%0 Journal Article
%T The essential themes of Confucian reflections on law
%A Stępień, Mateusz
%J Principia
%V 2016
%R 10.4467/20843887PI.16.008.7647
%N Volume 63
%P 225-249
%K Confucianism, Chinese ontology of the social world, Confucianism and law
%@ 0867-5392
%D 2017
%U https://ejournals.eu/en/journal/principia/article/zasadnicze-watki-konfucjanskiej-refleksji-nad-prawem-1
%X 
	The aim of this paper is to reconstruct Confucian reflections on law. Interestingly, even such a general aim has not previously been realised. Stereotypical, literal and oversimplified readings of Confucianism seem to dominate even in the professional literature. As a result, the thesis of the anti-legal character of Confucian teachings is widely reiterated. In this paper, a reconstruction of the Confucian approach to law takes account of the most basic assumptions organising Confucian thought. Only in this way can we identify the essential themes of Confucian reflection on law: (1) placing law within an ontology of the social world based on categories of ‘roots-foundations’ (ben) and ‘branches-manifestations’ (mo) and (2) considering the impact of law on the self-cultivation processes which are, according to Confucianists, the ‘root-foundation’.