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Reading about spread of Confucianism in early modern Japan, amused by translators’ habit of discussing idea that ruler has Mandate of Heaven but literally not mentioning the further fact that if one lacks benevolence and humane rule then one loses mandate and may be replaced.
It worked in the short run, but not in the long. In the period before the Meiji Restoration the intelligentsia were appealing to the now thoroughly culturally endorsed persona of Mengzi to argue that the world must be rectified and that may well indeed involve new government.
One plays with fire when, as an autocrat, one tried to bend the great ideals of the humanistic tradition to one’s corrupt purposes. In the long run the forceless force of gentle argument and appeal to principle may well be unstoppable, however one tries to twist it.
Anyway, right or wrong, this historical antecedent is what I’ll now have in mind when I see certain folk appeal to Martin Luther King Jnr as a defender of the status quo.
Thoughts somewhat inspired by @BryanVanNorden‘s ideas about the state sponsored revival of Confucianism in modern China.
how often did that losing of the mandate actually happen? the Ender's Game series mentions this a lot (to Orson Scott Card's credit, the losing part is definitely in there)
I know of 2 regime changes which Confucian scholars valorised as regime's cruelty leading mandate being passed to more humane rulers. More often what would happen is ru would remonstrate with a wayward government, and either change their behaviour or be killed for their defiance.
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