[Comparing Chinese and Western Ethics from the Perspective of Time] The connotation of ethical politics and its main manifestations in China and the West

The concept of time is one of the basic theories of Chinese and western ethics. The Chinese and western views of time can be compared through the monism or pluralism of time, the orientation of time and the traditional Chinese and western philosophy of time. This paper chooses the concept of time as the fulcrum to compare and analyze Chinese and western ethics: China's ethics is family-oriented, pays attention to private morality, emphasizes etiquette and is introverted; Western ethics is individual-oriented, emphasizing utilitarian value, rule of law and extroversion.

Keywords concept of time; Ethics; Chinese and western ethical thoughts; compare

Time and space constitute the basic form of objective material existence, and people's perception, understanding and reaction to objective time constitute the concept of time, which is the natural product of human social practice. The concept of time is different knowledge and understanding of time by different nationalities. It is the basic factor of human activity environment and a part of the deep structure of a national culture. As Hall, an American cultural anthropologist, once said, "Time can speak, it is more frank than spoken language, and its message is loud and clear, because it is neither controlled by consciousness like spoken language nor easily misunderstood, and it can often expose the lies expressed by language." As an important part of the deep structure of culture, the concept of time affects people's perception and judgment of the objective world, thus determining people's words and deeds to a certain extent. This paper analyzes the differences between Chinese and western cultures in time concepts, and further discusses the differences between Chinese and western ethics under different time concepts.

First, the comparison between Chinese and western concepts of time.

1, time orientation difference between past and future trends

From the perspective of time orientation, a significant difference between the East and the West lies in the past tendency and the future tendency.

China has a long and glorious history, and the people of China firmly believe that history is a guide for decision-making and a compass for judging right and wrong. Both Confucianism and Taoism advocate returning to nature and the past, while Confucius advocates self-denial and courtesy, and his time orientation has a strong past tendency. In all dynasties in the history of China, all kings attached great importance to the rules and etiquette formulated by their predecessors, and they respected their predecessors' lessons.

However, in the west, everything focuses on the future, and future orientation is their important value concept. Westerners are full of reverie and expectation for the future, because no matter what they do, they believe that they can do better in the future. Things in the future may happen in a flash, a week, a year, or a distant paradise, but in short, they believe they will find happiness in the future. Therefore, the past means going to evil, and there is no retreat. They don't care about the present, and firmly believe that the future will be better through their own efforts.

2. Differences between Chinese and Western traditional time philosophy.

From the mainstream, the philosophy of time in China's traditional philosophy focuses on the philosophical issues related to social life and humanities, and the harmonious coexistence and unity between man and nature. The thinking mode of "harmony between man and nature" makes China culture emphasize the integration of subject and object when perceiving things, which leads to the strong subjective color of China people's perception of time. Confucian culture, which occupies a dominant position in China's traditional culture, maintains social harmony through ceremony and achieves the state of "self-respect" and "harmony between man and nature" through "benevolence".

From the mainstream, the philosophy of time in western traditional philosophy focuses on the philosophical problems in time related to nature and everything in the universe. They tend to think about the inherent laws and processes of time in nature and the physical world, and how to conquer nature. They believe that time is an inherent time process in the natural or physical world, and Aristotle defines time as "the amount of movement of objects". Galileo and Newton believed that time is the amount of time used to calculate the speed and acceleration of an object. The same is true of philosophers after the Western Renaissance. Descartes, Locke and Kant also devoted themselves to philosophical problems such as how to form the concept of time.

Second, the different ethics under the influence of different time concepts in China and the West.

1, China's tendency to time in the past made China attach great importance to history and tradition, so China's morality was harmonious and conservative. Thus formed China's moral introversion. China put moral value in the first place, took the improvement of personal moral sentiment as the most important purpose, and guided people to take themselves as the goal and think behind closed doors. "The emperor took self-cultivation as the foundation of Shu Ren" (2), and regarded moral cultivation as the foundation of governing the country. China people not only give lectures, but also love each other, and the two are one. The concept of "harmony is precious" is deeply rooted in China. This idea of the unity of man and nature makes China people attach importance to feelings and loyalty, and the relationship between people is just right, full of human feelings everywhere, which also leads to China's personality psychology of being defensive and easy to satisfy.

The tendency of the west to the future of time makes them believe that everything is possible in the future, so western morality emphasizes struggle and enterprising, while western morality is extroverted. Westerners pay attention to the separation between man and nature, and people should strive to transform and obtain nature. Westerners attach great importance to wisdom and morality, that is, people's ability to understand and transform nature, and form the concept of believing in science and technology. In the struggle to understand and transform nature, people's intelligence and talents are fully brought into play and their personality is fully developed, thus creating a highly developed level of productivity. This never-ending enterprise makes westerners more competitive and dissatisfied.

2. The differences between Chinese and Western traditional time philosophy make China and the West find different paths in how to establish and maintain society. China is based on morality, while the west is based on legal system. Therefore, there are distinct differences between China's ethics and western ethics, one is the impression of courtesy, and the other is the profound legal characteristics.

China's ethics is based on family. The social structure in ancient China was based on family and clan, and arranged in the form of imperial power-official-family-family. This country is based on the countryside, and the villagers live in different ethnic groups. Family life is regarded as the most basic link and support of life ideal, and family concept is quite strong. Emphasize the ethical relationship between family and clan, and use strict ethical relationship to determine everyone's position in family, clan and even society.

Western ethics is based on individuals. The west has been based on polis since ancient times, and polis is a group organization. The state organizes residents and exercises rule through cities, but the family relationship is relatively loose. Since ancient Greece, private ownership has been relatively developed, and the law clearly stipulates that private ownership should be protected from infringement of individual rights. Therefore, westerners have strong private ideas. After entering the Middle Ages, due to the unity of politics and religion, churches and parishes organized every parishioner to live a religious life, and everyone was equal before God. Individuals have relations with the state through church organizations, so there are few family and clan concepts, forming an individualistic society.

Third, the conclusion

The difference of time concept reflects the psychological tendency and cultural accumulation of people with different cultural backgrounds. The concept of time is gradually formed after a long time, which is relatively stable in a certain period of time, but they are not static. Similarly, although there are great differences in ethics between China and the West, there is no difference between China's ethical culture and the Western ethical culture, only the differences in characteristics. From today's perspective, the essence and dross of the ethical value system in both China and the West are very complicated. With the economic development and social progress, especially the increasing exchanges between Chinese and Western people, these will undoubtedly have a certain impact on their respective ethics. We hope that the different ethics of China and the West can complement each other and create an ethics that meets the needs of the new era.

Precautions:

(1) Hall Edward T. The Language I Borrowed [M], new york: Anchoring Books,1959.20.

② University. Jing Yi [M], Zhonghua Book Company, 2006.

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