Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi's Important Contributions to the Formation and Development of Confucianism

1, Confucius occupies a very important position in the ideological system. Confucius' "benevolence" is a theory to solve interpersonal relations, which focuses on the harmonious development between people in the development of the whole human society. This spirit of caring for the people with a broad and generous mind is a manifestation of "benevolence", which is Confucius' people-oriented thought. Today, thousands of years later, this thought of Confucius still has universal reality and eternal value.

2. Mencius' political thought mainly inherited Confucius' "benevolence" and developed into a systematic "benevolent policy" thought. And put forward the famous democratic proposition: "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the light."

3. Xunzi's thoughts: Xunzi mainly inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts, but also included the thoughts of hundreds of schools in the Warring States period, so it can be summarized. Xunzi advocated "benevolence and righteousness", "kingliness" and "serving people with virtue". He said, "You did an unjust thing, you killed an innocent person, and you won the whole world. If you are kind, you will not do it. " "People born in heaven are not for you; Tianjun thinks that the people are also. " "I won't follow you." These viewpoints can be found in Confucius and Mencius' thoughts and theories.

Extended data

The important social influence of Confucianism lies in that it created a set of theoretical and ideological system for the feudal ruling class to govern the country and society, and enabled the ruling class in China to successfully apply it to the practice of social state governance in China, and gained a glorious history of human development in which the feudal society ruled China for more than 2,000 years, which is unprecedented in the history of human social development in the world. It is also the foundation for the Chinese nation to stand in the world before, now and in the future.

The essence of Confucianism is not its theory of governing the country, but the feudal system is only the ideological shell of feudal society, and the essence of Confucianism lies in its social ethics. It is the feudal social ethics that set out from the high expectations of the ruling class of the country and used a common language to regulate people's behavior in real life.

The normalization of moral consciousness makes farmers slaves of social moral thoughts, and this feudal ethics, as the core of social consciousness of the superstructure of the feudal ruling class, has the widest influence on the mass base of governing society, thus completing the ideal effect of dual governance of the state and society.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Confucianism