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Why Equality and Which Inequalities?: A Modern Confucian Approach to Democracy
- Philosophy East and West
- University of Hawai'i Press
- Volume 66, Number 2, April 2016
- pp. 488-514
- 10.1353/pew.2016.0048
- Article
- Additional Information
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This article challenges the conventional view that Confucianism has no place for the value of equality by shifting the focus from direct justification of equality (Why equality?) to concerns about actual social and political problems (Which inequalities are objectionable?). From this perspective, early Confucian texts endorse some inequalities, in particular those based on virtue, while objecting to others, especially socioeconomic inequalities. Confucians do not consider equality or inequality as inherently valuable, but evaluate them in relation to issues of good government.