On Family Determination in Reconstructionist Confucianism

Abstract

Ho Chuen Kwan contests the legitimacy of Ruiping Fan’s depiction of Confucianism as advocating family determination. Kwan argues that Confucian teachings, properly understood, are not familist, and also that the familist reconstruction of them faces huge problems as a morality for modern society. Kwan interprets the classical Confucian ideal of harmony to demand diverse individual moral personalities, which does not require mutual agreement but emphasizes peaceful coordination and cooperation between different members. The ideal of Confucian harmony contradicts family determination, which aims at reaching a familial agreement. Moreover, Confucian teachings tell us each to do what we believe is right, not what our family members want us to do. Contrary to Fan’s view that liberty or autonomy detaches individuals from their family, Kwan argues that we can exercise free autonomy just fine within family relations: possessing a right to self-determination does not inherently isolate us from familial members, but merely gives us the option to remove ourselves. Since we will choose to do so primarily when such relations are destructive, Fan’s denial of liberty and self-determination prevents a compatible and desirable safeguard against the dangers of relations gone awry. Finally, Kwan adds, Fan conflates important distinctions between moral and legal responsibility as they are best understood from a modern Confucian perspective.