The Historical Rise of Pre-Qin Ru, Mo, Taoism and Dharma

The four great masters of Confucianism, Mozambique, Taoism, and Dharma each put forward their own theories of righteousness and profitability with different contents and orientations from a specific perspective and in a special way. These four great masters complemented each other in their mutual agitation, and made unique contributions to the traditional theory of righteousness and profitability, but, of course, they also had their own limitations and mistakes.

I. The Gains and Losses of Confucianism

In the debate on the relationship between righteousness and profitability in the pre-Qin era, the concept of righteousness and profitability of the pre-Qin Confucianism represented by Confucius had a more far-reaching influence on the later generations, and until today, it still exerts an important influence on the people's social life, behavioral choices, as well as moral judgments, etc. The value and contributions of Confucianism are mainly the result of its influence on the social life of the people. The value and contribution of Confucianism is mainly the high degree of promotion and persistent pursuit of morality and righteousness. In the face of the situation in which various forces are in conflict, it is worthwhile to recognize that it tries to establish a desirable social order with the enthusiasm of entering the world positively and the mind of saving the people, and takes the harmony and order of the heaven and the earth as its own responsibility.

1. Confucianism pursues and promotes benevolence and righteousness

Confucianism highly promotes the positivity and initiative of people for reality, and highly promotes the noble character of people in the pursuit of righteousness at all costs and regardless of all gains and losses, and has issued a deep eulogy for the great choice of not being moved by power and profit, and even killing oneself and sacrificing one's life for the sake of righteousness, which is called " No seeking life to harm benevolence, have to kill oneself to become benevolent". This great choice undoubtedly has eternal significance and value.

2. On the concept of righteousness and profit, Confucianism advocates righteousness before profit

Confucianism believes that righteousness is the fundamental symbol of what makes a person human, which distinguishes him from an animal. Confucius said, "without profit, people can not survive; without righteousness, people will not be human." Therefore, Confucius does not ignore the interests of individuals, sure that people care about material interests and the pursuit, but emphasizes that the acquisition and satisfaction of interests should be "righteousness" as a prerequisite, and should not be in pursuit of personal interests and unscrupulous, forgetting the righteousness of profit, he once said, "rich but also can be sought, although the whip of the soldiers, I also for it. If not, from my good." Visible, in the view of Confucius, the pursuit of material gain, should be realized by moral means. It should be recognized that Confucius' view on the relationship between righteousness and profit is profound and reasonable.

3. Confucianism advocates the subordination of private interests to public interests

In ancient China, the productivity level of human beings was very low, and human beings had to rely on the power of the group to fight against the nature, and there was no distinction between the concepts of the individual and the others among the people, and the people self-taught themselves to unconditionally combine their own interests with those of the group in which they lived, and the interests of the group, which was the public interests, were higher than everything else. Everyone is guided by the principle of obeying and defending the public **** interest of the group, and in the relationship between public and private interests, it is asserted that private interests must be subordinated to the interests of the family, the nation and the state, i.e., "The Way of the Great Dao is also the world's public interest." This Confucian thinking has had a significant impact on the shaping of the Chinese nation's pursuit of morality and righteousness, the unceasing life, and the spirit of the nation and national spirit of chastity and perseverance through thick and thin.

4. The ideal social order of Confucianism is: the world is fair, the selection of the wise and the capable, the preaching of faith and cultivation of harmony, and interpersonal harmony.

Confucius lived in the era, can be described as "rites and music", society is in an unprecedented big changes, great turbulence, Confucianism in order to change the reality, the realization of its ideal social order, the "righteousness" as the highest value standard of the life encounter, whether it is to promote benevolence and righteousness, sacrificing their lives for the sake of the community. Whether it is to promote benevolence and righteousness, or to give up one's life for righteousness, or to be public before being private, or to think of righteousness in terms of profit, none of them is aimed at realizing this ideal social system, which is in fact the fundamental value of Confucianism's theories of righteousness and profitability.

Confucianism's theory of righteousness and profitability certainly has its positive side, but its defects should not be ignored. Confucianism in the concept of righteousness and profit several major mistakes are:

1, righteousness and profit clearly differentiated, do not see that the two are a unity, which is manifested in the emphasis on righteousness and light profit, or even the existence of righteousness and forgetting the profit, go to the profit of righteousness.

2. While affirming and pursuing the public interest in practice, we do not talk much about the public interest in theory, and we are even ashamed to talk about the public interest emotionally; therefore, there is no clear distinction between the public interest and the private interest in theoretical form, which will inevitably lead to some confusion in people's behavioral orientation.

3. In terms of value orientation, Confucianism emphasizes the absolute value of righteousness over profit, which certainly has its side of conformity and purpose, but Confucianism puts the hope of realizing this noble ideal of life on the greedy and selfish landlord class and its princes and dignitaries, and fails to see that the masses of the people are the real driving force of history, which, therefore, ultimately determines it to be an unattainable piece of paper.

The gains and losses of the Mohists

The main contributions of the Mohists to the pre-Qin theory of righteousness and profitability are as follows

1. The Mohists saw the unity of righteousness and profitability, and opposed to the separation of the two, believing that righteousness and profitability should be united, i.e., both righteousness and profitability should be honored.

2. From the unity of righteousness and profit, Mohists pursued the world, the country, and the people's great benefit and public interest in the value orientation, which is superficially the same with Confucianism, but their respective bases are different. Confucianism believes that the pursuit of self-interest is detrimental to righteousness, and Mohism believes that everyone who is self-interested at the expense of others will inevitably kill each other, and in the end, it is not good for anyone, nor is it good for the country, so it must be opposed.

Mojia takes public interest as the highest value standard and ultimate value orientation, and uses it to evaluate and choose everything, which is also different from Confucianism in the same way. Confucianism does not take public interest as a value standard and value orientation, and seldom discusses public interest directly in theory, but only affirms and pursues public interest in practice. In terms of content, Confucian public interest certainly includes the interests of the state and the nation, but he mainly emphasizes the interests of the ruler and the father, and the righteousness is also the patriarchal order. The public interest of Mohism is fundamentally the interest of the people of the country, especially the interest of the lower class of working people. Therefore, it criticizes the blood relationship, the patriarchal order and its interests maintained by Confucianism and tries to transcend it, which was denounced by Mencius as "no ruler, no father", which is precisely the unique value and contribution of Mohism.

The shortcomings of Mohism are

1. It sees the unity of righteousness and profit, but ignores its opposition.

2. They attribute righteousness to profit, believing that righteousness means great profit and public benefit. Thus, in the cognitive method, the way of thinking and the tendency of simplification, absolutism. In fact, this is incorrect, the big profit, public interest is the content of righteousness, righteousness is the big profit, public interest in the form of righteousness, righteousness on behalf of the big profit, public interest, and beyond the big profit, public interest.

3. There is also a kind of narrow-minded eagerness in the Mohist theory of righteousness. In order to obtain the great benefit of the people of the country. And all aesthetic activities such as music, art and other aesthetic activities are rejected, showing a strong narrow-mindedness, where they do not pay attention to spiritual wealth and spiritual civilization.

The gains and losses of the Legalists

The contributions of the Legalists to the theory of righteousness and benefit among the hundred schools of thought in the pre-Qin era are as follows

1, the spirit of reality

The representatives of the Legalists mainly acted as mentally tough politicians and participated in the theoretical search for righteousness and benefit, instead of acting like representatives of the other three schools, who mainly acted as ideologues to anticipate the politics and actively promoted their own theoretical construction of the theory of righteousness and benefit. As a result, the Legalists' theory of righteousness and profitability is stronger and more prominent than that of the other three schools in terms of its sense of reality. For example, the Taoists, needless to say, were transcendent and avoided the world, and even the Confucians and Mohists were inferior to the Legalists. Confucianism is dissatisfied with the status quo of the collapse of the rites and music, and human desires, and tries to reverse and change it, but it cannot find the political power to change the reality and realize the ideals; although they lobbied everywhere, most of them were disappointed and returned home, and they were detached from the reality to a certain extent. Although the Mohists focused on action, they could not avoid the suspicion of narrow-mindedness and pragmatism. They were full of enthusiasm and perseverance, and tried to change the status quo, but because they neglected and denied the important role of the deep-rooted blood relationship and family system of the Chinese society, they went beyond the social foundation and the acceptance ability of the people. Therefore, their theories could only turn out to be a beautiful vision. Only the Legalists, who tried to mold the reality with their theories and did see some sides of the reality, penetrated into the depths of the heart of the exploiting class, which was profit-oriented and abandoned righteousness, and saw the role of the naked desire for profit in the social change, which was undoubtedly correct, but the Legalists generalized and absolutized the local understanding, regarded the selfish greed of a few as the nature of human beings, and regarded the ice-cold calculation and exchange as the only content of human relations. Seeing interpersonal relations as the only content of human relations, it fundamentally denies the existence of morality and people's pursuit of good things, and again makes the spirit of its reality monstrous and one-sided.

2. A clear distinction between public and private interests

Among the four major schools of thought in the pre-Qin era, Confucianism discussed more about morality and merit, and seldom talked about profit or even shamed it, so naturally it seldom discussed public and private interests; Mohism reduced morality and righteousness to merit, and paid attention to the unity or even sameness of both, and likewise did not discuss much about the relationship between public and private interests. Dao, on the other hand, by seeking to transcend and abolish all this. The Legalist, by contrast, was earlier and more focused on the relationship between public and private interests. Its public interest refers to the interests of the landlord class represented by the monarch; its private interest refers to the interests of the families and various forms of groups of subjects. From the examination of the meaning of the words "public and private" and the observation of real life, it concludes that public and private interests are diametrically opposed to each other, and that it is necessary to abolish private and public interests and to abolish private and public interests. This distinction should be regarded as a contribution of the Legalists.

But the legalist theory of righteousness and profit also has serious defects: first, the concept of the connotation of the simplification, only recognize the interests of the landlord class in the public interest of the special form, erasing the other forms and their rich content, the private interest has not hinted at its rich connotation. Secondly, there is the flaw of simplification and absolutization in the public-private relationship; they only see the opposition but ignore the unity.

3. The Legalists completely deny the existence and function of righteousness. In value orientation, they abandon righteousness and see only profit; in the means of governance, they take officials as their teachers and teach from the law, and do not see the regulating role of morality at all. On the one hand, it believes that selfishness is the nature of man and cannot be changed; seeking profit is the only motive of human behavior; mutual calculation, exchange of benefits, and competition are the only contents of interpersonal interaction. Benevolence and righteousness are useless things, and obligation, conscience and so on are also things that have no effect at all. Therefore, the only thing that can regulate and guide people's behavior and social life is benefit, which is the so-called "the world is bustling, all for profit. The world is bustling with activity, all for profit." On the other hand, everyone is good for profit and evil, the pursuit of their own self-interest, the inevitable formation of conflicts of interest and interest opposition. These contradictions could not be regulated by morality at all, and could only be taught by officials and the law, which forced the subjects to obey the interests of the monarch and the interests of the landlord class he represented. Guanzi and others also paid attention to the mutual combination of morality and law. Shang Yang Han Fei Zi and others, on the other hand, were nakedly concerned with law but not with virtue. In their eyes, there is no propriety, righteousness, honesty and shame. No human dignity, can only use the law of coercion to make him comply. As a matter of fact, by denying righteousness, the Legalists also denied the value, dignity, character, and nobility of man as a human being. Although it played a positive role in destroying the blood relations and patriarchal system, establishing a new regime and realizing national unity, it was one-sided in theory and failed to ensure the long-term stability of the landlord class in practice.

4. Regard profit as the highest and most fundamental pursuit and value. Legalists completely denied the existence and function of morality. The Legalists had a sober insight into the strong selfishness and pursuit of self-interest of some people at that time, and recognized it from the historical perspective, which is naturally correct to a certain extent, but they made a fatal mistake by suspending it as the fundamental and ultimate value orientation. They regard profit as the whole value and the whole pursuit of man, and regard the so-called public interest as the whole content of profit. As a matter of fact, human beings pursue the basic value of profit, but they also pursue spiritual values, including moral values, which are higher than profit and transcend profit. People certainly can not be without profit, but also can not be limited to profit, otherwise, as Confucianism says, it is difficult to distinguish themselves from animals, and it is difficult to stand on their own as human beings.

The Legalist concept of righteousness and profit is almost worthless in terms of moral value orientation.

Fourth, the gains and losses of Taoism

Compared with Confucianism and Mozambique's zeal for salvation and dedication, Taoism is much more transcendent. In terms of content, Taoism seeks to transcend the reality of the issue of righteousness and profitability, or even abolish the issue of righteousness and profitability, and thus contributes little to pre-Qin theories of righteousness and profitability; however, in terms of its way of thinking, Taoism has its own strengths:

1. Taoism believes that the two are The two are in correspondence, but not in unity. The two are counterparts, but not absolute opposition, but unity in opposition, unity in opposition, in the pre-Qin Confucianism, Mozambique and the law, this relationship between righteousness and profit has not been well resolved, or exaggerated its unity, or exaggerated its opposition, or to affirm one side, deny one side. For example, Confucianism in the opposition of righteousness and profit in the light of righteousness and profit; Mohism, although recognizing the unity of righteousness and profit, but the righteousness attributed to the profit, in fact, or the abolition of the righteousness; Legalism is even more naked to abandon the righteousness of the profit, profit is the only thing that matters, and thus the three schools did not comprehensively and scientifically to solve the problem of the relationship between righteousness and profit. Of course, the Taoists do not have a panacea for this problem either. Instead, they tried to abolish it and transcend it, but it provides a possibility from the way of thinking, which helps to take the advantages and shortcomings of the theories of righteousness and profit of each school, transcend their respective limitations, and take them from a higher level and, according to the conditions of the social history, recreate them by leaps and bounds, and push the discussion of righteousness and profit of the pre-Qin dynasties to a new stage.

However, with the end of the Hundred Schools of Thought Controversy in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, and the implementation of ideological dictatorship by the Qin State, and the Han State's dismissal of the Hundred Schools and its exclusive respect for Confucianism, the pre-Qin and Confucianism were called the prominent schools of thought to listen to the Mohists soon to be eliminated, and the Taoists made several positive achievements in the theory of righteousness and profitability, and some of the points of view of the Legalists were either discarded, or absorbed and assimilated into Confucianism, and the Confucian theory of righteousness and profitability was basically set in the social and political aspects of society and politics, and it became the official ideology. After the Han Dynasty, the Confucian theory of righteousness and profit basically became the official ideology, and the Buddhist thought imported from the Western Regions after the Han Dynasty was unable to compete with it. Therefore, in the more than 2,000 years after the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism basically ruled the whole world no matter how many times there were changes in the dynasties, and although the controversies among different schools of thought within Confucianism set off a few theoretical disputes, it was almost incomparable to the Hundred Schools of Thought of the pre-Qin Dynasty, and the possibility of taking the pre-Qin theory of righteousness and profitability to a higher level was therefore non-existent. The possibility of pushing the pre-Qin theory of righteousness and profit to a higher level did not exist. As a result, Taoism has no role to play in the theory of righteousness after all.

In short, during the profound changes of the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods, the four pre-Qin Confucian-Mexican-Dao-Fa masters each made different contributions to the establishment of the pre-Qin theory of righteousness, and each had its own shortcomings of varying degrees. Briefly speaking, the spirit of Confucianism and Mozambique in entering the world, and the realistic attitude of Legalism help to overcome and make up for the defects of Taoism, which is obsessed with transcendence and avoidance of the world; Confucianism's pursuit of great moral righteousness and noble personality can overcome the shortcomings of Legalism, which is profit-oriented; Taoism's mindfulness of the hundred rivers and breathing in the ten thousand images helps to make up for the limitations of Confucianism, Mozambique, and Legalism, which are too obsessed with the realities, and its transcendent pursuit of life can overcome the other three schools' restriction to political and ethical principles, which brings about a pale and bleak world. Its transcendental pursuit of life can overcome the pallor brought about by the other three schools of thought, which are limited to political and ethical programs; the criticism, denial, and transcendence of blood relations and patriarchal order by Mo, Fadao, and Dao from different perspectives can precisely make up for the shortcomings caused by Confucianism's over-argumentation and defense of blood relations and patriarchal order; in this way, if the various schools of the pre-Qin era can integrate with and criticize each other for a longer period of time, they will be able to bring pre-Qin theories of righteousness and profitability into a new stage with some breakthroughs and enhancements, thus forming a healthy, thriving, and prosperous society. Healthy and thriving national form is quite possible, however, with the end of the Hundred Schools of Thought and the strengthening of authoritarian thought in the Qin and Han Dynasties, this national dream was permanently lost.

Fifth, the historical mission of the four schools

In accordance with the above, Confucianism, Mozambique, Taoism, and law, the four major cohesion of the national theory of righteousness, the establishment of the national value of the orientation of the gains and losses, although there is a difference in the nature of the degree of the theoretically, if they complement each other and integration, it is expected to make the theory of the national theory of righteousness continue to develop, increasingly improve and enrich, and the formation of the theory of the vast and profound system. However, the historical fates of the four theories of righteousness are very different: either floating or sinking, or even living or dying. The great historical contrasts and the reasons for them are quite rich and intriguing.

1, the fate of different

In the pre-Qin era, after the great view of the hundred schools of thought, Confucianism, one of the hundred schools of thought and rocketing up to settle in a dignified; Mohist theory of righteousness quickly disappeared and became extinct; Taoist theory of righteousness seems to be intermittent, if any; Legalism theory of righteousness in name only, and the generations are not extinct.

Confucianism by one of the hundred, a change into a unique, to become the main body of the traditional theory of righteousness and shadow