What positive role has the classic thought of Confucianism played in history?

I think the positive influence of early Confucianism can be considered from four aspects, and can be compared with Western European Christian civilization:

1. Confucianism makes Chinese people pay more attention to Based on emotion.

"Benevolence" is the core idea of ??Confucianism, which emphasizes the true feelings between people that come from the heart. The personal external expression of this "benevolence" is "righteousness", which is based on "righteousness". "Loyalty" and "forgiveness" of "treating others as you treat yourself" and "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" are the value criteria of personal behavior. The social expression of "benevolence" is "propriety", which is an objective social morality external to the individual. "Wisdom", as the Confucian spirit of seeking knowledge, is also a practical means with "benevolence" as its purpose.

Christian civilization talks about the "original sin" of personal life, so personal behavior should be based on God's will and seek self-atonement. Therefore, traditional Western culture places emotional love in a subordinate position and takes rational love as the criterion. Traditional Chinese culture represented by Confucianism takes human emotions as the most fundamental starting point. This is also an important reason why our current traditional families attach great importance to the harmony of family ties and have an extremely strong hometown complex. For society, it is expressed as the pursuit of "harmony" and "pleasure", which are the basic requirements that come from people's inner emotions. The reason why Chinese civilization has continued to develop to this day without being destroyed by internal wars has a lot to do with this.

The Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism of later generations, however, externalized "benevolence" as a restraint of rationality on human desires, obliterating full human emotions. This goes against the original intention of Confucianism.

2. Confucianism emphasizes the pursuit of reality and promotes the Chinese people’s spirit of joining the world.

The reason why Chinese people rarely have theism from the heart and are obsessed with managing reality lies in the Confucian perspective of "one world".

Religions such as Christianity and Buddhism often set up an unknowable "other world" outside the real world. They believe that all actions of people in the real world will be judged in the "other world". Therefore, Life is just a journey that does not require excessive persistence. The meaning of life can only be finally affirmed in front of God.

Confucianism says, "If you don't know life, how can you know death?" Confucianism does not place the purpose of life in the other side of the world, but only recognizes the significance of the real world. Therefore, only through people's active practice can they make themselves The value of life is affirmed. Therefore, Confucianism pursues a state of "self-realization" and "happiness", rather than being indifferent to the world - learning and practicing it, isn't it pleasant? Have friends come from afar? Putting happiness in the world, putting happiness in the world, and pursuing a sensible and real life have been important spiritual motivations for thousands of years for people with lofty ideals to serve the country and the people, actively participate in the world, and actively appreciate aesthetics.

Even Buddhism, which pursues transcendence, evolved into "Zen" after being introduced to China, which is half worldly and half worldly, and enjoys the happiness of the world in a transcendental state. Here, the outlook on life promoted by Confucianism, It undoubtedly played a big role. This earthly joy is not different from animal carnality, but a spiritual affirmation of real life and real emotions.

3. Confucianism makes Chinese people pay attention to rational practicality.

Western traditional culture, starting from the philosopher Plato, is basically "rationalism", which elevates the rationality of life to the position of an absolute imperative above all else, and even becomes one with God. Man is a chess piece determined by rationality and a lamb controlled by God. It is said that Cheng-Zhu Neo-Confucianism also followed the approach of rationalism, advocating "preserving natural principles and destroying human desires", requiring individuals to suppress their inner emotions and obey the absolute external order.

However, the original Confucianism was not like this. Reason, or the spirit of studying things to gain knowledge, is only an instrumental means, and its ultimate goal is still "people" themselves, that is, in line with people's good feelings and morality, that is, "benevolence" in the sense of personality. Chinese people love to talk about "reasonableness", "reasonableness" and "the golden mean"... In our eyes, emotion is by no means an appendage of absolute rationality, but is at least as important as rationality. In the eyes of Confucius and Mencius, reason is the external extension of "goodness" and "benevolence" in people's hearts. Tao starts from emotion, reason starts from emotion, and "reason" serves people's emotional purposes. In modern times, Europeans and Americans admire the "pragmatism" spirit of Chinese people when starting a business, flexible management, and never rigidity. This is actually due to the influence of Confucian culture.

However, in scientific research, in scholarship, and in the implementation of laws, we cannot confuse ends with means. The rational principles of natural laws are ignored.

4. Confucianism emphasizes the social nature of people and strengthens the relationship bonds within the Chinese people.

In Christian culture, people are isolated. They are all God’s people one by one. Society and the country are just loose contracts when everyone lives together. Therefore, modern Western society pays more attention to the balance and non-conflict of material interests between people, while the connecting role of emotion appears to be very weak.

Confucian culture, which was born in farming civilization, has placed people among the crowd, the family, and society from the very beginning. It attaches great importance to the blood and emotional ties between people. From bottom to top, by establishing ethical relationships, a well-structured national social system is established.

In modern China, "family" is still the most basic social unit, and the concept of family is also one of the biggest factors affecting our social behavior. Based on the concept of family, with family interests as the purpose, and then extended to the "motherland", a big family that emphasizes order and harmony, the Chinese people have world-renowned entrepreneurial motivation and national cohesion, which have promoted the rapid development of Chinese society.

Naturally, although Confucianism emphasizes sociality and order, it cannot be the reason for a few people to use absolute power and death regulations to violate the will of the people and control people's lives. It is just a kind of neglect. The emotional connectivity of order and the "alienation" behavior of ignoring the inherent equality of order.

It can be said that Confucianism is the biggest clue in the history of the development of Chinese traditional culture. Philosopher Mr. Feng Youlan divides the history of Chinese thought into the "Era of Confucianism" and the "Era of Confucian Classics". The former is an era when various schools of thought contend and major classics are formed, while the latter is an era where pre-Qin classics, mainly Confucian classics, are constantly reinterpreted. era. Therefore, it can be said that the thoughts of Confucius, Mencius and Confucianism laid the solid foundation for the development of later generations of culture. The development of Taoist thought, the rise of Taoism, and the sinicization process of Buddhism were all greatly influenced by the Confucian cultural style, so that the three religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism merged to form an inclusive and open traditional Chinese culture. Confucianism has also become an important source of national spirit and an ideological mentor for many historical figures and the broad masses of the people to promote historical development.