This is a wide-ranging discussion of a book by Chenyang Li 李晨陽, Reshaping Confucianism: A Progressive Inquiry (Oxford Univeristy Press, 2024). As a living and evolving tradition, Confucianism has been continuously defined and redefined in response to the changing political and social context of China’s history. Extending this effort in reconstructing Confucianism, Li critically analyzes and develops a series of core ideas that originated from classic Confucian texts and does so in the context of contemporary scholarly discourse. These core ideas include harmony, care-centered virtue (ren 仁), ritual propriety (li 禮), filial care (xiao 孝), freedom, equality, and civic education (jiao 教). Li combines in-depth analysis with systematic deliberation on their contemporary significance, reflecting the current state of the field of research.
Three or four HKU professors will give comments on a chapter of the book and Li will briefly give a response. Respondents include Justin Tiwald, Wang Pei 汪沛, and Tang Siu-fu 鄧小虎. Daniel Bell will chair the session.
