China Keywords: New Confucianism

Eric Hendriks talks with Daniel A. Bell

Video of the sixth webinar in the Telos-Paul Piccone Institute's “China Keywords” series is now available and can be viewed here.

In this webinar, TPPI’s Eric Hendriks talks with philosopher Daniel A. Bell about the topic of New Confucianism (新儒家). Among Western audiences, Bell is best known as a critic of liberalism. Still, he is also a critic of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), specifically of its legalist and Leninist legacies. What sets him apart from the typical Western critic is skin in the game, as he writes from within China, with nuance and empathy for China’s modern challenges and an understanding of the intellectual alternatives within Chinese tradition. In Bell’s words: “I’m a critic of the CCP, but I also see positive things to build on and I do not favor overthrowing the whole system.”

A prominent advocate of Confucian political meritocracy as an alternative to Western liberal democracy and Marxism-Leninism, Bell serves as the Chair of Political Theory at the University of Hong Kong’s Faculty of Law. Previously, he was the Dean of the School of Political Science at Shandong University and a professor of philosophy at Tsinghua University. His books include The Dean of Shandong (2023), Just Hierarchy (co-authored with Wang Pei, 2021), The China Model (2015), and China’s New Confucianism (2008), all published by Princeton University Press.

Moderating the webinar is Dutch sociologist Eric Hendriks, the director of TPPI's China Initiative, streaming live from Budapest, where he is a Danube Institute fellow.

The Telos-Paul Piccone Institute is pleased to present this webinar in cooperation with the Danube Institute.

For more information about TPPI's China Initiative, visit our website.

Topics: China Initiative • Webinars