Confucianism and Familism: A Comment on the Debate Between Liu and Guo

Abstract

The debate in Dao between LIU Qingping and GUO Qiyong (see Liu 2007 and Guo 2007) touches on a question that has accompanied Confucianism since the downfall of the Chinese empire: Is Confucianism “familism”? Has it been the ideology of the zongfa 宗法 system? Has, under its influence, xiao 孝 been the “cardinal virtue” of historical China? Has xiao been the entrance door not only to submissiveness and traditionalism, but also to nepotism and corruption, and has it prevented the growth of public spirit? This suspicion has been uttered not only by Chinese May Fourth thinkers like WU Yu 吳虞. It has also had a long European history, starting with Montesquieu and Herder and leading via Hegel to Weber, with a broad and lasting impact on the humanities and the social sciences (see Opielka 2004). Familism is not a peculiarity of China, but no other of the great ethical systems that have evolved in the history of mankind has been so closely identified with it as has Confucianism. However, while the influence of familism in Chinese history with all its concomitants can hardly be doubted, the Confucian part in it is not as evident as, for example, LIU Qingping’s articles suggest. Familism is certainly older than Confucianism and not necessarily dependent on it. Confucianism itself had, relative to the specific thinker or text and to the historical circumstances, not only a fostering, but also a moderating influence on familism, and it could even take on an explicitly critical attitude. On the one hand, the most prominent modern examples for radical criticism of the family system in the name of Confucianism are KANG Youwei 康有為 and XIONG Shili 熊十力. On the other hand, we have a strong accent on parental authority and kinship loyalty in periods of weak central government, e.g. in the Chinese “middle ages” (Knapp 2006). In general, Confucianism has tried to protect family structures and at the same time prevent their making themselves independent. The overall historical balance is open to dispute. As to the classical Confucian texts, family is, in general, certainly a first-rank topic. It is the place not only of the primary experience in moral action, but also a realm of particular Dao (2008) 7:41–44 DOI 10.1007/s11712-008-9039-z