Contemporary Business Practices of the Ru (Confucian) Ethic of “Three Guides and Five Constant Virtues (三綱五常)” in Asia and Beyond

What can remain unchanged while the Ru tradition (Confucianism) is continually passed down generationally and passed on geographically to non-Chinese Asian countries and beyond? Does the answer to this question hinted by the tradition itself, viz., the ethic of Three Guides and Five Constant Virtues...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inReligions (Basel, Switzerland ) Vol. 12; no. 10; p. 895
Main Author Song, Bin
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.10.2021
Subjects
Capitalism
Competition
Democracy
Hypotheses
migration
Philosophy
reciprocal autonomy
Religion
Ruism (Confucianism)
Shibusawa Eiichi
Society
Taoism
Three Guides and Five Constant Virtues
Traditions
unconditional obedience
Asia
China
Japan
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Summary:What can remain unchanged while the Ru tradition (Confucianism) is continually passed down generationally and passed on geographically to non-Chinese Asian countries and beyond? Does the answer to this question hinted by the tradition itself, viz., the ethic of Three Guides and Five Constant Virtues, still work in contemporary society? As intrigued by these fundamental questions on Ruism, scholars have debated on the nature of the ethic and its adaptability to the contemporary world. One side of scholars condemned it as an outdated, premodern ethic of power which urges unconditional obedience to hierarchy, while another side championed it as a modern ethic which aims to strengthen the autonomy of each individual in reciprocal relationships. While presenting two cases of Ru business practice, viz., Shibusawa Eiichi in Meiji Japan and Peter Drucker in the contemporary U.S., the article treats the controversial ethic as a hypothesis, and assesses it using an empirical method to reinforce views of scholars who have furnished a favorable interpretation of the ethic.
ISSN:2077-1444
2077-1444
DOI:10.3390/rel12100895