Confucianism, Moral Equality, and Human Rights: A Mencian Perspective

Abstract

Abstract This paper attempts to show the compatibility between C onfucianism and human rights, first by revisiting the moral philosophy of M encius, a key founder of the C onfucian tradition, then by reconstructing the M encian‐ C onfucian idea of human rights from the perspective of his moral philosophy. One of my central claims is that not only did M encius acknowledge core human rights—socioeconomic as well as civil‐political—justified by his foundational faith in universal moral equality and human dignity, but he further understood the right to subsistence as an essential part of C onfucian‐constitutional rights. Contrary to the widely received notion that in M encian‐ C onfucianism the right to subsistence has an overriding value vis‐a‐vis civil‐political rights, I argue that M encius (and C onfucians in general for that matter) never stipulated such a lexical ranking among rights. I conclude by discussing how the type of C onfucian moral reasoning that M encius employs in justifying the moral value of human rights can be re‐appropriated to produce C onfucian rights suitable for today. … … … … … …