#5142. The Rule of Virtue: A Confucian Response to the Ethical Challenges of Technocracy
July 2026 | publication date |
Proposal available till | 23-05-2025 |
4 total number of authors per manuscript | 0 $ |
The title of the journal is available only for the authors who have already paid for |
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Journal’s subject area: |
Health (social science);
Issues, Ethics and Legal Aspects;
Health Policy;
Management of Technology and Innovation; |
Places in the authors’ list:
1 place - free (for sale)
2 place - free (for sale)
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4 place - free (for sale)
More details about the manuscript: Science Citation Index Expanded or/and Social Sciences Citation Index
Abstract:
The idea of technocracy has been widely criticized in Western literature in the philosophy and sociology of technology. A common critique of technocracy is that it represents an “antidemocratic” and “dehumanizing” ideology. This paper invites Western scholars to reconsider their oppositions to technocracy by drawing on resources from Confucian ethics. This paper argues that incorporating Confucian resources such as the rule of virtue into technocracy may be helpful for re-examining these ethical challenges to technocracy that are deeply rooted in Western liberal democratic ideologies. The Confucian rule of virtue means that social policies should be made by the virtuous and capable and these policies need to have impacts on the moral progress of the society. This paper will introduce some practical cases that demonstrate how technical experts and expertise contribute to organizational and social management. In these cases, virtues and the rule of virtue do play a crucial role: virtues either determine the selection of technocrats and the legitimization of their political power or are embedded in engineering design and affect human behavior in the use context.
Keywords:
Comparative ethics; Confucian ethics; Engineering cultures; Meritocracy; Technocracy; The rule of virtue
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