“Legitimate Authority” in the Chinese Tradition: Ethics-Politics
Abstract: Max Weber proposed three types of legitimate authority: charismatic, traditional and rational-legal. Roughly at the same time, the Chinese scholar Liang Qichao, fully aware of the strong link between ethics and politics in ancient China, put forward the concept of “ethics-politics”, which launched a major debate. None of Weber’s three types of legitimate authority is applicable to the ancient Chinese model of “ethics-politics”, and “ethics-politics” should be considered and explored as a fourth type of legitimate authority. This article gives an outline of the historical origins of “ethics-politics” as well as the principles that gave rise to the concept. Then it cites pre-Qin Confucianism, particularly the thoughts of Confucius, Mencius, and Xunzi, to exemplify the legitimate authority of “ethics-politics” from five aspects: (1) inwardly being a sage and outwardly being a king; (2) rule of the man of virtue, viz. “to govern by virtue” and “rule by rites” or “rule of rites”; (3) benevolence as the core value; (4) everyone should become good as the goal of government; (5) Heaven/Tian as the supreme divinity.
- Location
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Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
- Extent
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Online-Ressource
- Language
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Englisch
- Bibliographic citation
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“Legitimate Authority” in the Chinese Tradition: Ethics-Politics ; volume:1 ; number:1 ; year:2022 ; pages:81-95 ; extent:15
International Confucian studies ; 1, Heft 1 (2022), 81-95 (gesamt 15)
- Creator
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Du, Lun
- DOI
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10.1515/icos-2022-2010
- URN
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urn:nbn:de:101:1-2022090814042775316282
- Rights
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Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
- Last update
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15.08.2025, 7:23 AM CEST
Data provider
Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. If you have any questions about the object, please contact the data provider.
Associated
- Du, Lun
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