Confucianism Readings Reading Response Today

Confucianism Readings Reading Response Today I was reading Margaret Atwood's Surfacing. This is relevant, because it seriously influenced my thoughts on the relationship between Confucianism and the development of a market economy. This novel suggests a view of life which (while far from Confucianism) is rather primitivist and sits in opposition to the development of American-style economies and governments. It caused me to consider the degree to which having a simpler, more agrarian life may be preferable to an advanced "quality" life in urbane settings.

The reading speaks of the way that "Confucian society was like the family," and idealized the leader as one who fulfilled a responsibility to the nation in addition to wielding power. Absolute power was theoretically belonging to the supreme earthly leader, but this power was limited practically, and villages and rural areas were essentially self-ruling and tribal, apart from taxes and considerations paid to the government.

This early Confucian world seems to have something in common with Pharaonic Egypt - with an idealized godchild king whose welfare is inextricably linked to his success in caring for the people. This surely created a stable society, and also one which -despite its lack of theoretical and (perhaps) even real political liberty-- was respectful of the needs of the people to survive.

It occurs to me that perhaps the reason Confucianism resisted modernization was not merely because "Individual initiative in all spheres was stifled" or "The goal of statecraft was to bring about harmony between society and nature, not to conquer nature," but rather because modernization would allow the state to have too much real power and make the godlike ruler not a gentle paternal figure but rather a tyrant actually capable of interfering with the daily lives of his people.

"A much more powerful nation-state, greatly increased actual means to control the lives of citizens." It occurs to me that a non-developped state might actually be preferable to a modernized state, considering the degree of real freedom that occurs even in a totalitarian primitive state compared to a modern "democratic" state such as America or Japan.

Surely the kings of ancient Confucian nations did not, after all, limit the speeds at which one could travel along the roads, the age at which a child was allowed to begin imbibing alcohol, or set.