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From Cannibalism to Empowerment: An -Inspired Attempt to Balance Community and Author(s): Sor-hoon Tan Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 54, No. 1 (Jan., 2004), pp. 52-70 Published by: University of Hawai'i Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1399862 Accessed: 09/04/2010 03:38

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http://www.jstor.org FROM CANNIBALISM TO EMPOWERMENT: AN ANALECTS-INSPIRED ATTEMPT TO BALANCE COMMUNITY AND LIBERTY

Sor-hoonTan PhilosophyDepartment, National University of Singapore

... across every page were the words BENEVOLENCE,RIGHTEOUSNESS, and .... [F]inally I began to make out what was written between the lines; the whole volume was filled with a single phrase: EAT PEOPLE! Xun'

The Confuciantradition has often been creditedwith a strongallegiance to the of community. It recognizes that certain might be attained through special formsof humanassociation, but not by any solitaryindividual. Are such community goods attained at the expense of the liberty of individual members? have struggledwith the tension between libertyand communitysince the dawn of Western philosophy. Aristotlecomplained about the false idea of libertyas "doing what one likes," which is contradictoryto the true interestsof the polis.2 Such lib- erty,or ratherlicense, is undoubtedlydetrimental to any peaceful coexistence, not to say the harmonious and mutually beneficial association of community. Without regulation,such license would, accordingto , resultin a "warof all againstall," makinglife "solitary,poor, nasty, brutishand short." It is not just illiberalphilosophers who are concerned about libertyturning to license and destroying itself. John StuartMill remarked,"Freedom for the pikes is death for the minnows." While recognizing a need to limit liberty, liberals are also perenniallyconcerned that any group exercising power over individualsmight deny memberstheir status qua separate and autonomous individuals,and thereby threatenliberty. On the other hand, communitariansobject, among other things, to the liberal conception of autonomous selves as fundamentally,even ontologically, separate units, who then choose whether or not to enter into relations with one anotherto formcommunities. From such a startingpoint, communitygoods are often neglected, and in extreme cases the insistence on the priorityof individualrights could lead to "the moralfabric of community... unravelingaround us."3 While it is not impossible,with human intelligence and imagination,to resolve the conflicts between communitygoods and individualliberty, and while there are circumstances in which one could benefit the other, or both could be mutually beneficial, the likelihood of tension and outrightcontradiction between these two key values of remains,in any group of humanbeings, blessed or cursed, depending on how you look at it, with what Kantcalls "the unsocial sociabilityof men, that is, their tendency to come together in , coupled, however, with a

52 Philosophy East & West Volume 54, Number 1 January 2004 52-70 ? 2004 by University of Hawai'i Press continual resistancewhich constantlythreatens to breakthis society up." The aver- age person is torn between the conflictinginclinations to live in society and to live as an individual,among fellows "whom he cannot bear yet cannot bear to leave."4We value libertyfor the protectionit providesfor the individual,for its empowermentof her in her search for human fulfillment.The value of communitycaptures our con- cern to render our unavoidable social existence as meaningful and beneficial as possible for all, or at least for as many as possible. The need to balance the two values-a perennialproblem of and politics-has been broughtto the fore by the -communitarianismdebate.5 This essay aims to develop an account of how to balance libertyand community throughwhat Confucianscalled /i X, which has been translatedas "rites,""rituals," "ceremony,""ritual action," "ritualpropriety," "propriety," "decorum," "manners," "courtesy,"and "civility." I shall adopt the translationof "ritual."While I draw most of my textual materialsfrom the Analects, I do not offer my perspective as a straightforwardinterpretation of its content; the problematicof libertyversus com- munityis not germaneto pre-Qinphilosophical discourse. This exercise is motivated by a belief that the Analects, together with an interdisciplinarystudy of ritual in differentcontexts, could provide resources for new ways of handling the tension between libertyand community.

Confucianism's Hostility to Liberty

Focusing on historical practices, many have accused Confucianismof having no place for individualliberty. Writers like LucianPye and W.J.F.Jenner have blamed Confucianismfor 'sauthoritarian social structureand political culture.6Lest it be thought that this is just a simple case of culturalimperialism, or of ignorantbar- barianspontificating on things they know little about, Chinese writerslike Fei Xiao- tong and Ch'OT'ung-tsu have presentedChinese traditionalsociety, usuallydeemed Confucian, in ways that justifythe conclusion that Confucianismis hostile to indi- vidual liberty-a view still prevalent among many Chinese and other EastAsians who could claim a Confucianlegacy.7 Some scholars have tried to rescue Confucianismfrom such charges by arguing that there is a strandof liberalthought in the tradition,based on the expressed ideals of self-cultivationand ethico-polilticalpractices that sanction challenges to author- ity. Others have emphasized the humanisticcharacter of Confucianphilosophy, re- gardlessof historicalmalpractices. Insofar as they have reconciled libertyand com- munity in ,these approaches have been assisted by challenges to the liberal conception of the self and by argumentsthat Confucian conceptions of the self as fundamentallyrelational have a better chance of resolving the traditional contradictionsbetween self and society. Some have argued that the key of { (what Wing-tsitChan considers the general of "humanity")provides a meaningful synthesis of individual liberty and community. While I agree with that suggestion, focusing on this most benign and too readilyacceptable ethical notion, especially when we translateit as

Sor-hoonTan 53 "benevolence," is too easy a way out if we do not tackle the close connection between ren and . Even the severest critics of Confucianismhave little to say against ren-at most they attackthe failureof practice to live up to theory;but the ethical value of Confucianritual has always been more problematic.On the other hand, Confucianism'shostility to individualliberty has often been attributedto the Confucian li, equated with traditionaland conventional "rulesof conduct," which historicallywere sometimesso destructiveof individualsthat they were condemned for "cannibalism." I proposeto rescue the Confucianconcept of li fromsuch chargesand show that it should instead be understoodas a concept of moral empowermentof the free individualin community.Moreover, as a concept about empowermentit is still rel- evant to contemporarysociety and can offer some clues on how contemporary Confuciansmight balance libertyand community.

CreatingCommunity through Ritual

While there is no consensus among contemporaryscholars who study rituals in various contexts, the Confucian li fits quite comfortablyinto Eric Rothenbuhler's definition of ritualas "voluntaryperformance of appropriatelypatterned behavior to symbolically affect or participatein the serious life."8 Ritual is the constitutive means of Confucian community. RobertEno presents early Confucianismnot pri- marilyas a body of doctrine but as a community with ritualactivity as its distin- guishing core. The Analects contain "not merely instructivesayings of the Master but inter-subjectivelyvalidated ideas, communal values exemplified by life experi- ences of the speakersin the act of li."9Creating community through ritual is central to Confucianism.As a to aspire to, Confucian communityshould be under- stood not as a closed collective-an abstractentity to be set above its individual members-but as an open network of relationships.10What separates one such communityfrom another community is a matterof relativelyweak, marginalrela- tionships, not necessarily a total absence of relationship.A community grows or shrinksaccording to the changing numberand strengthsof its constitutingrelation- ships. Borrowinga metaphorfrom the works of David Hall and RogerAmes, a Con- fucian communitymay be considereda field constitutedby multiplefoci, which are members of the community.11A member's personal cultivation (xiu 4f4) resultsin an increase in intensityor extension of focus. Improvinga relationshipso that more is achieved cooperativelywithin that relationshipwould be an increase in intensity;increasing the number of relationshipsthat are productiveof communal would be an extension of focus. Extensionof focus mightbe withinthe existing field of a community,or it might increase the field if new relationshipsinvolve in- dividuals who are not members of the community. Hence, both qualitativelyand quantitatively,personal growth and communalgrowth are interdependent. The goal of Confucianpersonal cultivation is to achieve authoritative"human- ity" (ren-which is more often translatedas "benevolence").Tu Wei-ming has ana-

54 PhilosophyEast & West lyzed the Chinese characterfor ren as "man-in-society":it points towardthe funda- mental relationalcharacteristic of the Confucianconception of the person and the mutual implication of personal cultivation and community creation.12In Confu- cianism, ritual is central to this process of personal-communalgrowth. "Through self-disciplineand observing ritual (li), one becomes authoritativein one's conduct (ren)."13 The meaning and value of ritual lie in its being a constitutive means of communitythrough authoritative conduct (Analects3.3, 4.13). A communityachieved throughConfucian rituals is one that places a high value on harmony. According to Master You, who was said to resemble , "Achieving harmony is the most valuable function of observing ritual propriety" (Analects 1.12). Valuing harmonyneed not mean denying the existence, even the inevitability,of conflict in humaninteraction.14 Ritual might contribute to communal harmony by limiting the damage that results from conflict by creating artificial boundaries in social interaction.Take, for example, two family members working together in a company. Addressingeach other by their official titles and adheringto other office ritualscould serve to set a boundaryand define those situationsin which the two persons are allowed to disagree stronglyas belonging strictlyto the office setting, so that the impact of a conflict on their familial relationshipwill be mini- mized. Ritualforms, by limitingthe ways in which conflicts can be expressed, might also preventconflicts from becoming personalor total. Contraryto the belief that the Confucian esteem for harmony prevents a realistic treatmentof social conflicts, Confucius recommended that competition, and by extension disagreement and conflict, should be limitedto the necessaryand appropriate,and, most important,it should be carriedout according to ritual(Analects 3.7). Although it could degrade into mere legitimation,ritually structured conflict will not undermineharmony, and at times mighteven enhance it.

Law versusRitual

But does not this exaltationof ritualignore the fact that laws and rightsare required to protect the weak from the strong in human society, where conflicts are ineradi- cable? Even those willing to concede that Confucianismdoes not explicitly reject individualliberty and is not inherentlyauthoritarian are often skepticalof the possi- bility of makingroom for libertywithin Confuciansociety withoutsome institutional structureto protectliberty, which is seen as being constantlyunder threat from social and governmentaloppression. Such structuresusually include a certainkind of legal system. Defendersof Western liberaldemocracy, RonaldDworkin among them, in- sist that the rule of law is crucial to the protectionof individualliberty. With greater sensitivityto the importanceof community, laws could also be used to protectcommunities. However, legal protectionalone is unlikelyto be ade- quate in buildingcommunity. Indeed, if a society resortstoo much to the legal sys- tem to resolve its problems, law could be counterproductivefor community;such excess is of course not necessitated by the rule of law itself.15Litigation inclines people towardselfishness by requiringthem to think in termsof themselves as being

Sor-hoonTan 55 opposed to others, thus underminingtrust and reducingthe chances of harmonious association thereafter.Even when functioningwell, litigationoften focuses on prob- lems of economic or social distribution,material compensation, or retribution.A communityis not simply a group of people livingtogether to optimize their share of goods and rightsvis-a-vis other groups.An individualas a memberof a community thinks not in termsof "mine and others"' but in termsof "ours."A communitydoes not just fight for a share of the societal pie with other groups or individuals;it is capable of creatinggoods shared by its members. Communalgoods may requirelegal protectionin an environmentthat is hostile or potentially hostile. But, over a long period, the frequent use of laws to protect itself from a hostile environmentis self-destructivefor a community.A community musttransform its environmentinto one that is conducive to its own growthand the growth of other communities;a purely defensive response to a hostile environment will eventually underminethe quality of its own constitutiverelationships and per- vert communityties into somethingoppressive. The need to constantlyprotect itself will lead to the development of a siege mentalityof "us" versus "them,"or what RichardSennett has called "the ethos of the ghetto."16Suspicion and hostilityto- ward "outsiders"could foster an intolerance of differences internally.This would resultin relationsthat stifle individualcreativity and the libertyof the membersof a community. A key insight in the Analects is that laws alone, at least when they are purely punitive, cannot create or sustain community. In Confucianism,ritual is contrasted with punishmentsand, by implication,punitive laws.

The Mastersaid, "Leadthe people with administrativeinjunctions (zheng i) and keep them orderlywith penal law (xing ff) and they will avoid punishmentsbut be without a sense of shame. Lead them with excellence ( i) and keep them orderlythrough observingritual propriety (li t) and they will develop a sense of shame, and moreover, will orderthemselves." (Analects 2.3)

Confucian leadership is concerned with more than administering a fair system of distribution or umpiring conflicts. Exemplary leaders must combine personal accom- plishments with the achievement of community through their authoritative conduct (Analects 6.30). A Confucian community is achieved and sustained not through the sanctions and punishments of a legal system, however fair it might be, but through authoritativeleadership that brings about spontaneous order among its members. This does not mean that Confuciansmust totally reject the use of litigationand the rule of law. But the coercive of laws implied in the penalties imposed on transgressorsrenders laws inefficaciousin achieving harmony,and thereforeinade- quate in creatingcommunity. There is an unfortunatetendency to obfuscate or reduce the differencebetween ritual and laws in contemporary scholarship. While stressing that there is room for flexibility within any ideal Confucian ii, many scholars nevertheless treat it as being about "rules,"external constraints imposed on individuals'behavior for the sake of social harmony. Wm. Theodore de Bary considers Ii "a basic constitutional order"

56 Philosophy East & West and argues that "therewas a considerable overlap in the conceptions of 'rites'and 'laws' in Confucianusage."17 Acknowledging that used &, the modern translationfor "law," to designate "model institutionsof the sage kings"as well as the laws advocated by the Legalists,de Bary,focusing on Song-MingNeo-Confucian thought,adopts "law(s)"as the translationof fa in the Confuciancontext. The furtherback one goes in time, the more misleadingit is to view Chinese "fa" according to the modern concept of "law." Confucian fa, which could be consid- ered close to ritual,was not the tool of rationalbureaucracy or brutalrealpolitik; it comprised codes deeply embedded within the religious and ritualpractices of the society from which they emerged.18The fa that could be translatedas laws in the modernsense, with coercion implied in its enforcement,could only be the Legalistfa or somethingclose to it. Moreover,if we rememberthat the ruleris not "equal under the law" in Legalistthought, then we would be persuaded that pre-Qin Chinese thoughtactually had no concept of law, in the sense of "universalpropositions with either descriptiveor prescriptivenecessity."19 It is criticalto an adequate understandingof Confuciancommunity to maintain the difference between ritualand law. Ritualoperates throughtransformative influ- ence, law by coercive sanctions and punishments.Historically, social institutions that have been called li in traditionalChinese society were often degenerateforms that also worked through coercion. If Confucian ritual is to have contemporary meaning and use, we must move away from conceiving it in termsof coercive con- straints.Only in doing so can we see that a Confuciancommunity created and sus- tained by ritualis one in which its membersare free. Justas personalcultivation and communitycreation are mutuallyimplicated, so are communityand liberty. The difference between ritualand law reveals that when properlyconducted, ritual does not deprive its participantsof liberty through coercion. Despite later views that li "worksfrom the outside," the Analects challenges the characterization of ritualas external constraints.20People who were only concerned with externals exasperatedConfucius, who insistedthat ritualdid not merely have to do with "gifts of jade and silk" (Analects1 7.11). If one does not feel the appropriateemotion and adopt the appropriateattitude, there is no point in adheringto rituals,which become nothingbut empty formalities(Analects 3.4, 3.26, 17.21, 19.1). Tu Wei-mingargues that there is historicaland textualevidence to emphasize the dynamic process rather than the static structureof ritual.Ritual works only if the externalform and internal content are balanced.21Coerced performancedefeats the purpose and could never amount to genuine ritualpractice.

Ritualas Semiotic Structure

I have been discussing community as if it were self-evidentwhat it is, when there exists a huge literaturearguing about its definition. Liberalsoften complain that communitarianshave no clear definitionof "community."Sometimes, when liberals claim a concern about community,communitarians disparage the adequacy of their understandingof "community."It will not be possible to find a conception of com-

Sor-hoon Tan 57 munitythat will satisfyeveryone. But a working understandingis certainlyneeded. For this, I draw on 's understandingof community, which I consider particularlyappropriate to this discussion since, for Dewey, democracy "is the idea of communityitself."22

Thereis more than a verbaltie between common, communityand communication.Men live in a communityby virtueof the things which they have in common; and communi- cation is the way in which they come to possess things in common. (Democracyand Education)23

A community is a regulativeideal designatinga group of individualswho achieve shared goals and goods throughcommunication and other activities among them- selves and with others. Communicationis of course found not only in communities. In a community, communication not only enables joint undertakingsbut also achieves a sharingof emotions and ideas. A Deweyan communitysees its primary task as the realizationof communicationin the most profoundway possible.24Part of the difficultyof trying to distinguisha community from society or other social groups arises because the differencesare mostly qualitative.It is in the quality of communication,rather than in exclusionaryboundaries or oppressivehomogeneity, that we will find the commonalityof community. Anthropologistshave noted the centralityof communicationin ritual,and ritual figures prominentlyin culturalapproaches that are gaining influence in communi- cation studies today. Communicationinvolves transactionsusing signs. Semiotic structuresgive social processes, includingthose of community,continuity and sta- bility.25Confucian ritual is a semiotic structure.The early Chinese scriptfor li depicts a sacrificialvessel; it referredto religiousrituals practiced in ancient China. Rituals were attemptsto communicate with nature, with cosmic forces, with deities and ancestors, to bring satisfactoryoutcomes to joint human enterprises.As Clifford Geertz observed, albeit in a differentcultural context, religion is a social institution, worship a social activity, and faith a social force. Ancient Chinese religious rites were often symbolic reenactmentsof cooperative tasks of great import-for exam- ple, those related to the cultivation of crops or the waging of battles-in which participantsalso communicate with one another, acknowledgingtheir interdepen- dence, reaffirmingtheir mutualtrust and commitmentto shared goals. Accordingto the Zhongyong,ancestral worship clarifiesand reinforcesthe orderwithin the clan/ family-it rehearsessymbolically the attitudesthat various individualsshould adopt towardone anotheraccording to the way they are related.26 As the "magical"element loses its importance,or credibility,human communi- cation becomes more importantand ensures the persistence of ritual.Today, en- gaging in ancestor worship need not mean that one believes in the ability of dead ancestorsto influence our lives throughoccult means; the significance of the ritual can lie more in what it conveys about one's relationshipwith those who have gone before us, and those who will come later. The ritual honoring of dead ancestors plays an importantrole in the buildingof what Tu Wei-ming calls a fiduciarycom- munity. In a broadercontext, Bruce Lincolnbelieves that ritualis "an authoritative

58 Philosophy East & West mode of symbolic discourse and a powerful instrumentfor the evocation of those sentiments(affinity and estrangement)out of which society is constructed."27It plays an importantrole in sustaininghuman communities,and some see its loss as a criti- cal contributingfactor to various forms of social pathology and individualpsycho- logical malfunction.Some argue that ritualsare necessary and inevitable phenom- ena in any culture.28 Ritualshave established and maintainedthe Chinese social and political realm for thousands of years. "He who understandsthe ceremonial sacrifices to heaven and earth, and the several sacrificesto the ancestors, would find governinga king- dom as easy as looking into his palm."29Rituals facilitate . Angela Zito's study of the Grand Sacrificesduring the eighteenth century shows ritualas a tech- nique of imperial rule. By establishingthe emperor as the privileged exemplar of correct embodiment and perfect practice, the imperial court produced and at- tempted to control the meaning and value that extended to every corner of Chinese life. Such hegemonic attemptswere not new in Chinese history.They varied in their success and did not go uncontested.30Successful ritualhegemony is not a thing of the past; Huang Shaorong'sstudy of the CulturalRevolution reveals the importance of ritualsin understandingthe political communicationin the movement. Ritualas a key formof political communicationis relevantnot only to Chinese politics because of its unique Confucianpast; the concept has also been employed in, for example, contemporarystudies of Americanpresidential campaigns, among other things.31 The effectivenessof ritualas a technique of political control is due to the state's ability to control the semiotic structureof rituals,as well as to the pervasivenessof this structurein the daily life of the people. The significance of ritualgoes beyond the political, and its resultsare not limitedto the sinisterand oppressive.Within the ritualsemiotic structurelies rich possibilitiesfor personaland communal growth. In Confucianism,ritual comprises the ways of being humanthat are necessaryto social order. Contemporaryscholars like Rothenbuhler,without any reference to Confu- cianism, also argue that "ritualis necessary to humane living together."32Whether in premodernChina or modern , we find importantrituals such as rites of passage celebratingbirth, coming of age, marriage,and death;these marksignificant moments in human life, moments of transitionbetween key stages of the life cycle and between significantsocial territories.33These momentsof closure and beginning anew signify importantchanges in human relationships. The meaningof such momentsis constructedthrough communal participation, a sharing of ideas and emotions through ritual acts that create and strengthenthe relationshipsthat constitute community. The "coming of age" ritualembodies an acknowledgmenton everyone's partof a key development in a person'srelationship to various others and her position in the community-which implies changes in expectationsand demandson her futureconduct and in what she in turnmay expect and demand from others. Funeralrituals embody the meaning of the life and death of the departed for the mourners.A funeral celebrates and honors the work and achievement of the departed;it expresses the grief of the living and sometimes their commitmentto the continuityof the words and deeds of the dead.34

Sor-hoonTan 59 Rituals-for example, those regardingdress, greetings,and behavioron various social occasions-also facilitateeveryday interactions.Introducing a Royal Society of Londondiscussion on the "Ritualizationof Behaviorin Animalsand Man,"Julian Huxley used "ritualization"to denote the "adaptiveformalization and canalization of motivatedhuman activities so as to secure more effective communicatory('sig- naling')function, reductionof intra-groupdamage, or better intra-groupbonding." Ritual is a way of mobilizing individuals"as self-regulatingparticipants in social encounters."As an importantpart of human interaction,relevant across cultures, ritualhas been defined as conventional acts of display throughwhich one or more participantscommunicate informationconcerning themselves.35As a generic kind of social action, ritualis neitherarchaic nor exclusively Chinese. HerbertFingarette argues that although external forms vary from culture to culture and generationto generation,there remains a vast area of human experience wherein interactionis ritual:promises, commitments,excuses, pleas, compliments, pacts. Studyingritual as a form of communication,Rothenbuhler goes so far as to claim that ritualis an aspect or element of all social action.36 Some psychologicalstudies indicatethat ritualacts play a criticalrole in human development. Earlyinfant learning and the subsequentability to learn may depend on the communicationthat takes place in what EricErikson calls "the daily ritualsof greeting and nurturance"between infant and caregiver. Victor Turnerand Erving Goffmanhave analyzed various ritualelements in the everyday interactionof con- temporarysocieties.37 The relevance of the concept of ritualto studies of modern societies and contemporaryexperience has been gaining greateracceptance among sociologists, social psychologists,and others. Anthony Giddens sees it as part of a wider sociological interestin symbolic formsrooted in the concern in philosophical, linguistic,and anthropologicalstudies with problemsof meaning.38 In rituals,the meanings and values shared by the communityare embodied in certain forms of speech and action and the use of certain kinds of objects. As the embodimentof shared meaningsand values of specific occasions within the context of the relationshipsin which the participantsstand to each other in theiroverlapping social networks,ritual guides action so that bettercoordination can be achieved with less effortthan would be possible if one had to search anew for the appropriateway of interactingin every situation.Ritual is the outcome of, and in turnit contributesto, the strivingto make stabilityof meaning prevailover the instabilityof events in hu- man interactions.It does more than facilitate interaction;it structuresthe very way we make sense of our world and assign meanings and values to various entities, phenomena,and relationships.According to Fingarette,"we learnand practicethe li of our culture not because we find it to be right,but by virtueof its defining for us what we are to value as right."39 Any set of ritualsconstituting a community'stotal semiotic structure,exclusive and comprehensive,would imply a single valid perspectiveand a closed notion of humanperfection, which seems to leave littleroom for creativityand individuality.40 While we should not jump to the conclusion that this automaticallyimplies an in- tolerance of diversitythat will lead to some form of totalitariansociety, such a dan-

60 PhilosophyEast & West ger is undeniable. Should any individualor group succeed in imposing its semiotic structureon others, it would achieve hegemonic control over the latter'ssense of realityand value. Indoctrination,"brainwashing," results in what appears as "vol- untary"compliance, but is in fact the most insidiousdestruction of individualliberty. Such betrayalsof libertyare also detrimentalto community.We could criticize them within the Confucianritual context if we understoodthat ritualat its best is an artisticperformance. The perversionsof imposed practices become apparentwhen we compare them with the exemplary performances.The difference between the harmonyof a communitycreated by ritualand the indoctrinatedhomogeneity of a totalitariansociety lies in the flexibilityand creativityindividuals are able to exercise within the shared semiotic structures.Confucianism is not restrictedto a totalistic, closed conception of its ideal and a rigid semiotic structureof ritualgrounding the ideal. The structureshould be open and dynamic, leaving room for creativityand liberty.To understandbetter how this is possible, we need to examine more closely the artisticdimensions of ritualpractice. I do not deny that art can be used to serve the political ends of domination.All semiotic structuresare vulnerableto manipulationto determinethe way people who use them understand,appraise, prescribe, and consequently act.41 Nor is this the occasion to argue that such uses of art betrayartistic ideals. Insteadof arguingthat liberationis essential to any artisticendeavor, this essay is makinga weaker claim that, as an artisticendeavor, ritualcan liberateindividuals even while it harmonizes their relationsfor community.This essay limits itself to discussing how ritualcould balance libertyand community ratherthan argue that it invariablydoes so. One's semiotic structuresmay bind one with the most powerfulchains that human beings have been able to fashion, or may place in one's hands the most powerful of all instrumentsfor individualliberation and communal reconstruction.42Whether ritual achieves the balance between libertyand community in any specific case will de- pend largelyon what individualsdo as potentialmembers of communities.

Ritualas Art

Confucian ritual is closely associated with poetry and music. In Confucian educa- tion, exemplarycommunication is inspiredby the Songs, establishedthrough ritual and consummated in music (Analects8.8). Confuciusadmonished his son, "Ifyou do not studythe Songs, you will be at a loss as to what to say" (Analects16.13). Skill in quoting the Songs (Shi |s", sometimes translatedas the Odes) is a form of ritual mastery.Quoting poetry or other classical works to express one's sentiments has been a featureof Chinese banquet ritualssince the WarringStates period.43 Appro- priate quotation involves the use of expressive and presentationalforms the mean- ings of which have been shaped by previous usage, passed from generationto gen- eration as partof the culturallegacy. Yet it is not without room for creativity:these forms, when used appropriatelyin new situations,have had to accommodate new meanings that enrich the present content of the forms without erasing all previous

Sor-hoonTan 61 contents. In the same way, a musical composition is richerfor having been played by differentmaster musicians without losing its identity. The close association of ritualwith poetry and music is furtherelaborated by Eno'scharacterization of early Confuciansas "mastersof dance," employing dance as a guiding metaphorin his inspiringstudy of early Confucianism.Dance is music and poetry in motion. "Dance, as an expressive form of thinking,sensing, feeling and moving, which may reflect or influence the individualand the society," is an extremelyappropriate metaphor for ritualpractice.44 It is the art form that provides the best parallel to ritual both in its multisensorymodalities, which enable it to engage participantsat many levels of experience, and in the centralityof movement in its performance.Mencius describes moral achievement in terms of an unstop- pable experience of joy that expresses itself in dance (Mencius4A27). Book 10 of the Analectsdescribes in loving detail the Master'sgestures, postures, bodily move- ments,and facial expressions.In ritualpractice, the body and its partsare vehicles of meaning, embodimentsof value. Throughperformances that fully engage the vari- ous dimensions of participants'personalities, ritual reconstructssituations to effect affective and cognitive transformationsin the relationships(between differentpar- ticipantsas well as between participantsand audience) that constituteboth persons and community. We could better understandthe differenceasserted earlier between indoctrina- tion and ritual by considering the distinction between dancing mechanically (as even animals can be trainedto do throughoperant conditioning) and dancing artis- tically, which requiresskills in symbolization,emotional expression, agility of move- ment, and the ability to use syntacticallynovel forms without being trained in the phrasesof that form. Ifwe take the syntax of a dance "language"as "a finite system of conventions describing how the realm of semantic interpretationis related to movementrealization ... new sequences of movementand gesturenever previously encounteredmay (nevertheless)be created and understoodby the audience."45Rit- ual, like dance, can and should be an open, productivesemiotic system that can accommodateas well as create new meanings. The potential for innovation in ritual is recognized in the Analects, notwith- standing the popularity of conservative readings. Confucius did not reject all changes in ritual (Analects 9.3). He followed the rituals of the Zhou, who had learnedand improvedon the practicesof earlierdynasties (Analects 3.14). Forhim, a teacher's work is not merely transmittinga mummifiedpast to futuregenerations; the teacher must revitalizethe past so that it is embodied in the differentexperience of the present(Analects 2.1 1). Confucius'characterization of himselfas a transmitter ratherthan a creator(shu er bu zuo 4A1idTl) attests more to his modesty than to a denial of creativity.Confucian sagehood is closely associatedwith creativity(zuo {) in the :"One who creates is called sagely; one who transmitsis called perspicacious.A perspicacioussage means one who transmitsand creates."46Given that Confuciusrepeatedly denied being a sage, it is not surprisingthat he should also consider himselffalling short of creativity.We need not be pessimisticor elitistabout the humancapacity for creativity.

62 Philosophy East & West As an artistic performance, ritual requires a creative projection of unique per- sonality and a personal investment of meaning, which paradoxically can dissolve personal boundaries, creating altered states of consciousness often described as "self-transcendence," wherein a soaring, oceanic sense of oneness with others, with the universe, occurs. Eno compares the ritual experience of the Great Oneness (taiyi X--) with the modern psychological analysis of skill performance, where a similar combination of perfect self-mastery and self-transcendence is manifest.47 A merging of liberation and interpersonal harmony, which is what we are searching for in pro- posing that ritual could balance liberty and community, is also found in Peter Her- shock's description of improvised music, as in the Double Quartet's "Free Jazz":

We are not makingmusic, but are being continuouslyremade, rebornby it. Losingour boundaries,slipping into incandescent concourse which is the essence of musical im- provisation,we no longer anticipateor follow our fellow musiciansbut are released into an unmitigatedoneness in which anythingcan occur even though absolutely nothing is lacking.48

It is in the artistic dimension of ritual that we find the improvement of the quality of relationships and the concomitant refinement of sensibilities, the sharpening of per- ceptions and judgment, that brings together personal and communal achievement. The balance of liberty and community achieved in consummatory ritual perfor- mances has an effect beyond these occasions. The participants are more likely on future occasions to achieve a similar balance with one another and, more difficult but still possible, with others. Ritual forms that have proved successful previously in achieving such balance could work for different groups of participants and in- crease their chances of success compared with situations without a similar semiotic structure.

Virtuosic Liberty in Confucian Community

What kind of liberty is being balanced with community in this discussion of the artistic dimension of ritual? To get a clearer picture of Confucian liberty, I shall focus on the process of personal cultivation, which is critical to Confucian personal- communal realization. We find an account of the process in relation to Confucius in the Analects:

The Mastersaid: "Fromfifteen, my heart-and-mindwas set upon learning;from thirtyI took my stance; fromforty I was no longerdoubtful; from fifty I realizedthe propensities of ;from sixty my ear was attuned;from seventy, I could give my heart-and-mindfree rein withoutoverstepping the boundaries.(Analects 2.4)

Personal cultivation begins with an act of liberty: "setting one's heart-and-mind" translates "," which has also been rendered into "will" or "purpose."49 Learning, contrary to popular misunderstanding, is not just rote learning in Confucian educa-

Sor-hoon Tan 63 tion. The Analectsstresses the need to combine reflection,thinking (), with learning (Analects2.15). A studentmust think for herself,going beyond what her teachertells her. Confucius requiresthat a student, "if shown one corner, returnwith the other three"(Analects 7.8). One corner is insufficientto determinethe other three without also stipulatingthe size of the square.A studentcould give a good responsethat the teacher never even considered. Learninginvolves more than uncreativefollowing or copying. At the risk of overinterpreting,this is a suggestive aspect of Confucius' metaphorof teaching-learning. Takingone's stance requiresorienting oneself to the restof the world; it involves findingor creatinga properplace for oneself in a wider, emergingscheme of things. This is done through ritual,with its combination of constraintin the form of self- discipline and creativityin endowing each act with personalsignificance.50 Having a sense of one's place in a wider scheme of things means greatercoherence in one's experience; one can make bettersense of what is happeningand therebyfind one's way forwardwithout being "in doubt." "Realizingthe propensitiesof tian" is both understandingour social and naturalenvironment on an extensive scale and being able to "fit"in, not passively,but by actively interactingwith it. The pictureof liberty emerging is one of smooth interactionwith one's environment.One becomes more free, more powerful,when obstructionsdecrease or are more easily dissolved in the communicativeprocesses between oneself and the rest of the world. Personal-communalcultivation achieves virtuosityin communication, in inter- acting with one's environment.Hence, Confucius'"ear was attuned"from sixty. The Shuowen lexicon gives the meaning of sheng S as "to communicate"(tong L_).51 The "sage" is associated with virtuosityin hearingand speaking (communication). The "ear" (er 4) component associates the sage with "hearing"(ting ?) and "keenness of hearing"(cong 0). Keenness of hearing, indicating a more general sensitivity,is associated with intelligence (congmingIM in modern Mandarin).To be intelligent,to be good at solving problems, interactingbetter with the environ- ment, is to be keen of hearing(sensitive) and clear-sighted(perceptive). This virtu- osity is the libertyto achieve one's goals and to have goals that are more "in tune" with our environment.The goals are "in tune" througha process of mutual rather than one-sided adjustment.A sage attunes himselfto the world by sometimes "tun- ing" the world and sometimes "tuning"himself. Confucius, "from seventy, followed what his heart-and-minddesired without oversteppingthe boundaries."This is the highestlevel of virtuosicliberty. It is greater in scope and finer in qualitythan the libertyof "settinghis heart-and-mindon learn- ing." Following one's desires without oversteppingthe boundaries is a situation where masteryof skills transcendsrules without lapsing into arbitrariness;it is not about the mechanical compliance resultingfrom a complete "internalization"of externallyimposed rules. Confucius'freedom is not that of a man who grew to love his chains-a case of "internalizing"coercive external constraints.Internalization throughconditioning results in rigid behavior. In situationsthat do not map exactly onto the landscape in which conditioninghas taken place, the judgmentof what is

64 Philosophy East & West appropriateis impaired, and response lacks efficacy. Virtuosic liberty may begin with the application of rules. If the application requiresa secondary set of rules of application,one would be trappedin an infiniteregress. The appropriateapplication of rules in practice is an art that has to be masteredexperientially. One does not overstepthe boundariesat the stage that Confuciuswas supposed to have achieved at seventy not just because successful personal-communalcultivation has ensured that one's desires are all ethical, but also because one's improvedjudgment of where the boundaries are in any situation is also superior to others. The sage's ethical leadershipbecomes especially importantin new situations.A sage sets the ethical standardsby leading the way in showing others where these boundariesare. One may force anotherto follow a way, but she cannot be coerced into "real- izing (zhi $u) it" (Analects8.9), which requiresintegrating the way with one's expe- rience throughlearning and reflecting,and developing the understandingand judg- ment to respond appropriatelyto any situation. "Becoming authoritativein one's conduct [i.e., personal-communalcultivation] is self-originating,how could it origi- nate with others?"(Analects 12.1). It is not surprisingthat Dongsunand others identified zide -i, "getting it in, by, and for oneself," as the closest Confucian equivalent of "liberty."52As Mencius described the process, "an exemplaryperson steeps himself in the way because he wishes to attainit in himself.When he attainsit in himself, he will be at ease in it; when he is at ease in it, he can draw deeply upon it;when he can draw deeply upon it, he finds its source whereverhe turns."53When the way is in oneself, it is constantly renewed, for it flows from, and with, one's experience; it becomes one's experience, made more coherent and more meaning- ful throughcultivating oneself. While personalcultivation cannot be accomplished in isolation,the contribution of othersmust come in the formof efficaciouscommunication. Any attemptto "force people to be free" or to determine through coercion or indoctrinationa person's semiotic structuresand consequent behaviorwould be self-defeatingas a means to liberty.We may illustratethis with Mencius'story of the man fromSong "who pulled at his rice plants because he was worried about their failure to grow."54The man thought he was "helping the rice plants grow" when, in fact, he was killingthem. Plantssometimes grow betterwith human interference-through wateringwhen rain is insufficient,digging trenches to drain the soil when rain is too abundant,fertiliz- ing, et cetera-but pulling at them is not one of the ways to help them grow. Others may help us cultivate ourselves-by deliberatelyteaching us, unintention- ally providinga model or an example of what not to do, providingvarious needed economic and social conditions, challenging our views, criticizing our actions- but coercion and indoctrinationwill not help us become cultivated. It is one's own efforts and success in integrating learning with reflection, thereby improving both sensitivityand judgment, that make the achievement a realizationof oneself ratherthan the makingof an automatonfollowing good ordersefficiently. It is only when cultivated relationalindividuals ritually communicate and participatein joint endeavors with virtuosicliberty that there is Confuciancommunity.

Sor-hoonTan 65 Notes

A shorterversion of this article was presentedas a paper at the 2001 Beijing Inter- nationalConference on ,organized by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Philosophy Summer School in China, and published in Mandarinunder the title, "Libertyversus Community:A Confucian Perspectiveon Democracy's Dilemma," in a volume of selected conference papers (Beijing:Chi- nese Academyof Social Science Press,2003). This revisedarticle has benefitedfrom the commentsof the PEWreviewers and my colleagues at the NationalUniversity of Singapore.Any remainingerrors and omissions are solely my responsibility. 1 - Lu Xun, Diary of a Madmanand OtherStories, trans. William A. Lyell(Hono- lulu: Universityof Hawai'i Press,1990), p. 32. 2 - JonathanBarnes, The Complete Worksof (Princeton: Princeton Uni- versityPress, 1984), 1310a28-35. 3 - Michael Sandel, Liberalismand the Limitsof (New York:Cambridge UniversityPress, 1982); Sandel, Democracy and Its Discontents (Cambridge: HarvardUniversity Press, 1996), p. 3. 4 - ImmanuelKant, "Idea for a UniversalHistory with a CosmopolitanPurpose," in Kant:Political Writings,ed. Hans Reiss, 2d ed. (New York:Cambridge Uni- versityPress, 1991), p. 44. 5 - On the this debate, see C. F. Delaney, ed., The Liberalism- Debate (Lanham:Rowman and Littlefield,1994); Amy Gutmann,"Communi- tarianCritics of Liberalism,"Philosophy and PublicAffairs 14 (1985): 308-322; , "CommunitarianCritics of Liberalism,"Political Theory18 (1990): 6-23. 6 - LucianPye, TheState and the Individual:An Overview Interpretation(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996); W.J.F.Jenner, The Tyrannyof History:The Roots of China'sCrisis (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1992). 7- Fei Xiaotong, From the Soil (Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1992); Ch'i T'ung-tsu,Law and Society In TraditionalChina (La Haye: Mouton and Co., 1961). 8- Eric Rothenbuhler,Ritual Communication-From EverydayConversation to MediatedCeremony (London: Sage, 1998), p. 27. 9 - RobertEno, TheConfucian Creation of Heaven:Philosophy and The Defense of RitualMastery (Albany: State Universityof New York Press, 1990), p. 7; Tu Wei-ming, "Jenas a Metaphor,"in Tu, Confucian Thought:Selfhood as Cre- ative Transformation(Albany: State Universityof New YorkPress, 1985), p. 83. 10 - Fora view of Confucianismas implyingthis form of oppressive "holism,"see Donald Munro, Individualismand Holism: Studies in Confucian and Taoist Values(Ann Arbor: University of MichiganPress, 1985).

66 PhilosophyEast & West 11 - David Hall and RogerAmes, Thinkingfrom the Han (Albany:State University of New YorkPress, 1998), chap. 2. 12 - Tu Wei-ming, Humanity and Self-Cultivation(Berkeley: Asian Humanities Press, 1979), p. 18. 13 - Analects 12.1, in Roger Ames and Henry Rosemont, The Analects of Confucius: A Philosophical Translation(New York: Ballantine, 1998). 14- Many consider Confucianismincapable of dealing adequately with conflicts (AndrewNathan, Chinese Democracy [Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1986]). 15 - But some consider the rule of law more committed to individualliberty than democracy, and it is at best ambiguousabout the value of community;at worst it "sustainselitist politics, with its impoverishedsense of community"(Allan Hutchinsonand PatrickMonahan, "Democracyand the Rule of Law,"in The Rule of Law: Ideal or [Toronto: Carswells, 1987], p. 111). 16 - RichardSennett, The Fallof Public Man (New York:Knopf, 1977), p. 308. 17 - Wm. Theodorede Bary,Asian Valuesand Human (Cambridge: Harvard UniversityPress, 1998), pp. 30-32. 18 - Mark Lewis, Writing and Authority in Early China (Albany: State University of New YorkPress, 1999), p. 18. 19 - Chad Hansen, "Fa(Standards: Laws) and MeaningChanges in Chinese Philos- ophy," Philosophy East and West 44 (3) (July 1994): 459. 20 - Liji 19.1/99/10, in D. C. Lau and Chen Fong Ching, A Concordance to the Li i (Hong Kong:Commercial Press, 1992). 21 - Tu Wei-ming, Humanity and Self-Cultivation, p. 25; Sor-hoon Tan, Confucian Democracy: A Deweyan Reconstruction (Albany: State University of New York Press,2003). 22 - John Dewey, The LaterWorks 1925-1953 (Carbondale:Southern Illinois Uni- versityPress, 1991), vol. 2, p. 328. 23- John Dewey, The Middle Works 1899-1924 (Carbondale:Southern Illinois UniversityPress, 1985), vol. 9, p. 7. 24 - Dewey, The LaterWorks, 13:176; Thomas Alexander,"John Dewey and the Roots of Democratic Imagination," in Recovering Pragmatism's Voice-The Classical Tradition, Rorty, and the Philosophy of Communication, ed. Leonore Langsdorfand Andrew Smith (Albany:State Universityof New York Press, 1995), pp. 131-154. 25 - Accordingto Saussure,a sign is a vehicle (signifier)carrying a meaning (signi- fied) (FerdinandSaussure, Cours de linguistiquegenerale [Paris:Payot, 1916]). Peircedefines a sign as "somethingwhich standsto somebody for somethingin

Sor-hoonTan 67 some respect or capacity" (CharlesS. Peirce, Collected Papers [Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-1958], vol. 2, p. 228). 26 - Liji 32.13/144/17. 27 - BruceLincoln, Discourse and the Constructionof Society: ComparativeStudies of Myth, Ritualand Classification(New York:Oxford UniversityPress, 1989), p. 53. 28 - Roy Rappaport,"Ritual, Society and Cybernetics,"American Anthropologist 73 (1) (1971); CliffordGeertz, The Interpretationof Cultures(New York: Basic Books, 1973), pp. 92-93; Louise CarusMahdi et al., Crossroads-The Quest for ContemporaryRites of Passage (Chicago: Open Court, 1996); Eva Hunt, Ceremonies of Confrontationand Submission: The Symbolic Dimension of Indian-MexicanPolitical Interaction (Assen: Van Gorcumand Comp, 1977). 29 - Liji32.13/144/21 -22; author'stranslation. 30 - Angela Zito, Of Body and Brush-Grand Sacrifice as Text/Performancein EighteenthCentury China (Chicago: Universityof Chicago Press, 1997); cf. Ron-GueyChu, "Ritesand Rightsin Ming China," in Confucianismand Hu- man Rights,ed. Tu Wei-ming and Wm. Theodorede Bary(New York:Colum- bia University Press, 1998), pp. 169-1 78. 31 - Huang Shaorong, "Ritual,Culture and Communication-Deification of in China's CulturalRevolution Movement," in Politics, Communica- tion and Culture,ed. Alberto Gonzalez and Dolores Tanno (London:Sage, 1997), pp. 122-140; Martin Whyte, Small Groups and Political Rituals in China (Berkeley:University of CaliforniaPress, 1973); W. L. Bennett, "Myth, Ritualand Political Control,"Journal of Communication30 (4) (1980): 166- 179.

32 - Rothenbuhler,Ritual Communication, p. 129. 33 - VictorTurner suggests that all ritualsare ritesof passage;see his FromRitual to Theatre:The Human Seriousnessof Play (New York:Performing Arts Journal Publications,1982), p. 24. See also David Parkin,"Ritual as SpatialDirection and Bodily Division,"in UnderstandingRituals, ed. Daniel de Coppet (London: Routledge,1992). On ritesof passage in other culturesand modernsociety see, among others, Mahdi et al., Crossroads;Arnold van Gennep, Rites of Passage (Chicago:University of Chicago Press, 1960); BarbaraMyerhoff, Rites of Pas- sage: Process and Paradox(Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1982). 34 - On 'sview of the mourningand sacrificialrites, see A. S. Cua, "Dimen- sions of Li (Propriety):Reflections on an Aspect of Hsun Tzu's Ethics,"Philos- ophy Eastand West 29 (4) (October 1979): 387-388. On the importanceof continuing one's parents'works according to the Confucian view of filiality, see Tu Wei-ming, Confucianismin an HistoricalPerspective (Singapore: Insti- tute of EastAsian Philosophy,1989), p. 41.

68 PhilosophyEast & West 35 - Julian Huxley, "Introductionto a Discussion on Ritualizationin Animals and Man," Philosophical Transactionsof the Royal Society of London, series B, Biological Sciences 251 (772) (1966): 258; Erving Goffman, Interaction Ritual (Chicago: Aldine Publishing, 1967), pp. 44, 54; Rappaport,"Ritual, Society and Cybernetics,"p. 63; EdmundLeach, PoliticalSystems of HighlandBurma (Boston:Beacon Press, 1954), p. 236. 36 - HerbertFingarette, Confucius-The Secularas Sacred (New York:Harper and Row, 1972), pp. 9-14; Rothenbuhler,Ritual Communication. 37- EricErikson, The Development of Ritualization(Boston: Beacon Press, 1968), p. 713; Goffman,Interaction Ritual; Victor Turner, The Ritual Process (Chicago: Aldine, 1969); and Turner,Dramas, Fields and Metaphors:Symbolic Action in HumanSociety (Ithaca:Cornell UniversityPress, 1974). 38 - AnthonyGiddens, New Rules of Sociological Method(New York:Basic Books, 1976). A quick scan of journalarticles in variousfields finds topics such as "Art and Ritualas Method of Social Controland Planning"(Ethics); "Objectivity as StrategicRitual: An Examinationof Newsmen's Notion of Objectivity"(Ameri- can Journal of Sociology); "Ritualas a Mechanism for Urban Adaptation" (Man);"Topical Talk, Ritualand Social Organizationof Relationships"(Social Psychology Quarterly); "Ritual in Family Living" (American Sociological Re- view); "Childrenand Civility:Ceremonial Deviance and Acquisitionof Ritual Competence" (Social Psychology Quarterly);"The Languageand Ritualof So- cialization:Birthday Parties in a KindergartenContext" (Man). For a discussion of the methodological issues of such studies, see Joseph Gusfield and Jerzy Michalowicz, "SecularSymbolism: Studies of Ritual,Ceremony, and the Sym- bolic Order in ModernLife," Annual Sociology Review 10 (1984): 41 7-435. 39 - HerbertFingarette, "Reason, Spontaneity, and the Li-A ConfucianCritique of Graham'sSolution to the Problemof Fact and Value," in Chinese Textsand Philosophical Contexts-Essays dedicated to A. C. Graham,ed. Henry Rose- mont, Jr.(Chicago: Open Court,1991), p. 218. 40 - Eno, The Confucian Creation of Heaven, pp. 64-75. 41 - Charles William Morris,Signs, Languageand Behavior(New York:Prentice- Hall, 1946), p. 208. 42 - Ibid., p. 244. 43 - Eno, The Confucian Creationof Heaven, pp. 34, 56. Many instances of this ritualare described in the Zuo Zhuan, for example "Duke Zhao 16th year," in Yang Bojun, Annotated Zuo Commentaries on the (Beijing:Zhonghua, 1990), vol. 4, pp. 1380-1381. 44 - Judith Hanna, To Dance is Human-A Theory of Nonverbal Communication (Austin:University of Texas Press, 1979), p. 5. Hanna defined dance as "hu- man behavior composed, from the dancer's perspective,of (1) purposeful,(2)

Sor-hoon Tan 69 intentionallyrhythmical, and (3) [a] culturallypatterned sequence of (4a) the body movements (4b) other than ordinary motor activities, (4c) the motion having inherentand artisticvalue." 45 - Ibid., pp. 34-35. 46 - Liji 19.3/99/21. For more discussion of the association between the sage and creativity in early texts, see David Hall and Roger Ames, Thinking Through Confucius(Albany: State Universityof New YorkPress, 1987), p. 259. 47 - Hanna, To Dance is Human,p. 133; Eno, The ConfucianCreation of Heaven, p. 179. 48- Peter Hershock, LiberatingIntimacy (Albany: State Universityof New York Press, 1996), p. 76. 49 - Thereare some problemswith treatingzhi as a faculty, but as an activity,even if it is not exactly equivalent to choosing and willing, it overlaps with the activitiesthat fall underthese Westerndescriptions. 50 - Forthe link between "takinga stance (li)"with ritualpractice, see Analects8.8, 16.13, 20.3. Literally,how one stands in any ritualperformance is also always a criticalfactor of its excellence. 51 - Xu Shen, AnnotatedShouwen jiezi (Taipei:Yiwen, 1966), p. 598, 12A: 17a. 52 - Zhang Dongsun, RationalNature and Democracy(Taipei: Dragon Gate, 1946), p. 118; Wm. Theodore de Bary, The LiberalTradition in China (Hong Kong: Chinese UniversityPress, 1983); and de Bary,Learning for Oneself(New York: Columbia UniversityPress, 1991). For a more recent discussion of and Confucianism,see Joseph Chan, "MoralAutonomy, Civil ,and Confucianism,"Philosophy East and West52 (3) (April2002): 281-310. 53 - Mencius 4B14; translationadapted from D. C. Lau,Mencius (London:Penguin Books, 1970), p. 130. 54 - Mencius 2A2; D. C. Lau,Mencius, p. 78.

70 PhilosophyEast & West