Thanks for the review! You make it sound (to me) like this is the philosophy of “the establisment”—popular with noble patrons, or even written in a sort of ego-soothing way by people directly involved in ruling.
From my limited knowledge, that’s definitely one of the purposes Ruism/Confucianism was put to—especially once the civil service exams were instituted.
In one way, “philosophy of the establishment” seems mostly correct to me, as the Mengzi seemingly makes a core assumption that the current social order is legitimate. But it mostly isn’t making excuses for that social order (as philosophy and social science often does), it’s challenging rulers to live up to an ideal and serve the people. At one point, Mengzi says that any king who “mutilates benevolence” is a “mere fellow” who can be rightfully executed by the people.
And I don’t know enough about history, but it seems like nearly every Chinese philosopher of any school—even maybe Zhuangzi (??) -- was involved in some kind of government position. Maybe that’s what every literate person did. So it’s hard to draw a clear “establishment/anti-establishment” line.
Thanks for the review! You make it sound (to me) like this is the philosophy of “the establisment”—popular with noble patrons, or even written in a sort of ego-soothing way by people directly involved in ruling.
From my limited knowledge, that’s definitely one of the purposes Ruism/Confucianism was put to—especially once the civil service exams were instituted.
In one way, “philosophy of the establishment” seems mostly correct to me, as the Mengzi seemingly makes a core assumption that the current social order is legitimate. But it mostly isn’t making excuses for that social order (as philosophy and social science often does), it’s challenging rulers to live up to an ideal and serve the people. At one point, Mengzi says that any king who “mutilates benevolence” is a “mere fellow” who can be rightfully executed by the people.
And I don’t know enough about history, but it seems like nearly every Chinese philosopher of any school—even maybe Zhuangzi (??) -- was involved in some kind of government position. Maybe that’s what every literate person did. So it’s hard to draw a clear “establishment/anti-establishment” line.