Amidst the current interest in comparative political philosophy, especially in comparing Western political thought with Chinese intellectual traditions, we would do well to consider earlier attempts at cross-cultural exchange by Western political theorists. In particular, the early European Enlightenment (ca. 1680-1750) saw various fascinating efforts at coming to grips with China and Confucian social and political thought in light of European politics. What emerges from the work of such theorists as Bayle, Leibniz, Voltaire, and Montesquieu is a concern with China as a possible ethical and political model for Europe and the reaction to this idealization of China. Their principal focus was Confucianism's status as a source of virtue-oriented politics apparently without appeal to religious revelation. Thus European Enlightenment conceptions of Chinese society stemmed from debates internal to European intellectuals pertaining to the appropriate relation between religion and politics. While Enlightenment views of China may be criticized as distorted or even prejudiced, examining these views helps reveal the extent to which cross-cultural political thought arises from the peculiar concerns within the society of the person engaged in the comparison.

Simon Kow is an Associate Professor in the Early Modern Studies Programme at the University of King's College, Halifax, and Adjunct Professor of Graduate Studies in the Department of Political Science at Dalhousie University, Halifax. He has written various articles on the political thought of Hobbes, Milton, and Maistre. He is co-editing a volume of essays on Rousseau and desire, and researching the political theory of Hume's History of England.