Publicity and Citizen's View

Author: Xu Jilin
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: This book is themed around "Publicness and the Citizen Concept," featuring 14 papers (translations) by scholars from mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas. These articles explore the notions of "public" and citizenship from the perspectives of intellectual history and political philosophy, collectively forming a comparative framework—both a comparison across time (ancient and modern) and a comparison across cultures (East and West). They provide rich discussions on key issues in modern political thought. The main content of these articles can be summarized in three parts. If the (analysis) of the concept of citizenship in the intellectual history of both Eastern and Western thought presents a complex and diverse picture, then the dominant position of the contemporary "standard version" (centered on individual rights) of liberal citizenship in ideology should not be taken for granted but rather deserves critical reflection. In fact, Western political philosophy, both within and outside the liberal tradition, has developed understandings of citizenship and civic politics that go beyond the traditional liberal perspective.