Education has always been a burning issue and an obsessive preoccupation in my life. I still remember my childhood, growing up in violence, my innocence tainted with ideological doctrines. The Chinese and Vietnamese system of education and schools were fabricated after the model of Nazi concentration camps in which the teacher knew more about torture than pedagogy. Like my schoolmates, I went through primary, middle and high school in fear, despair and, curiously, hope, the hope of being liberated. All I can remember are long hours of indoctrination, self-confession and self-torture brought on by all kinds of imagined sins preached by the teachers. Yet, ironically such a horrible education was never despised in our country. We were so accustomed to it that we unconsciously took it for granted. The "success" of such an indoctrination was verified by the effectiveness of such products as "models," "patriots," "heroes"… and by the evidence of uniform thinking. This "success" was hailed and sanctified as virtue. One blindly believed and tried to defend it.

Fortunately, I did not need David Hume to wake me up from the slumber of dogmatism as did Immanuel Kant. The tragedy of the Cultural Revolution launched by a divinized Mao, the crimes committed by our "dear leaders," be they the "great" Kim of North Korea or the new "savior" Polpot of Cambodia, be they the generals in most Asian countries or the colonels of Latin America, all demonstrated a sad fact: indoctrination is nothing but an instrument of repression used by our leaders to acquire power and accumulate their interests. In essence, ideology plays the sword of Damocles; hidden in its manifest form, one discovers the satanic soul of Machiavellian politics.

Thus, the hope for an end to idols seems rather utopian as long as their metaphysical foundation is still unquestioned, i. e. as long as there is still a belief in the heaven-mandate and our ideology remains uncriticized. The immunity of Maoism from any criticism demonstrated that ideology enjoys the absolute power once assigned to religion. As such, its authority imposed on the masses could not be challenged. This historical fact confirms rather than destroys idolatry. Thus, it is no surprise that the worship reserved for God is "naturally" applied to the leader, be he an anyone (quicumque) or a someone (homo quidam). We witnessed how the idolatry of a "someone" named Mao is passed to another one called Teng. To the scholars well versed in Chinese culture, such a phenomenon is by no means unique. It is so common that only a few may raise eyebrows about it. Neither the revolution of 1911, nor the cultural movement of 1966; neither the collapse of the Man-Ching dynasty, nor the "victory" of the Communists in Mainland China could have destroyed the essence of idolatry. All they could do is replace one idol with another.

Thus, we are not so naive as to believe in the immanent death of ideology, nor in its most effective means, ideological education. Our strategy will be critico-constructive in that we will eliminate the negative aspects of the ideologies embraced by China, i.e. Confucianism and Marxism, by means of critique, but at the same time we will take apart its positive elements to reconstruct a theory which could be of help for education in our modern age.

This book has been written over a quarter century of tragedy and joy, of despair and hope. Some chapters the author wrote in fear and despair, and he dared not make them public. Only after some liberalizations (such as the lifting of martial law in Taiwan), has he ventured to let some parts of the bulky manuscript be published, and then mostly in English, with only a few chapters in Chinese and those substantially altered. Such alteration reflects the process of maturation but also the prudence of the writer. Such prudence is imperative because dogmatism never dies, but pretends to sleep like a predator in hibernation. Dogmatism can be appeased only by means of rational education.

This work would never appear in its present form without the constant encouragement of friends and students. I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to all of them. A few friends must be mentioned in particular here, because without their support, I would have abandoned this project: Professor George F. McLean of the Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (Washington D. C.), Professor Richard Knowles of Duquesne University, Dr. Sophia Wen of National Taiwan Normal University and Professor Vincent Shen of the University of Toronto. To all those who have invited me for lectures I wish to extend my sincere thanks: Profs. John White and Graham Haydon of the University of London, Professor Carol Bal of Sofia University, Professor Julia Ching of the University of Toronto, Professor Klaus Claessen of Frei Universitaet in Berlin, the organizers of the World Congress on Philosophy of Laws, University of Goettingen, Professor Fritz Wallner of the University of Vienna, Dr. Won Yong Kang of the Academy House in Seoul and Dr. Chang Chung-hei of the Academy of Korean Study. I also own a great deal to my former assistants, Dr. Sophia Wen of Normal University, Dr. Cristal Huang of Soochow University, Dr. Tseng Ching-bao of Chung Yuan University, Dr. Gung C. C. (Tamkang University), Dr. Wang Ching-ling (Aletheia University), Dr. Yang Chi-sheng (Providence University), Mr. Li Chi-cheng, Mr. Wang Shang-wen and Mr. Tsai Wei-ding (National Taiwan University). Without their careful, meticulous elaboration, the Chinese edition of this book would have never seen the light of day. I have to mention my deep gratitude to The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy (Washington D.C.) and The Normal University Press (Taipei) for giving me more time. The editor of the Council, Professor George F. McLean, has sacrificed his precious time to edit this book, while Rev. Joseph Walsh (London) has helped in stylizing it. I am also indebted to the Ministry of Education of The Republic of China for its support for publication.

dulcissima mater of the writer. Her care and devotion for the humanist education of her son was the most important inspiration in his life.

Most parts in this essay have been separately published in the last ten years. The author takes this opportunity to express his deep gratitude to the editors of The Asian Journal of Philosophy, Korean Studies, Mellin Press, The Normal Review, The Seoul Olympiad 88 and The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy who have granted permission to reprint them in this volume.

- "Reflection on the Nature of Ideology," published in The Asian Journal of Philosophy, vol. II, no.1 (1990).

- "Moral Education and Ideological Education," published in Tran Van Doan & Vincent Shen and George F. McLean, eds., Philosophical Foundation for Moral Education and Character Development, Washington D. C. : The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1991.

- "The Crisis of Confucian Values," published in The World Community in Post-Industrial Society, vol.3, Seoul: Seoul Olympiad, 1988.

- "The Danger of Self-Deception in Ideological Education," published in the Proceedings of ICANAS, Toronto: Mellin Press, 1991.

- "Confucian Education in Crisis" ("Quo vadis educatio confuciana?"), published in Vincent Shen & Tran Van Doan, eds., Philosophy of Science and Education, Washington, D.C. : The Council for Research in Values and Philosophy, 1995.

- "Freedom of Education or Education for Freedom," published in Normal Review (Taipei: Association of Educators, 1989).