucianism can offer models different from and superior to both the nation-state model and the cosmopolitan model. With regard to governance the Confucian hybrid regime can address issues that democracies can not. In this sense, the Confucian revival in China is not only relevant to the Chinese, but to everyone in the world.

Dr. Tongdong Bai is a full professor and the Dongfang Chair Professor at the School of Philosophy at Fudan University in China.  He held a bachelor degree in nuclear physics and a master degree in the philosophy of science from Peking University, and obtained his doctoral degree in philosophy from Boston University.  He was a tenured associate professor at Xavier University in Cincinnati before he moved to Fudan.  He was the first and so far the only tenured philosophy teacher from the U.S. who has returned to China as a full-time faculty member.  His research interests include Chinese philosophy and political philosophy, especially the comparative and contemporary relevance of traditional Chinese political philosophy.  He has published many articles in some prestigious journals in these areas, and has a book out in Chinese by the Peking University Press, A New Mission of an Old State: the Comparative and Contemporary Relevance of Classical Confucian Political Philosophy.  He has worked on the English and revised version of this book.  He has also published a book in English, an introduction to traditional Chinese political philosophy that is presented from a comparative perspective, showing its contemporary relevance (China: The Political Philosophy of the Middle Kingdom, Zed Books).  At Fudan, he launched an MA, Visiting Student, and Auditing program in Chinese philosophy with courses taught in English that is intended to promote the studies of Chinese philosophy in the world, and is targeted at students who wish to learn Chinese philosophy, but whose Chinese is not good enough yet for them to do so in Chinese.  Four years since its establishment, the program has proven to be the most successful program of its kind in China.  He delivers lectures, in Chinese and English, in different venues, and is also involved in other social activities and organizations, all of which aim to promote new political norms that are informed and inspired by traditional Chinese philosophy and comparative political philosophy.  Dr. Bai can be reached at: baitongdong(at)gmail.com