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"Creating Government Lies in Individuals": Zhang Shizhao and the Paradoxes of Founding
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“Creating government lies in individuals”: Zhang Shizhao and the Paradoxes of
Founding
Leigh Jenco, Brown University, Political Theory Project
Comments are very welcome, but please do not cite or circulate:
## email not listed ##
ABSTRACT
This paper is a working draft of the first substantive chapter of my book project, which
examines the political theory of the early twentieth century thinker Zhang Shizhao 章士釗 (1881-1973). In the manuscript, I argue that Zhang‘s theorization of political action under conditions of political collapse draws attention to an often overlooked problem in political theory: namely, how individuals may act efficaciously and non-coercively before collective action with others on however minimal a shared goal is even possible. A member of a key transitional generation in China, Zhang received a traditional Confucian education in his youth, but by adulthood had turned to learning Western political theory as a means of uncovering the secrets of European and American ―wealth and power.‖ Long regarded by historians as a British-style ―classical liberal,‖ Zhang in fact engages a far greater range of thinkers and concerns—including traditional Chinese ones—that belie any particular political agenda.
In this chapter, I explore how Zhang confronts the problems in founding a self-ruling
regime without presuming the emergence either of a benevolent Lawgiver or of spontaneous consensus. Contemporary Euro-American political theorists, themselves usually citizens of mature democracies, often theorize the paradox of founding as a motif of the circularity of politics or of the ongoing, daily contestation of legitimacy in already-established regimes. Because founding is an actual historical event for Zhang, however, he cannot disavow its paradoxes by pretending that they can be resolved in the process of everyday political action. Seeking to realize an architectonic vision of political life that encompassed not only himself, but also an entire community who had not spontaneously converged on that vision, Zhang re-thinks the possibility of transformative founding action using a variety of resources culled from Chinese political experience and theory. These possibilities inform his advocacy of those specific practices—including self-awareness, the use of one‘s talent, and accommodation of difference—that in later chapters I develop as part of Zhang‘s theory of individual political action.
I would like to thank the participants of the Political Philosophy Workshop at Brown
University, especially Sharon Krause and Corey Brettschneider, for helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper. In addition, inspiring conversations with Libby Anker, Emily Nacol, and Brandon Turner have considerably improved my thinking on the issues I explore here.
In this paper, all references to Zhang‘s work are taken from volume 3 of his Collected
Works 章士釗全集 (Zhang 2000), hereafter abbreviated ZQJ. All translations from the Chinese, including from secondary sources, are my own unless otherwise noted.
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“Creating government lies in individuals”: Zhang Shizhao and the Paradoxes of
Founding
Leigh Jenco, Brown University, Political Theory Project
Comments are very welcome, but please do not cite or circulate:
## email not listed ##
ABSTRACT
This paper is a working draft of the first substantive chapter of my book project, which
examines the political theory of the early twentieth century thinker Zhang Shizhao 章士釗
(1881-1973). In the manuscript, I argue that Zhang‘s theorization of political action under
conditions of political collapse draws attention to an often overlooked problem in political theory:
namely, how individuals may act efficaciously and non-coercively before collective action with
others on however minimal a shared goal is even possible. A member of a key transitional
generation in China, Zhang received a traditional Confucian education in his youth, but by
adulthood had turned to learning Western political theory as a means of uncovering the secrets of
European and American ―wealth and power.‖ Long regarded by historians as a British-style
―classical liberal,‖ Zhang in fact engages a far greater range of thinkers and concerns—including
traditional Chinese ones—that belie any particular political agenda.
In this chapter, I explore how Zhang confronts the problems in founding a self-ruling
regime without presuming the emergence either of a benevolent Lawgiver or of spontaneous
consensus. Contemporary Euro-American political theorists, themselves usually citizens of
mature democracies, often theorize the paradox of founding as a motif of the circularity of
politics or of the ongoing, daily contestation of legitimacy in already-established regimes.
Because founding is an actual historical event for Zhang, however, he cannot disavow its
paradoxes by pretending that they can be resolved in the process of everyday political action.
Seeking to realize an architectonic vision of political life that encompassed not only himself, but
also an entire community who had not spontaneously converged on that vision, Zhang re-thinks
the possibility of transformative founding action using a variety of resources culled from Chinese
political experience and theory. These possibilities inform his advocacy of those specific
practices—including self-awareness, the use of one‘s talent, and accommodation of difference—
that in later chapters I develop as part of Zhang‘s theory of individual political action.
I would like to thank the participants of the Political Philosophy Workshop at Brown
University, especially Sharon Krause and Corey Brettschneider, for helpful comments on an
earlier draft of this paper. In addition, inspiring conversations with Libby Anker, Emily Nacol,
and Brandon Turner have considerably improved my thinking on the issues I explore here.
In this paper, all references to Zhang‘s work are taken from volume 3 of his Collected
Works 章士釗全集 (Zhang 2000), hereafter abbreviated ZQJ. All translations from the Chinese,
including from secondary sources, are my own unless otherwise noted.
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