This research aims at comparing Eastern and Western perspectives on ideal state and world order. Each co-researcher selected a particular issue (or thinker) in relation to their interest concerning the main issues on the ideal state. Thus, the researc...
This research aims at comparing Eastern and Western perspectives on ideal state and world order. Each co-researcher selected a particular issue (or thinker) in relation to their interest concerning the main issues on the ideal state. Thus, the researchers were driven by a more natural approach in which individual studies could be compared and arranged, rather than being compelled to couple their separate views. This is because imposing a single interpenetrating view may have the negative effect of harming the genuine quality of each paper.
In order to naturally reveal the theoretical differences on the ideal state between East and West, the researchers received help from nine other participants and added their effort to the final result of the research publication, <On Utopia: East and West>(Yonsei University Press, forthcoming, May, 2004). Under this main theme, the articles are categorized in the following four topics: (1) the political ideal of the ancients, (2) ideal state in religion and literature, (3) socialist political ideals and anarchism, and (4) alternative society and ideal world order.
The first part, titled ‘the political ideal of the ancients’, consists theoretical analyses of the following topics: "Plato’s Ideal State", "The Historical Evolution of Ancient Eastern Political Ideas", "The Philosophical King in Ancient Confucianism", "A Reflection on Lao-tzu’s Ideal Society". The second part consists of articles on: "Thomas Moore’s Ideal State", "The Ideal State of Calvin", "Ideological Devine State in Yamazaki Anzai", "The Utopian Ideal of Park Ji-won". The third part includes researches on: "Fourier’s ‘Phalange ou Phalanstere’", "The Utopia of a Laboring Community", "Marx and Utopia", "Anarchism and Absolute Community", and "Ideals of Modern Chinese Anarchism". The fourth and last part consists of: "Post-modern Society and Alternative Community" and "On Ideal World Order: East and West".
To briefly outline the academic contribution provided by the co-researchers of this project: Byeong-Sam Bae’s research on Park Ji-won argues that the ideal that Park Ji-won presents is a part of constructing an ideal Confucian civilization. Euikyung Park’s research on Calvin, focuses on the point that although Calvin did see the foundations of the secular society coming from the Bible, he intended to achieve it through the decoupling of the church from the state. Young Jo Suh’s research on Marx, claims that the essential foundation of Marx’s ideal state originates from the cohesion of science and practice. Dongsoo Lee’s article states that the main feature of the alternative community movement is to challenge the systematic suppression of central government, while it is also an attempt to search for alternate forms of life that opens up new experimental possibilities by providing experience, education, etc.. Dong-Jin Jang focuses on the compatibility between Eastern and Western theories on ideal world order. He argues that, despite their differences, it is possible to find a common ground in which the East and West could communicate.
Although this project omits several other theories concerning the topic in hand, it is to be expected that, by bringing light to several important issues, it will help the reader to enhance his/her understanding on theories of ideal state. This will not only help formulate critiques concerning our current theoretical basis, but also help institute a guideline in which we are to proceed. Although this research may lack an interpenetrating perspective among the separate articles, it will shed light to various theories East and West, ancient and modern, so that readers interested in this field may not only gain vast knowledge about past and present theories on ideal state, but also form an insight of future debates concerning this topic.