So Much Left to Learn

In this short chapter I reflect on my experience of participating in the “East-West Dialogue on Good Governance” that took place at City University of Hong Kong in mid-June 2023. I note the diversity of Confucian thought and the sophistication of Confucian philosophical anthropology. I draw attention to the challenge that anthropogenic global heating poses to political and economic orders premised on continual growth and to the justification of restrictions on the free movement of people. I suggest that the idea of good governance should extend to include the relationship between humans and the non-human world, that issues of gender-justice deserve more attention in the context of explorations of Confucian ideals of good governance than they received in our discussions, and that recent developments in artificial intelligence pose challenges to good governance by virtue of facilitating ubiquitous surveillance and making it possible for AI to take on some of the traditional roles of government. I note that future dialogues might benefit from including a more diverse range of perspectives from both “East” and “West”. I conclude by observing that perhaps the most valuable lesson I learned from participating in the East-West dialogue was how much I had left to learn.