Moral Social Order and the Ideal Ruler, the Sage-King

Abstract

This chapter examines Confucius’s ideas relevant to the main argument of the book: specifically, how his theory of sensual austerity, moral leadership, and good governance are interrelated, and how the Confucian ideal of the sage-king facilitates this relationship. Of particular concern is how Confucius and later Confucian thought developed this theme, and how Confucius and subsequent thinkers attempted to implement it in political life. In develo** its argument, the chapter draws mainly from the Confucian Analects and available secondary literature. After focusing briefly on the life and time of Confucius and Confucianism(s) evolution from the ancient to modern periods, the chapter examines the Confucian worldview, and in this context describes how the Confucian theory of moral self-cultivation and its link to moral leadership and good governance guided and are still guiding Chinese history and politics. It explains how, in Confucian psycho-social theory, legal principles play a secondary role to moral principles in building a harmonious society, and that the Confucian ruler or political leader is a moral exemplar rather than an authoritarian leader. In this context, the chapter further elaborates on the relationship between sensual austerity and moral leadership, and how the Confucian leader as a moral exemplar represents the ideal archetype of this relationship.