Confucianism and Human Rights

Australia China Institute for Arts and Culture, Western Sydney University

Confucianism and Human Rights
Li Yong

3:30pm – 5pm Wednesday 19 July 2017
Building / Room 3.G.54, Western Sydney University Bankstown Campus

FREE. Registration Essential. Please RSVP by 16 July.

More information and registration:
https://www.westernsydney.edu.au/aciac/events/aciac_public_talk_confucianism_and_human_rights

There are different camps on the issue whether Confucianism is compatible with the idea of human rights. The first group claims that fundamentalism of human rights is wrong. Confucianism is not compatible with human rights but provides an alternative to build a better society. The second group claims that fundamentalism of human rights is correct. Confucianism is not compatible with human rights. Countries with strong Confucian traditions, such as China, should endorse the idea of human rights and its related background theory. The third group claims that fundamentalism of human rights is wrong. Confucianism is not only compatible with human rights but also provides an alternative foundation for human rights. In this talk which is jointly hosted by Australia-China Institute for Arts and Culture and the Department of Philosophy of the School of Humanities and Communication Arts at Western Sydney University, Associate Professor Yong Li argues that Confucianism not only provides an alternative foundation for human rights but also avoids the traditional challenges against the autonomy based idea of human rights: the rights holder problem and the incompleteness problem.

Yong Li, (PhD, Saint Louis University), is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Wuhan University, China. His primary interests are on issues in moral philosophy. He also does comparative study on Chinese Philosophy. He serves as the book review editor for Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy and co-editor of Routledge Studies in Contemporary Chinese Philosophy series.