Publication Type

Journal Article

Version

publishedVersion

Publication Date

10-2020

Abstract

While scholars often portray Chinese political thought and tradition as standing in opposition to Western notions of political liberalism, little consideration has been given to compatibility between liberalism and Daoism, a prominent religion and long-standing alternative school of thought among Chinese peoples. Addressing this gap in the literature, this study in comparative political thought compares Laozi’s Dao De Jing with John Stuart Mill’s On Liberty to illustrate certain core political ideas in the Dao De Jing and their treatment in Mill’s landmark text on political liberalism. Although the two texts diverge in terms of advocacy of popular representation, public contestation, and legal rights, both reject authoritarianism, uniformity, patriarchy, censorship, harm, violence, and wastefulness. A reasonable interpretation of these affinities is that a unique, indigenous, and non-Western model of liberalism existed in China via Laozi’s thought for centuries before the advent of modern Western liberalism.

Keywords

China, comparative political thought, Daoism, liberalism, John Stuart Mill

Discipline

Asian Studies | Ethics and Political Philosophy | Political Science

Research Areas

Political Science

Publication

Polity

Volume

52

Issue

4

First Page

551

Last Page

583

ISSN

0032-3497

Identifier

10.1086/710461

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Embargo Period

5-16-2021

Copyright Owner and License

Publisher

Additional URL

https://doi.org/10.1086/710461

Download

Share

COinS