In Chapter 4, Angle discusses past Chinese thinkers' views and his own view on the issue of rule of law and virtue politics. He agrees with the reasons Mou and another Chinese thinker, Zhang Shizhao, give "to be very cautious about any political institution designed on the premise that the more virtuous should rule over the less virtuous," and shares their friendly attitude toward "the idea that the virtuous should contribute to politics". From his reconstruction of Mou's concept of self-restriction, we already have seen how Angle would argue that human rights are not merely compatible with, but required by Progressive Confucianism. In addition to elaborating on the relevant points he tries to answer about the mere existence of rights or rights-claiming …show more content…
On the issue of how to formulate universal principles of human rights, inspired by a contemporary Chinese thinker Zhao Tingyang's understanding of tian xia (all under heaven), Angle argues that we have to view the world from the perspective of the world, meaning that the universal, world perspective must be arrived at through an all-inclusive process, "rather than universalizing a single perspective". In the last chapters, the author illustrates the functions and values of rituals. Angle argues that rituals offer the cultivation of the virtues. After criticizing the "maximalist" view of rituals, he defends a minimalist version. According to it, rituals both discipline the practitioners and are expressions of them. A ritual of showing respect both expresses respect and disciplines the performer to be respectful; it forms this person's individual identity and also nurtures a world of rituals. The underlying idea is the Confucian recognition that ethical growth is both individual-based and profoundly relational, an insight resonating with such contemporary therapies as couples' and