Philosophy

Philosophy

A Hermeneutic Analysis of Mencius'Philosophizing about Politics

Document Type : Scientific-research

Author
ali aqajani
Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Research Institute of Social Sciences, "Houze" and "University" Research Institute, Qom, Iran
10.22059/jop.2023.357692.1006776
Abstract
Mencius is one of the most important master philosophers in the Chinese paradigm and the Confucian tradition, and the article analyzes his philosophizing about politics based on Skinner's hermeneutic method. He is both an interpreter of Confucius and an independent theorist and philosopher in the fields of society. Based on this, in response to the question of what is the political philosophizing of Mencius, the hypothesis of the article considers four hermeneutic processes and considering the influence of mental contexts on the one hand and objective contexts on the other hand, the conventional norms of Mencius' time, including those in favor and against takes into account The favorable norms are in the Confucian school, and the traditional opposing norms are crystallized in Taoist, Mohist and legalist political philosophy. Then, the article imagines and analyzes Mencius' occupations in those norms and observes and expresses Mencius's political philosophizing through it. Based on this process, his affirmative and negative possessions in the conventional norms can be seen in the promise of the legitimacy of the two bases of heaven and earth, the right of revolution, the fusion of ethics and politics, the utopia based on the rule of Hakim-Shahriar, and an educated, virtuous and prosperous nation. Worldly and spiritual progress, meritocracy, political and social justice and peace are received. 
Keywords
Mencius' political philosophizing
Quentin Skinner's intentional hermeneutics
Mencius' mental contexts
Mencius' objective contexts
Mencius' possessions
positive and negative norms
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 11 April 2023
  • Revise Date 25 July 2023
  • Accept Date 27 August 2023