Angle’s New Book Debates Critical Questions About Confucianism

While Professor of Philosophy Stephen Angle was on sabbatical in Beijing, China in 2016-2017, he wanted to find a way to directly engage fellow experts on and advocates of Confucianism. He attended conferences and met with other Confucianists before coming up with the idea of organizing a series of dialogues about the meaning of Confucianism today. The dialogues—eight in all—culminated in Angle’s latest book Progressive Confucianism and its Critics: Dialogues from the Confucian Heartland.

To Angle’s knowledge, the dialogues—most of which took place at Renmin University in Beijing—were the first of their kind to put Chinese Confucians, most of whom view Confucianism quite conservatively, into extended conversation with an American Confucian who views the tradition more progressively. Angle’s goal with these conversations was to bridge the linguistic and cultural divides between these scholars with different views on Confucianism. “I wanted to understand their views and their motivations better on the one hand, but I also wanted to encourage them to better understand and take more seriously the views and the motivation of people like me who think of the role of Confucianism in a more progressive way,” he said.

In other words, he wanted the scholars to “actually listen to one another as opposed to just pontificating,” Angle said.

To that end, Angle and his colleagues succeeded. The dialogues, which were conducted in Chinese during the spring of 2017, were translated into English, resulting in a volume rich with discussion and debate over a wide range of topics. Angle and the 14 other scholars who participated in the dialogues discussed Confucianism’s relationship to modernity; the question of whether Confucianism is a philosophy, religion, or aspect of Chinese culture; and what Angle calls “progressive Confucianism.”

A term that Angle coined, progressive Confucianism takes the position that while Confucianism has its roots in ancient Chinese culture and history, it has evolved as it adapts to changing circumstances, reaches new locations, and encounters new ideas. “The core idea is that Confucianism has always developed in response to changes in society,” he said. This concept “opens up opportunities for Confucians to rethink some of the [beliefs] that they had held on to for a long time.”

One long-held characteristic of Confucianism, for example, is patriarchy. “One of the things that we progressive Confucians talk a lot about is the importance of gender equality and why Confucians should embrace gender equality—not because some Western feminist says that they have to, but for Confucian reasons,” Angle said.

To the question of whether Confucianism is a philosophy, religion, or distinctive feature of Chinese culture, Angle said it’s all three. “There’s no question that if we have a kind of a broad, inclusive understanding of what a religion is, then it’s a religion,” he said. “I also think it’s philosophy, but it’s clearly not just something that professors teach in classrooms and write about in cryptic books. It’s something that’s very much part of everyday life, part of people’s practices.”

Those practices are discussed in a class Angle co-teaches with Professor of Philosophy Tushar Irani, “Living a Good Life.” The class asks students to engage in “live like a Confucian” week. During that week, students are assigned activities that illustrate what Confucians teach. For example, on day one, they are asked to nurture a sprout, which symbolizes the cultivation of a particular feeling—such as righteousness or propriety or wisdom. At the end of that day, students reflect on the experience through journaling. “It’s a way of getting them to begin to be reflective and engage with their own psychology in a way that’s aimed towards growth,” he said.

This contemplation of virtues and what constitutes a “good life” is part of what has made Confucianism endure for more than 2,500 years. “One reason for its continued relevance is that some of the core insights are just true,” said Angle. Those insights include the importance of family and relationships. “They deeply resonate with people’s lived experiences.”

Angle’s book celebrates these insights and the dynamism of Confucianism. While he organized and helped lead the dialogues as the only American in the room, much of the intense debate about the present and future of Confucianism was among Chinese scholars. Among other things, his book serves as a “lens into the diversity and complexity of Confucianism in China today,” he said.