How to understand the strong ethical value orientation of China's ancient philosophy

The "ethical" philosophy of China's ancient philosophy is the crystallization of culture and the "essence" of the spirit of the times. China's traditional philosophy also embodies its unique spirit of the times-"humanistic spirit" of China's traditional culture. First, "combination"-the highest pursuit of traditional philosophy "division", the core of western philosophy (analysis in another article); On the contrary, harmony is the core and highest pursuit of China's traditional philosophy. For example, Taoism's "Tao" pursues the unity of things and me, that is, the great integration of life, society and universe; Confucian "golden mean" also includes the idea of seeking "harmony" to achieve harmony between people and between people and society (the golden mean is a means in the final analysis); Buddhism's "harmony" is also a pursuit of the highest harmony in the world. Points-the world view of dichotomy between subject and object makes westerners focus on the outside world; The world outlook of "harmony between man and nature" allows our ancestors to examine people and their inner world at all times. The world outlook of "harmony as one" determines our methodology. The thinking process of the ancients always regarded the subject and the object as a whole, that is, the so-called "things and I forget each other" or "things and I are together" All external objects are always under the care of the subject. All thinking, understanding and discussion are aimed at people's hearts. Secondly, the strong subjective consciousness in traditional philosophical thinking is the core issue of traditional philosophy, and "the unity of man and nature" is a world view that a hundred schools of thought contend and hundred schools of thought basically recognizes. Westerners' dualistic world outlook focuses on the separation of subject and object, and on the study of exclusion, differentiation and opposition. Our traditional philosophy pays attention to the connection, unity, harmony, accommodation and identity between subject and object. In the spirit of traditional culture, the concept of "harmony" is deeply rooted. For example, the "Tao" of Taoism is the trinity of heaven, earth and man. Lao Tzu cloud; "Man is everywhere, the earth follows the sky, the sky follows the Tao, and the Tao follows the nature", that is, heaven, Tao and man are essentially the same. Zhuang Ziyun: "Heaven and earth coexist with me, and everything is one with me", so "Tao" is "one". Taoism believes that "Tao" is an absolutely eternal entity with super-time, super-reality and super-perception-an invisible and intangible "entity" and the origin of the world. At the same time, they also believe that Tao is not only the foundation of the world, the source of all things, the ubiquitous "entity", but also the basis, motivation and law of the occurrence, development and change of all things in the world, and it is also the highest understanding of the world by human beings-the whole universe is Tao: a harmonious, identical and nihilistic "undifferentiated realm"-universe, world, people, all things and all things. As an entity, Tao is objective, while the cognitive activity of observing the world with transcendental theory is subjective, so Tao becomes the unity of subject and object. It is the unique humanistic spirit of China's traditional philosophy to observe the "epistemology" of the world with this "Tao" eye that does not distinguish between subject and object, or a strong subjective consciousness permeates the cognitive activities. To make an inaccurate analogy, the thinking of ancient philosophers is like meditation-there are no clear reasoning procedures, models and rules in the cognitive process, but an enlightenment-the exploration of the subject's heart-please don't mistake this for idealism. No, this is an exploration of the integration of subject and object-traditional philosophical speculation is permeated with strong subjective consciousness. Third, the "ethical standard" of traditional philosophy For a long time, China society has been a feudal patriarchal society. Under the influence of ethical culture, philosophers who grew up in this patriarchal society always take care of everything with the ethical concept of "filial piety" and study the relationship between heaven, earth and people with strong ethical color. Humanize and ethicize the principles of nature, and think that heaven has the heart of good and evil, such as "natural grains to support people." The ancient people's exposition of justice and human desire has a strong ethical color. Confucian philosophy can basically be said to be a philosophy of life and an ethical philosophy. For example, its three programs (be virtuous, be close to the people, and stop at perfection) and eight items (respect for things, knowledge, honesty, integrity, self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country, and leveling the world) are all moral self-improvement. Some people say that China's "philosophy has become the handmaiden of Confucianism", which is reasonable from the ethical tendency of philosophy. The ultimate concern of Taoism is the harmonious unity of man and nature, man and man, man and society, which is the value orientation of Taoist philosophy and also a humanistic concern. Taoist "inaction" can also be understood as a pursuit of free personality. All these reflect the ethical tendency of traditional philosophy. From this perspective, "ethical standard" is the core of "humanistic spirit" of China traditional culture. Fourth, traditional philosophy pays great attention to politics. China is a traditional patriarchal country, which implements the political system of integrating family and country, thus making all political problems of the country become "family issues", and governing the country means governing the family. Therefore, the basic political principles of the country have been ethicized, and serving the monarch is the basic function of culture at that time, so philosophy must also serve ethicized politics, so philosophy will also be ethicized. All factions "study the relationship between heaven and man, and learn from the changes of ancient and modern times". Confucianism governs the country with "filial piety" and regulates people with "courtesy" to make the political power "widely distributed". Laozi and Zhuangzi also think about governing the country and attach importance to people's spiritual cultivation. The so-called concern for the country, the people and the monarch has become a national cultural spirit, which integrates ethics, politics and philosophy, and political ethics completely covers philosophy. This is the biggest feature of China's traditional culture-ethical standard. In a word, China's traditional philosophy has a distinct and strong subjective consciousness and overall concept, and the highest realm it pursues is a harmonious, unified and undifferentiated world. He occupies a core position in China traditional culture and has a far-reaching influence on China traditional culture. China's traditional philosophy emphasizes practicality, pays attention to social "ethics", and pays attention to the realistic philosophy of life and the discussion of interpersonal relationship. Therefore, it is closely linked with politics and ethics, and eventually becomes a "handmaiden" of politics. So many scholars mistakenly believe that China has no philosophy (for example, Mr. Li Ming, a famous contemporary thinker, holds this view).