Moral principles of feudal thought

The moral principle of ancient feudal society in China was clan departmentalism. Patriarchal social structure is the foundation of China's ancient feudal society and the "foundation" for the monarch to govern the country. Therefore, maintaining the patriarchal social structure has become the moral value orientation of China feudal society. "University" pointed out: "If the ancient desire is obviously superior to the world, rule the country first; If you want to govern your country, you should first get your family together; If you want to reunite with your family, you should first repair your body; If you want to cultivate yourself, you should be upright first; If you want to be correct, be sincere first; Be sincere, let him know first; Know in the matter. " Among them, the purpose of cultivating individual morality is not to realize "self-worth", but to the ethical principle of clan standard, and its theoretical basis can be called deontology or deontology. Moralism is based on a universal and absolute thing, which restricts and regulates individuals. Socrates and Plato in ancient Greece classified morality as a general concept beyond the special, from which personal virtue was derived. Therefore, in their view, the whole is higher than the individual and generally precedes the special. When this kind of thought developed to the extreme, it communicated with religious morality. Christianity in medieval Europe regarded obedience, obedience and obedience as the highest moral truth. Confucian ethics is also a typical deontology. It takes satisfying the interests of patriarchal hierarchy as its own behavior value goal and obligation, from loving father and filial piety to being loyal to benevolent people, emphasizing obligation rather than right, in order to maintain the harmony and stability of clan society. But "benevolence" and "righteousness" are unified on the basis of "courtesy", so in practice, obedience of subordinates to superiors can only be a one-sided obligation theory. The deontology advocates asceticism. Because deontology ignores the individual needs of people, it will inevitably lead to asceticism. Western medieval Christianity regarded asceticism as the only way to achieve "happiness" on the other side. China's Confucianism also highlighted the moral values of "duty-bound". Neo-Confucianism in the Song Dynasty emphasized that "the Three Cardinal Principles and the Five Permanent Principles" are "natural principles", "the sky remains unchanged and the Tao remains unchanged", and further emphasized "preserving natural principles and eliminating human desires". In fact, it is important people and inferior people who give up the pursuit of their own legitimate interests, suppress their independent personality, and "obey rather than disobey" the venerable ones in order to maintain the stability of the family, clan and feudal society.

The worship of hierarchical power is the inevitable product of clan departmentalism and the basic feature of feudalism. The ethical principle of clan departmentalism is based on natural economy, under which human subjectivity and ability are greatly limited. As the dominant ideology in feudal society, clan departmentalism first represents the interests of the dominant landlord class, so the dependence between people is strictly hierarchical. In order to maintain the stability of the feudal patriarchal social system, it also plays a mediating role in class contradictions, such as requiring the monarch to be loyal to his subjects and the father to be filial, and the obligation is two-way. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties also has the meaning of "respecting the heart". However, the ethical principle of the clan is based on the opposition between individual interests and social interests. As an abstract representative of the group, the ruling class is the embodiment of "public" and "providence". Therefore, in real social life, the obedience of the inferior and the tyranny of the venerable are mutually causal, accompanied by the asceticism of the ruling class and the hedonism of the ruling class. Mao Zedong said in "Investigation Report of Hunan Peasant Movement" that political power (monarchical power), clan power (patriarchal power), theocracy and husband power represent all feudal patriarchal ideology and system, and they are the four ropes connecting China people, especially farmers. Therefore, the worship of feudal hierarchical power has become the basic feature of feudal ideology and morality.

The moral principle of clan standard tends to be "pan-moralism". This is determined by the dependence of people in patriarchal feudal society. This made the medieval Europe with the unity of politics and religion and the feudal society of China with political ethics cast a gentle veil. China's Confucianism not only emphasizes moral education for people, but also advocates that rulers should be benevolent and kings. However, with the intensification of contradictions in feudal society, this moral theory has become more and more extreme, becoming an empty moral sermon, which is "cannibalism" for the ruled class and can only cause a lot of hypocrisy for the ruling class. Extreme hierarchy and autocratic power show the decline of feudalism.