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Liberalism and Confucianism

Introduction

This essay will attempt to analyze various elements of ethical philosophy, such as

"gender," "human rights," and "economic disparity," context of Liberalism and Confucianism.

We will explore how the aforementioned elements are critically seen through the lens of

Liberalism and Confucianism.

However, before going any further, we must first have a deeper understanding of the

philosophical aspects of liberalism and Confucianism.

Respect for human rights, political equality, and legal equality are cornerstones of

liberalism as an ethical and political ideology. To varying degrees, liberals may accept

alternative interpretations of these ideas. On the other hand, they tend to support things such as

free speech, freedom of the press, and free market economies, as well as liberal democracies,

secularism, the authority of the law, and economic and democratic freedom. They also tend to be

in favor of economic and democratic freedom. It is often believed that liberalism is the

philosophical viewpoint that has had the most influence on current society. (Bell 683).

Similarly, Confucianism emphasizes morality, adherence to societal norms, and internal

virtue and places a heavy emphasis on human-centered values for a calm life as well as ancestral

honoring. A central tenet of Confucianism is that key social institutions and fundamental human

connections should be guided by established standards of morality and ethical conduct. Every
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human connection has a certain set of responsibilities to play and obligations to fulfill on both

sides; all parties involved need to be aware of these dynamics and do their best to fulfill their

duties. People, beginning with themselves and their families, who behave ethically have the

potential to transform and improve society. Individuals are seen as being reliant on others in

Confucianism, and one's identity is established based on the roles they perform and the

relationships they make through their daily interactions with other people (Bockover 309).

Now that we have established this background, we can go on to the major matter at hand:

critically analyzing the ethical elements through the lens of Liberalism and Confucianism.

Liberalism and Gender

What is expected, permitted, and respected from women and men in a particular setting is

largely based on their gender. The roles that women and men play in society, the tasks they do,

the resources they have access to, and the power they have to make decisions, are often distinct

and unequal. The social and cultural setting in which people are raised includes gender roles.

Class, race, poverty level, ethnicity, and age are all significant factors in the socio-cultural

analysis. Due to gender-based assumptions and expectations, women are often at a disadvantage

when it comes to the substantive enjoyment of rights, such as the freedom to act and to be

recognized as independent, completely capable grownups, to take part in economic, social, and

political development, and to make decisions about their situations and conditions. (“Gender”).

Social discrimination is the first issue that comes to mind for social scientists whenever

the topic of gender is discussed, regardless of the setting or circumstance (Comfort and Isaiah).

Scholars and researchers from all over the world are quick to pick up pen and paper to point out

the many forms of sex-based discrimination that women face in today's society and the world at

large.
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But the truth remains that certain countries and people still force women to endure

several practices that marginalize them in every aspect of society and the world. The culturally

prescribed responsibilities of a woman (Orientation& Procreation), the inability to be seen as a

representative of a higher ideal, and the insistence that her life revolves around her husband is

only some of how she is marginalized. All of these accurately represent the causes for most of

the gender-related literature to concentrate on discrimination and its effects on society at large.

Political activists often use the word "liberalism" to advocate for more individual rights

and more social justice. But it's also a phrase used in discussions about gender. Since liberalism

was originally a political term for societal freedom, many people have taken advantage of the

opportunities that a liberal state has created to exploit and enhance its power structure over other

countries. Researchers have argued, that “liberalism is no friend of gender equality”. They

reasoned that liberalism is not really about gender equality but political freedom since women

came into the liberal state to fight for women's liberation (Comfort and Isaiah).

One of the underlying reasons is that the feminist movement and liberalism are at odds

with one another. Gender roles, including the division of work based on gender, are being

abolished as a direct result of feminism. Free will is highly valued in liberal thought.

Nevertheless, women's decisions contribute significantly to maintaining the present gendered

division of work (Levey 127). Respect for the individual agency is essential to liberalism since it

is assumed that an individual's decisions, when made knowingly and freely, are indicative of her

idea of her own well-being. Yet the underlying selection is responsive to social and political

contexts, and the gendered system functions to generate individuals whose interests and

preferences assist to maintain gender-based disparities in authority and societal expectations.

Values, beliefs, and preferences are not uniformly distributed among the genders. The associated
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gendered options contribute to the maintenance of preconceptions and established systems of

inequality in wealth and power that at least in part define gender hierarchies in our society. But

liberalism appears to have to keep quiet about these decisions at times.

Gendered preferences seem to be rooted in a person's idea of the good, with its attendant

political, moral, religious, aesthetic, and way of life values, all of which liberalism strives to

uphold. Precisely as liberalism is obligated to accept choices that represent people's conception

of their own good, it is argued liberalism must also respect certain gendered choices, even if

doing so perpetuates a gendered division of labor. Liberalism will suffer much more if feminists

are correct that a gendered division of work is bad.

Liberalism & Human Rights

Following the declared "end" of ideology and history, Human Rights are the last global

ideology. They bring together liberals from the first world and revolutionists from the third

world. Some people use human rights as a symbol of liberalism, capitalism, or individualism,

while others use them to promote social justice or peace. People tend to see rights through a

more communal lens, prioritizing issues of social and economic justice above those of the law

and the individual over freedom of expression.

Over the last half-century, the concept of human rights has made a substantial transition

from the sacred halls of Western academe to the awareness of the 'ordinary people' in many areas

of the globe. This is the result of using a phrase that was recoined and updated just fifty years

ago, after having been retired as an intriguing legacy of intellectual history based on assumptions

that "we" had all abandoned in the name of progress and modernity (Langlois 509).

The liberal doctrine states that all people, regardless of their race, religion, gender, sexual

orientation, etc., are entitled to the same basic set of human rights. Given that the term "human
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rights" refers to entitlements that everyone has simply by virtue of being humble that these rights

are inherent to everyone (Singh 174). An individual's pursuit of his or her own self-interest is

posted under liberalism. A fundamental element of liberalism is that human rights are

inalienable.

Human rights, in the eyes of classical liberals, are limited to the absolute necessities of

life, such as freedom of expression, association, religion, property, and liberty from arbitrary

arrest and imprisonment. Consideration is given to greater freedom, not less, when weighing

conflicting rights. In a crucial move, classical liberals see these birth rights as sacred principles

that must not be abandoned even when they get in the way of group goals. Without protection,

people are vulnerable to the rule of the mob. In reality, this means protecting people against the

excessive reach of the state.

We now come to the second issue at hand, a key reason which is a complex idea, but the

standard liberal definition of legitimacy holds that legitimate institutions are those that preserve

rights (Gourevitch 314). It represents a split between the "political" and the "moral" in traditional

liberal thought. To begin, the concept of the primacy of rights is basically a method of stating

that the purpose of political institutions is to protect individual liberty, not to rescue human souls.

Consequently, it is not the morality of an organization, but rather the agreement of its governed,

that determines whether or not it is a legitimate entity.

As a result, the concept of subjective freedom gains independent moral weight and, by

extension, incorporates a relativistic component into the justification of political institutions.

Second, there are several, separate points of disagreement around the protection and

realization of fundamental liberties. Political judgments cannot draw their full power from an

unfiltered appeal to the moral standard of rights as long as disagreement exists. What is
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determined is less important than who decides, the fundamental issue of sovereignty, according

to this view. The process by which political choices are made regarding rights is now front and

center, and this creates conflict in the liberal idea of legitimacy. If an entity is legitimate only if it

protects its citizens' rights, then the procedure by which those rights are defined and applied

uniformly is an essential aspect of that justification.

If those who have rights are to be considered rational, free-acting beings, then they must

be given a voice in the process of deciding what is fair. In a democracy, the right to vote is the

"right of rights." It's the most transparent method to recognize people's inherent rights and to

meet the expectation that governments should get their power from the people. The agent making

choices concerning the interpretation and application of rights must be held responsible to the

person holding those rights at the very least.

It is worth noting here that this interpretation of the classical liberal view of rights

reminds us of an important connection between liberalism and democracy, and that it is even

possible to argue that critical decisions about the scope and content of basic rights be decided by

legislative bodies, rather than less accountable judicial ones.

Liberalism and economic Inequality

We now turn our attention to the fact that even though equality is ingrained in every

liberal-democratic state in the world, wealth and income disparities are pervasive and on the

increase. Economists and political scientists have paid more and more attention to the growing

gap between the affluent and poor and the shrinking middle class in recent years (Dixon and Suk

370). Even in nations like Finland, Norway, and Sweden have historically had a more equitable

income distribution, the percentage of the top 1% has climbed by 70%, reaching around 7-8% by

the late 2000s (371).

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There are several theories on the causes and effects of economic inequality's damage to

liberal democracy. It has been suggested that the many types of expanding economic inequality

pose a threat to economic expansion since they do not benefit all citizens equally. Others have

pointed out that the widening gap between the wealthy and everyone else makes upward social

mobility more unlikely.

The commitment of liberal constitutions to the freedom of individuals to decide their

futures is shown to be untrue when children who are born poor cannot become rich and when

those who are born wealthy cannot become poor. The aristocracy that results when parental

wealth determines every aspect of a person's life with no meaningful role for individual liberty is

not the society that liberal-democratic constitutions want to build. When economic inequality

reaches these extremes, it comes into conflict with the political and legal equality that liberal

constitutional regimes need to maintain their legitimacy.

For a liberal constitutional system to be viewed as legitimate politically, it is important

for there to be actual equality of opportunity as well as substantive equality in terms of the forms

of political participation. Each of these principles is put in jeopardy by the existence of wealth

and income disparities. Some individuals who have disproportionately high levels of income and

wealth can exert an outsized advantage on the institutions of government, allowing them to

maintain advantages for themselves and their heirs while also adopting measures that ensure

those who are already disadvantaged continue to fall further behind.

When economic disparity feeds into political inequality, it weakens democracy and is

reviled by a significant portion of the population. Populist discontent can have a solid foundation

in genuine concerns about unfairness; however, it may still manifest in political groups with
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unjustified and hateful objectives that undermine other fundamental pillars of liberal

democracies, such as a dedication to racial and gender equality.

When constitutional courts uphold equality rights, such as the right to an education, there

is a focus on bringing the lowest-income and most disadvantaged segments of society up to the

average. When everyone has access to that basic level, it seems sensible to declare that equality

of opportunity has been attained. Disagreements exist over what that bare minimum is,

particularly in the field of education. Should it be evaluated based on how much money is spent

per student, how well students do on standardized exams, or how well the curriculum and

instructors are thought to be? Even if we could settle our differences over what constitutes a

"bare minimum," there is still a major issue: lifting the poor to that level does not do enough to

counteract the instability caused by rising economic disparity.

Rising poverty and the accompanying fear of the future are just part of the issue,

however; the decline of the middle class is also a significant factor. The issue isn't only that the

working class is economically disadvantaged; it's also that the middle class is shrinking and the

rich are becoming richer.

Confucianism and Gender

We now turn our attention to Confucianism with a particular focus on gender first.

Systematic focus on the roles and classifications of men and women as an inherent part of the

wider social order, which is anchored in the law of the universe and is the most important

component of the Confucian gender philosophy. Through the complementary rights and

responsibilities associated with their fundamentally allocated positions and statuses, men and

women are intended to associate with one another. Instead of being straightforward and

immediate, the relationships should be structurally managed, shielding them from the irrational
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desires and fancies of individuals. It's conceivable that this trend originated as a result of the

Tokugawa regime's adoption of Confucianism in administration in the centuries that followed in

an effort to promote peace and order in the face of growing public unrest (Lebra 250).

To put it another way, according to Confucianism, a person's feelings and desires are less

important to their identity than the roles and disciplines they play in their life. As a consequence

of this, the idea of the individual may be contrasted with the Confucian order. In this regard, the

Confucian structuralist ideology seems to have a crucial role, especially in regulating the power

relations that exist between the genders (253).

Women should prioritize being good wives and wise mothers, and their primary roles

ought to be domestic, and behind the scenes, obviously distinct from men's primary roles of

public, and on stage. If a woman engages in the masculine domain, she must do so either

covertly from behind the scenes or as a proxy for her spouse, boy, or any other masculine family.

Therefore, the Confucian woman is a perfect illustration of the other void of personality. Given

this contrast, it is assumed that men and women will coexist in harmony depending on their

interdependent roles.

Whether or not this was originally the goal of Confucianism, it cannot be denied that its

principles played a role in the subjugation of women throughout history. Inherent tensions exist

between Confucianism and feminism. Since sexism is fundamental to how Confucianism was

taught, it has become firmly tied to Confucianism. But the ideology of Confucianism has the

capacity to separate itself from the sexist connotations and reformat the way women are seen. It

is possible to present a new philosophical stance as an alternative to maintaining Confucianism's

historical foundations or pursuing a project with a retrograde focus. Modern Confucian thinkers

aren't rising to the occasion or writing enough new works to meet demand.
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Confucianism and Human Rights

The main question here is to what degree human rights are compatible with

Confucianism. In spite of the fact that the Confucian tradition places a strong emphasis on

individuality, family cohesiveness, financial stability, the upkeep of public order, and the

cultivation of culture, the tradition places a greater emphasis on responsibility than it does on

rights awareness. Because of this, the Confucian tradition is an excellent source of illumination

for comprehending and acknowledging human rights. It is vital to give due consideration to the

contention that Confucian humanism is in direct opposition to the rights that are inherent in

human beings. (Baudot and Bergquist).

According to the Confucian viewpoint, people are not just intellectual beings but also

social animals, equipment makers, or communication manipulators. The Confucians appear to

have consciously resisted oversimplified easy theories. According to Confucian humanism,

Humans are intelligent creatures with the ability to resonate internally with not only one another

as well as with various creatures, flowers, plants, hills, waterways, and the rest of nature.

Humans are social creatures.

Humans are weak compared to other animals when they exist in isolation, but when they

are brought together to form a society, they have the strength and courage to thrive as well as

survive.

The interconnection of people, as shown by the proliferation of different networks of

interaction, is necessary for the sustenance and continuation of human life. Our social

circumstances have a significant impact on who we are. Humans are sociopolitical beings in the

sense that our likeness to one another is unique in terms of order, rank, and control.
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This is due to the fact that biological prerequisites and social necessity necessitate

humans to have these characteristics. Confucians place a strong emphasis on the permeable

nature of these artificial boundaries, but they are also aware of the significance of the distinctions

that exist between organic and mechanical forms of solidarity. As a consequence of this, the

notion and practice of distributive justice are of the utmost significance in any community that

strives to be humane.

Confucianism and Economic Inequality

From the viewpoint of a Confucian thinker, Confucians would allow inequality in the

economy given two circumstances. First, people obtain money in ethical ways. Because people

put more effort or are luckier, some individuals can accumulate wealth faster than others.

Confucianism promotes self-effort but also acknowledges that luck may influence a person's life.

Second, even if the wealthy prosper using legal methods, there shouldn't be wide

disparities between the rich and the poor. Economic inequality is acknowledged and allowed, but

the major goal of Confucianism is to prevent and minimize significant economic inequality (Li

298).

Let's say that during the same year, farmer number one plants crop X and farmer number

two plants crop Y. Imagine that the climate has been highly severe for Y and incredibly

beneficial for X. As a result, one becomes wealthier than two.

Let's assume the circumstance persists for a while. While two become severely destitute,

one's business significantly grows and he becomes tremendously wealthy. Confucians would

advocate for higher taxes on one in this scenario so that the government can give two more

financial aid. Confucians are more focused on societal unity than liberals, who are more

concentrated on individual liberties. Harmony is regarded as the most fundamental ideal in

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Confucian philosophy. According to Confucianism large disparities between the rich and the

poor are bad for social cohesion and should be avoided (300).

Conclusion

The term "liberalism" is often used by political activists who are fighting for increased

civil rights and more social fairness. However, the term is also used in discussions about gender.

Many individuals have taken advantage of the openings afforded by a liberal state in order to

exploit and strengthen its power structure over other nations, despite the fact that liberalism was

initially a political phrase supporting social freedom. The core element of liberalism is that

everyone has an equal right to pursue justice; each person is free to believe, think, speak, or act

as he or she pleases as long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others; an individual's

freedom is only restricted by the rights of other people to pursue justice and to enjoy liberty in

general. The concept of the primacy of rights is a way of arguing that the role of government is

to safeguard people's freedoms, not save their souls. To that end, a group's legitimacy is

established not by its morality but by the consent of those who control it. Furthermore, Wealth

and income discrepancies are prevalent and growing despite the fact that equality is embedded in

every liberal-democratic state around the globe. The decline of the middle class and the

consolidation of riches pose a challenge to liberal democratic constitutional regimes. It is

becoming more clear that the sorts of economic inequality that are prevalent in modern liberal

democracies are undermining the legitimacy of shared public institutions and the faith of the

people in their governments. To this point, democratic constitutions have provided only minimal

protection against this danger.

On the other when it comes to gender, Confucianism and feminism are at odds with one

another. Confucianism is often linked to oppressing women, whether it is through subjecting

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them to their fathers as children, husbands as spouses, or sons as widows. In Confucianism, it is

believed that large disparities between the rich and the poor are detrimental to social cohesion

and should be avoided at all costs. There is a stronger emphasis on societal unity among

Confucians than there is among liberals, who are more focused on securing individual liberties.

Harmony is regarded as the most fundamental ideal in Confucian philosophy.

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Works Cited

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