Law and Humanities
Quarterly Reviews
ISSN 2827-9735
Published: 26 January 2025
The Confucionist Tradition and Human Rights in China
Antonio Carlos Wolkmer, Maria Laura Vieira Alves
Universidade do Extremo Sul Catarinense, Brazil
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10.31014/aior.1996.04.01.140
Pages: 56-65
Keywords: Human Rights, Universalism, Decolonialism, China, Confucionism
Abstract
Human rights hold a central position in contemporary international law, frequently discussed from various perspectives. This article offers a critical analysis of human rights through a decolonial lens, challenging their universalist construction, historically rooted in Western values such as liberalism and individualism, and often employed as a tool of power by hegemonic nations. Using a bibliographic review and a deductive methodology, the study is structured into three parts: first, it explores the historical development of human rights in the West and their limitations as a universal paradigm; second, it revisits Confucianism as a classical Chinese philosophy focused on collective well-being and social harmony; finally, it examines contemporary Chinese public policies, which demonstrate a distinct and contextualized approach to human rights. The article concludes that China's experience exemplifies a viable counter-hegemonic alternative by integrating its traditional philosophy with modern strategies, achieving remarkable outcomes such as the eradication of extreme poverty and sustainable socioeconomic development.
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