The problem of political order in Classical Confucian thought

Confucian political thought has typically been interpreted through the lens of ethics: since Confucian ethics aims at the development of virtue in the individual, Confucian government, it is usually thought, aims at the development of virtue in the people. In this talk, based on my recently published book Classical Confucian Political Thought, I show the problems with this interpretation and argue that it is order, not virtue, that is the central motivating concern of Confucian political thought. I then explicate the Confucian conception of political order: what it consists of, how it is to be achieved, and why it matters.

Date: 23 March 2017
Time: 2pm to 5pm
Venue: Philosophy Meeting Room (AS3-05-23)

About the Speaker:
Loubna El Amine is Assistant Professor in the Political Science Department at Northwestern University. Her research is in political theory, with a particular focus on early Chinese political thought. Her book, Classical Confucian Political Thought: A New Interpretation, was published in 2015 by Princeton University Press. Before coming to Northwestern, she taught at Georgetown University and was Mellon postdoctoral fellow in the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale University. She holds a PhD in Politics from Princeton University and a BA in Political Studies from the American University of Beirut.

All are welcome