論者對於「儒學與民主」關係已有相關學術研究，惟尚未有共識。本文先類型化相關研究觀點，並進行簡單評析。其次，基於全面探討「儒學與民主」關係具有高度複雜性，以及所需學術投入並非本文篇幅所能負荷，爰將「儒學與民主」關係置於臺灣民主化之脈絡中來進行回顧。接著，在同樣脈絡下對「儒學與民主」關係進行若干前瞻性觀察。研究結果顯示，回顧臺灣經驗，吾人可從三個面向來看臺灣民主化脈絡中的「儒學與民主」關係：首先，從儒學與民主所依存的總體環境面觀察，由於各主要政黨並無嚴重壓制儒學之作為，故儒學與民主享有自然的發展空間。其次，從儒學影響民主之面向觀察，儒學對民主各有其正、負面影響。第三，從民主影響儒學之面向觀察，臺灣的民主化對不同儒學類型有著不同影響。基於上述回顧，本文另從前瞻的角度來分析臺灣未來民主化脈絡下的「儒學與民主」關係。歸納而言，儒學可貢獻於民主者有四端，包括：「以賢能政治彌補民主法治」、「以君子儒學強化民主監督」、「以誠信厚植民主社會資本」及「以社會和諧調和民主多元」。相對的，民主可貢獻於儒學者主要在於「以普遍倫理修正特殊倫理」。綜合而言，在臺灣民主化脈絡中，儒學與民主的關係毋寧是一種融合了相互競逐、相互補充、相互修正的多元關係。不過，此一關係能否推論至其他時空脈絡，則需另外加以檢視。

A number of studies regarding the relationship between Confucianism and democracy have been presented by commentators, but there is little consensus among them. First of all, this article aims to classify those related perspectives, and then makes some comments. Second, because grasping the whole relationship between Confucianism and democracy is both complex and costly, this article tries to retrospect this relation under the context of Taiwan’s democratization. Then, it will make some prospective comments on this relation under the same context. The results reveal that three dimensions about this relation will be presented. First, at the macroscopic level, the relation of Confucianism and democracy develops in a natural space, for main parties in Taiwan did not repress Confucianism during their ruling period. Second, observing from the perspective of Confucianism’s impact on democracy, there exist positive and negative influences. On the contrary, third, from the perspective of democracy’s impact on Confucianism, Taiwan’s democratization causes different impact on different types of Confucianism. Based on above-mentioned observations, this paper further analyzes the relation between Confucianism and democracy in a prospective way. It concludes that Confucianism may contribute to democracy from four aspects, that is, to complement the demerits of democracy and the rule of law by enforcing the meritocracy; to strengthen democratic supervision by enforcing gentleman’s Confucianism; to cultivate the social capital in a democratic regime by committing to the sincerity and trust; and to accommodate democratic pluralism with Confucian concept of social harmony. On the other side, democracy may contribute to Confucianism by modifying particular ethics with universal ethics. In sum, the relationship between Confucianism and democracy will be characterized as a hybrid style in which Confucianism and democracy may compete, complement, and modify with each other. However, whether this hybrid relation can be used to other case needs to be further verified.