Confucian moral thought and its contemporary value

Morality is the norm and norm of people's common life and behavior. Different times and different classes will change their moral concepts. Con

Confucian moral thought and its contemporary value

Morality is the norm and norm of people's common life and behavior. Different times and different classes will change their moral concepts. Confucian moral thought originated in the pre-Qin period and experienced the interpretation of great Confucianism. It has been the backbone of China traditional culture for thousands of years. From enlightening people to consciously be human beings, cultivate their morality and cultivate their nature, to guiding parents to cultivate their families and teach their children to become useful people; From persuading politicians to "cultivate one's morality, rule the country and level the world" and "turn people into customs" to "guide people with morality and treat them with courtesy" to the general public; From actively guiding the moral values of the whole society to putting forward a series of corresponding concrete codes of conduct to people, to a certain extent, it embodies the wisdom of national spiritual civilization, shapes the moral orientation of our nation, and provides stable value support and ideal identity for traditional China people, which is our spiritual wealth.

First, the main content of Confucian moral thought

The fundamental purpose of morality is to guide people to correctly handle the relationship between people, people and society, and people and nature, so as to better adapt to society and be a man. Confucian moral thought is a broad and profound ideological system, which has a unique set of ethical norms in the relationship between man and himself and social and natural, and embodies the humanistic ideal of Confucian harmony.

1 ... the moral content of man and self

In dealing with the relationship between man and self, Confucianism advocates that we should treat ourselves correctly and achieve the ideal personality realm through self-cultivation. In the relationship between life, morality and personality, Confucian moral education thought obviously pays more attention to people's moral value.

In the Confucian view of human nature, whether it is Confucius' "similar in nature, far in learning", Mencius' "good in nature" or Xunzi's "evil in nature". They all emphasize that people can achieve the ultimate "sage" realm through their own efforts. Therefore, individual self-cultivation is the basis of Confucian moral education.

As the essence of Confucian classics, "University" says: "Those who want virtue in ancient times should rule their 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; To be sincere, you must know first, and you must know the style. If you know things, you will be honest, sincere, correct, repair, repair, rule the country, and rule the world. " Is the best explanation.

In the method of self-cultivation, Confucianism first emphasizes honesty.

It is believed that only when a person has the sincerity and requirements of self-cultivation can he have the foundation of self-cultivation in life. Secondly, it is very important to be "studious", "studious and close to knowledge", "firmly believe in studious and good at death" and "learning". If you know well and don't learn well, your cover will waver; Honesty is not easy to learn, and its cover is also a thief; Straight board is difficult to learn, and the cover is distorted; If you are brave and study hard, your cover will be messy; It's hard to learn and crazy. "Only by studying the Analects of Confucius and Yang Huo can one cultivate one's accomplishment. Finally, to "practice", a person should truly become a person with good character and morality, and should know and do in one.

Although the ultimate goal of Confucian moral cultivation is to make individuals obey the needs of society, the Confucian moral principles of paying attention to people's self-observation, self-cultivation and self-practice may become a good medicine to treat modern people's spiritual and moral deficiencies.

2. The moral connotation of the relationship between individuals and society

In terms of thinking about individuals and society, "Confucianism, represented by Confucius and Mencius, was bred by the family society and has occupied a dominant position for a long time since the Han Dynasty' ousted a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone'. From the very beginning, thinkers of this school jumped out of the opposing thinking of individuals and society, individuals and countries, and took the harmony of groups as the goal and starting point of their theory. They believe that social stability and order are moral values. " A series of moral principles such as "benevolence", "righteousness", "courtesy", "wisdom" and "faith" are all aimed at creating social stability and harmony. For example, Confucianism emphasizes "propriety" and requires that all words and deeds of people should conform to propriety. Let all members of society take their places, perform their duties, perform their duties, perform their duties, and get their places, and the society will naturally be orderly, harmonious and stable. As the highest moral category in Confucianism, "benevolence" is mainly reflected in serving the elders with "filial piety" and serving the monarch with "loyalty". Filial piety is the foundation of interpersonal relationship, and "loyalty" is an extension of "filial piety" to some extent. Benevolence, as a moral norm, also requires people to love their loved ones and others, be kind to others, care for and help each other, and form a harmonious humanistic atmosphere.

It is not difficult to see that in dealing with the relationship between man and society, Confucianism attaches importance to others, individuals, groups and harmony, showing obvious altruism, group and harmony. This emphasis on group and harmony even requires the sacrifice of personal interests, which is also the reason why Confucian moral thought has been repeatedly criticized in modern times. Some western liberals regard it as the biggest obstacle to China's democratic construction.

3. The moral content of the relationship between man and nature.

On the relationship between man and nature, "harmony" is still the core concept emphasized by Confucianism. Confucianism believes that the relationship between man and nature is not the relationship between conquest and being conquered, domination and being dominated. Man is a part of nature, closely connected with nature and living in harmony. Therefore, people must learn to respect and cherish nature. Consider human beings in the natural ecological environment. In the attitude towards all things in nature, Confucianism put forward the principle of "virtue, utility and generosity". "Righteousness" first refers to the "great virtue of life" of heaven and earth, which is the way for heaven and earth to nurture all things. This great virtue of heaven and earth is connected with human kindness, which is manifested externally, that is, benevolence is the core of Confucian ethics of "kissing", "loving people" and "loving things" Treating everything with this kindness can enrich everything and promote the growth of everything. It is the true expression of Confucian "moral integrity" to make everything in its place, live in its place and support its people. "Utilization" is based on "moral integrity", that is, kindness from the heart should be "taken from time to time and used in moderation", which conforms to moral principles and is conducive to human survival and the life of all natural things.

The Confucian idea of harmonious development between man and nature, from loving people to loving things, makes people cherish the ecological environment to the highest level of people's moral requirements, which is of positive significance to improving the relationship between man and nature in modern society.

Second, the moral crisis facing modern society

Public opinion generally believes that the biggest and most fundamental crisis facing China today is the moral crisis, not to mention whether this view is scientific or not, but at least it shows that contemporary intellectuals are concerned about the moral situation in China. Because we really can't ignore the most intuitive fact: China is the biggest producer of real corrupt officials, fake diplomas and fake and shoddy goods in the world. Every conflict between the government and the people, every building collapse and every environmental disaster exposes a huge moral deficit. And the moral deficit and bad debts of the whole society are still accelerating. The recent outbreak of various * * * shows that China has reached the period of paying the price for this moral deficit. If we continue to ignore moral issues, the whole society will pay a higher price for it.

In fact, not only China, but the whole world is paying for the loss of morality and faith. Global financial turmoil, global environmental and energy issues, cross-border drug trade, international terrorism, regional armed conflicts, etc. Everyone is observing human greed and selfishness, reflecting the crisis of human culture and belief. The western value system with "individualism" as the core showed great superiority in the early stage of market economy, but now its defects can not be ignored more and more.

Especially in China, the concept of rights has not yet reached people's subconscious, but under the catalysis of market economy, people are eager to get rid of the shackles of traditional culture. Although remarkable economic benefits have been achieved in a short time, the moral crisis in China has accumulated to the point of explosive in just 30 years.

The collapse of social moral system, vulgarization of culture and emptiness of belief all prompt us to reflect on the relationship between modern and traditional moral culture. By discussing the framework of western modernity, some scholars point out that although modern concepts such as freedom, democracy and science are important connotations of western modern civilization, they are only the shell of modern civilization and the external conditions of a better life, not the better life itself. In order for modern civilization to become a great, universal and valuable civilization system, what determines the essence of a better life needs to be wrapped in these shells, that is, ancient virtues.

Thirdly, the enlightenment of Confucian moral thought to the current moral construction in China.

Facing the moral problems in the process of modernity, not only China people, but also some western scholars began to re-value and actively think about the value of Confucian culture. We can no longer simply think that modernity belongs to the West. Although there are some factors that hinder the modernization of China in Confucian moral thought, there are also many excellent elements that deserve our absorption into modern moral construction, and can also provide some ideas for solving the moral problems of modernity.

First of all, there are rich contents of self-cultivation in Confucian moral education thought. If it is introduced into modern moral education, it will improve people's sense of loneliness and meaninglessness in the modern background. With the development of market economy, the position of practical value and life value has undergone a structural reversal, and people's value foothold is more and more inclined to pursue happiness and avoid pain. There is no fixed, eternal and sacred thing, only the present, the present and the present are left. People's life presents a dazzling and lonely, hurried and meaningless state. The pursuit of transcendental personality and the methods and contents of self-cultivation advocated by Confucian moral education thought. It can just urge people to look at themselves after a stressful life, cultivate their temperament and seek the true meaning and value of life.

Secondly, Confucian ethics has the characteristics of emphasizing others and groups. If it can be played properly, it may provide useful reference for correcting the deviation of extreme individualism and realizing more reasonable interpersonal relationship and the relationship between people and the environment. Individualism is an important theoretical cornerstone of western classical liberalism and an important content of modernity. As the western postmodernists pointed out in their reflection on modernity, almost all the interpreters of modernity emphasize the central position of individualism, because "modernity does not take society or * * * as the primary thing, and' individual' is only the product of society with limited autonomy; On the contrary, society is understood as a collection of independent individuals who voluntarily unite to achieve a certain goal.

Of course, modernity also has to admit the importance of some personal relationships, especially with parents. But she only treats these relationships as exceptions. As an ideal, people have always emphasized the importance of individual independence from others. It should be said that the rise of individualism is indeed a great progress in human history. However, extreme individualism has brought great negative effects to modern human society. The most obvious thing is that people pursue their own interests and no longer care about the interests of society and others, which not only leads to tension between people, but also leads to tension between people and the environment. However, the Confucian moral system with "benevolence" as the core and the concept of "harmony between man and nature", even if not comprehensive, will help to make up for the shortcomings of individualism.

Finally, the basic Confucian moral norms such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and faithfulness are introduced into the current moral education thought. Since the reform and opening up, we have achieved great economic benefits, but at the same time we have lost some excellent cultural traditions and become a stumbling block. People are more and more lost in the face of huge economic interests, paying more and more attention to interests and ignoring value, paying more and more attention to profits and ignoring honesty. "Poisoned milk powder", "fake vaccine", "crooked building" and violent demolition all reflect the loss of people's ideal values and the lack of integrity.

Faced with this situation, it is particularly necessary to actively learn from the excellent moral education achievements of Confucianism and cultivate people's good moral qualities such as kindness, courtesy and honesty.

Four. conclusion

The role of Confucian moral thought in the current moral construction goes far beyond these, and the key to the problem is how to implement it.

The theory is always perfect, and there is no reality. However, once some ideas are formed, they have certain stability. Coupled with the negative influence of realistic conditions, it is difficult for us to get rid of people's utilitarian thoughts and practical thoughts in a short time, and then implant people's thoughts, such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, wisdom and trust.

So one thing we can do is education and publicity, and the other is to standardize through the improvement of the system. Both are very important and deserve to be practiced by people with conscience and consciousness.