“Ritual, Dependency Care and Confucian Political Authority,” an article by UH West Oʻahu Professor of Philosophy Li-Hsiang Lisa Rosenlee, has been accepted for publication by International Communication of Chinese Culture, a cross-disciplinary journal covering China Studies, Communication and Cultural Studies.
The article argues the liberal democratic model of individual rights and limited government is no longer conceptually adequate in a world where problems oftentimes crisscross multiple personal, social, legal, cultural, geographical, and national boundaries. Dr. Rosenlee argues a different kind of political paradigm is needed for state authorities to care for the socially vulnerable and that a modern democratic liberal state infused with Confucian emphasis on ritual to ensure social/political cohesion and its political imperative to care for the socially vulnerable is the proper way to move forward.
Rosenlee’s scholarly work has been published by the journal previously, including a 2015 article, “Confucian Friendship (you) as Spousal Relationship: A Feminist Imagination” where she proposes a hybrid conceptual paradigm incorporating both Confucian you 友 and Greek philia to replace the spousal relationship.
In the article, Rosenlee proposed that a feminist marriage should be a marriage of moral friendship and passionate love. This new conceptual paradigm of marriage that is made in a Confucian image for feminists, is also a practical feminist paradigm that people may strive for and realize in human life.
Dr. Rosenlee’s research areas of interest are feminism, ethics, and Chinese philosophy. She is the author of “Confucianism and Women: A Philosophical Interpretation” (State University of New York Press, 2006), and has published numerous book chapters and journal articles.