Why liberalism is not enough: a Confucian viewpoint

This paper criticizes liberalism as a way of life by contrasting liberal assumptions, autonomy, reciprocity, and individual equality, with Confucian insights on relational personhood, care, and obligation. First, it argues that liberalism’s scope is limited: familial care, dependency, and many social roles do not operate according to reciprocity or autonomous choice. Second, it contends that liberal values lack substantive resources to resolve life’s central questions – childrearing, eldercare, and duties to kin. Third, it examines ‘liberaldom’, where liberal ideals coexist with capitalism and meritocracy, and argues that an atomistic liberal anthropology helps produce inequality. The paper proposes a Confucian relational moral vocabulary attentive to care and cultivation.