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Things will change from time to time, but human being is the main constituent forever. The principal of existence and development of any social community will be carried out with the awareness of individual ideology and the fulfillment of the community determination, especially depend on the adaptability and transformation that step forward with the elapse of time. Bad adaptability or improper transformation will be difficult to transfer the traditions into modernization, the result will be either underdevelopment or dead with deformity, both of which can hardly have a satisfaction accomplishment. The purpose of this article is to explore how Taiwan adapt to the trend of modernization as a typical Confucian community, and how the members of the community form the consensuses to fully grasp the opportunity of adaptation and transformation to set up a brand new ¡§Confucianism Civil Society¡¨. The dissertation construct with five chapters as follows: Chapter I is introduction for the main concerns of the research, the extent of the research, writing structure, and a thorough analysis of the core ideal of philosophy of Confucian community. Chapter II describes the figure of Confucian traditional community to investigate into its merits and demerits according to the writing structure of the Chapter Da Tong in the Book of Rites. Chapter III examines the real conditions in Taiwan during the powerful governmental era under Martial Law by means of three mainstream ideologies from the western liberalism. Chapter IV observes that disorders are increasing in Taiwan area due to the conflict between Eastern and Western ideology after the removal of Martial Law in Taiwan from a view of communitarianism. Reflection upon the above-mentioned, the author looks forward to rebuild a main stream culture and value ideology which integrate Eastern and Western, penetrate traditional and modern, and connect modern and post-modern. In conclusion with the statements of the Eastern and Western sages, Chapter V outlines the mechanism of ¡§Confucianism Civil Society¡¨ out of the expectation of the author.

Since Isaiah Berlin employed his now classic notion of value pluralism for the justification of liberalism, the correlation between the two ideas has long been presumed in the field of political theory during the second half of the twentieth century. However, this Berlinian assertion has aroused a significant amount of criticism in the past ten years. Many supporters of value pluralism argue that due to its ¡§incommensurability¡¨ presupposition, value pluralism not only cannot serve as the foundation of liberalism, it will also endanger the universal status of the latter, and hence produce irresolvable theoretical inconsistency. Instead of using value pluralism to justify liberalism, some theorists are convinced that different types of political projects can be induced from value pluralism. On the other hand, liberals who endorse value pluralism also try to fill the lacunae between Berlinian pluralism and liberalist doctrine. The purpose of this thesis is to summarize the scope of theoretical differences among value pluralists, explore the controversies surrounding value pluralism, and examine different political projects preferred by various value pluralists. Throughout the essay, the following questions will be answered: What are the theoretical implications of value pluralism? Does it contradict with liberalist doctrine? If not, what account of liberalism does it approve of? In short, this thesis tries to map out the theoretical development of value pluralism since Isaiah Berlin.

This essay begins with the assumption that a liberal political morality is grounded upon two core ideals one, that the freedom to shape one's own life in accordance with one's reasonable beliefs about the good is constitutive of the ideal human life; and two, that the state ought to be in the business of securing this life-shaping freedom for its citizens. I argue that the endorsement of these ideals has perfectionist implications for a political morality. My central claim is that if the liberal state is committed to securing its citizens' life-shaping freedom, then it must actively and intentionally promote a definitive ideal of human flourishing. Accordingly, a liberal political morality is perfectionist insofar as it promotes an ideal of human flourishing; it is liberal insofar as that ideal is a distinctively liberal one. My argument proceeds in four stages. In Chapter II, I argue that a liberal political morality cannot remain neutral in the way that many liberals claim it must be. The consequence of this is that a liberal morality must be grounded upon a non-neutral moral ideal. In Chapter III, I argue that this non-neutral ideal must take citizens' positive liberty or what I am calling their life-shaping capabilities €”seriously if it is to achieve its end of securing its citizens' life-shaping freedom. In Chapter IV, I present a theoretical framework intended to support the perfectionist element of my account. To do this, I propose a capabilities approach to well-being, which enables us to determine which capabilities are necessary for life-shaping freedom. In Chapter V, I address the inevitable worry that the state's enforcement of perfectionist political principles is likely to unjustifiably infringe upon its citizens'€™ freedom. To alleviate this concern, I argue that any paternalistic interference justified by a capabilities approach actually enhances citizens' long-term freedom by preventing them from permanently forfeiting the necessary conditions of their freedom. Once this obstacle has been overcome, we will be free to embrace the perfectionist implications of our commitment to life-shaping freedom.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, Dept. of Political Science, June 2001. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Th.M.)--Dallas Theological Seminary, 2008. / Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves [87]-93).

Thesis (M. P. A.)--Texas State University-San Marcos, 2009. / "Fall 2009." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-75).

Thesis (M.Phil.), Memorial University of Newfoundland, 2000. / Bibliography: leaves 119-124.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Rutgers University, 2009. / "Graduate Program in Political Science." Includes bibliographical references (p. 315-322).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2001. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 255-258). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.