What is it about?
On the heels of COVID-19, which demonstrated pervasive incompetence in terms of global leadership, and the global crisis of anthropogenic climate change, which threatens human civilizations as we have come to know them, it has become obvious that some world leaders are ill-equipped to steer human civilization towards a sustainable direction. I argue that time-honored principles of truth and accountability from the Confucian tradition are a good starting point to right the civilizational ship.
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Why is it important?
Philosophy has become increasingly detached from real world problems. This chapter explicitly bucks that trend to show that ancient Chinese philosophy is highly relevant in providing conceptual and practical guidance to take on the global crisis of climate change.
Perspectives
This chapter outlines how Confucianism can play a role in saving human civilization as we have come to know it. Other philosophical and religious traditions can also be of service, of course, but Confucianism helped to drive our oldest civilization in China for thousands of years. In my opinion, that isn't coincidental.
Casey Rentmeester
Bellin College
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This page is a summary of: Truth and Accountability: Two Confucian Antidotes to Civilizational Collapse, February 2026, De Gruyter,
DOI: 10.1163/9789004732742_003.
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