Ancient Chinese thinkers and ancient Greek philosophers respectively believed how to improve moral cultivation.

The main moral cultivation method proposed by ancient Chinese thinkers is the method of paying equal attention to learning and thinking. This method is mainly through learning with an open mind and thinking seriously, so as to distinguish between good and evil, learn good and refrain from evil, so as to form good virtues.

Ancient Chinese thinkers believed that the important step or basic premise of moral cultivation is learning. Secondly, they emphasized that moral cultivation requires the combination of learning and thinking, reflection during learning, and deepening of learning during reflection.

The method of self-examination and self-reflection is mainly to discover and find out the bad tendencies and bad thoughts in one's own thoughts and behaviors through self-reflection, and to suppress and overcome them.

Introspection or introspection is one of the indispensable methods for self-cultivation. It refers to deeply understanding oneself, examining oneself, and analyzing oneself from various aspects such as ideology, emotional attitude, speech, and actions.

The method of caution and self-discipline refers to sticking to one's moral beliefs without external supervision, consciously acting in accordance with moral requirements, and not doing whatever one wants just because there is no one to supervise.

Shendu is a Confucian cultivation method to manage and self-discipline the relatively hidden consciousness and emotions deep inside an individual.

Being cautious and independent requires not deceiving others or self-deception, and must be self-disciplined from external words and deeds to inner thoughts and activities.

The method of accumulating good deeds and cultivating virtues is to continuously accumulate "good deeds" or "virtue", consolidate and strengthen them, and gradually condense them into excellent moral character.

Moral cultivation is not something that can be achieved in a day, and becoming a good character cannot be achieved overnight, but it is not unattainable or unattainable. The key lies in accumulation and practice.

The method of unifying knowledge and action is to unify the improvement of moral awareness and the implementation of moral practice, so as to promote the internalization of moral requirements into one's own moral character and externalization into actual moral behavior.

As a method of moral cultivation, the unity of knowledge and action emphasizes the dialectical and unified relationship between moral understanding and moral practice.

Confucius also agreed with the rule of man. The specific reason is that he did not and would not recognize the rule of law or the rule of everyone.

Even Han Fei, a legalist, emphasized the rule of law so much, but in his mind, the rule of law was just a severe punishment under the rule of man.

The central idea of ??Confucianism is the word "benevolence". A benevolent person loves others, which is reflected in the advocating rule of virtue in political governance.

This is inseparable from the social reality at that time.

As mentioned above, Confucius at that time had no so-called concept of political system.

From his point of view, the rule of princes and kings is natural and justified, and the so-called rebellion and revolution are against nature and unethical.

Therefore, if we want to have better governance in the country, we can only place our hope on the princes and kings.

The so-called "Government by virtue" has two meanings: 1. To improve the morality of princes and kings; 2. To improve the morality of the people.

Confucius said: "Government based on virtue is like Beichen, where the stars live and shine." On the one hand, he warned the princes and kings to put virtue first in their governance, so that their rule would be long-lasting; on the other hand, it provided a

The means of governance is to govern by doing nothing. Of course, this must have a prerequisite, which is to govern virtuously.

"If a son is in charge of government, why should he kill? The son wants to be good and the people will be good. The virtue of a gentleman is like the virtue of a villain. If the strong wind blows over the grass, it will die." Similarly, when dealing with the issue of the rule of man and the rule of law, Confucius adopted

It is the rule of man.

As has been briefly analyzed before, the reason why Confucius adopted human rule was because he did not consider using law to replace princes and kings.

Law, at that time, referred to harsh punishments. "If we follow the principles of government, we should regulate them with punishments, and the people will be exempted from shame; if we follow the principles of morality, we should regulate them with propriety, and we will be shameless and upright." Confucius believed that harsh punishments can only

It punishes the people's bodies and cannot have any effect on the sins in their hearts. Only by applying virtue and using moral education to resolve the sins in their hearts can the real effect be achieved.

Confucius emphasized the use of etiquette to educate the people, regulate people's behavior through etiquette, and form a certain social order (leaving aside the excellence of this social order).

In Socrates' view, "virtue is knowledge", and a true ideal country is a society full of wisdom and attaches great importance to knowledge.

In his view, governing a country requires people with good knowledge.

Since not everyone possesses this knowledge of the good, only a few possess it.

Therefore, the people who govern the country should be these few people, not the People's Assembly composed of vulgar people.

The election of officials should also be judged by the amount of knowledge rather than by drawing lots.

He favored aristocratic rule. Those democratic politicians themselves did not have the knowledge of goodness, so it was impossible to cultivate the virtues of citizens, and there would be no justice in society.

When it comes to justice, in Socrates' view, "obeying the law is justice." Anything that conforms to the law is just, and a just person is a person who abides by the law.

He divided law into natural law and man-made law.

Natural law is the will of God and is universal.

Man-made laws are laws promulgated by state power and are subject to change.

People are guided by man-made laws as well as natural laws.

The law was created by God, whose nature is rationality and perfect goodness.

Only under the guidance of God, worshiping God and observing the law can we achieve good things.

The death of Socrates once made philosophers sigh with regret.

The Athenians executed Socrates, who loved this country, and executed this great man with his own hands. The reason for execution was actually "corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods and inventive spirit of the Athenian city-state."

According to the records of his disciple Xenophon, Socrates was a model citizen of Athens in all aspects. Plato's "Apology" and "Crito" also described Socrates as a loyal citizen who was loyal to the law and a conscientious citizen.

duty person.