A Comparison of the Similarities and Differences Between Confucian Humanistic Thought and Western Humanistic Thought

A Comparison of the Similarities and Differences between Confucianism and Western Humanism

Confucianism focuses on maintaining the stability of the domestic order and the stability of the hierarchy of rituals and laws in order to respect the power of the monarch, while Western humanism focuses on the ideological confinement of the Church to the human being, replacing the divine with the human nature in order to realize the freedom of human beings. Points of comparison, for reference only, welcome to read.

An Introduction to the Comparison of the Differences and Similarities between Confucian Humanistic Thought and Western Humanistic Thought Part 1

Keywords: Confucian Humanistic Thought, Western Humanism, Collective Orientation, Individual Orientation

Abstract of the Thesis: Under the historical sky of the development of anthropology, the East and West have made their own contributions to the development of human culture. Both the East and the West have made their own contributions to the development of human culture. Eastern humanistic thought is represented by Confucian humanistic thought, which establishes the historical tone of Eastern culture and forms the Eastern cultural tradition based on the collective; Western humanism, on the contrary, forms the Western cultural gene based on the individual. In the context of the historical change of social structure brought about by the market economy and the increasing diversification of social and cultural values, it is of great significance for the development of a harmonious culture and the construction of a harmonious society to explore the beneficial parts of the humanistic cultures of the East and the West.

Under the historical sky of anthropological development, both the East and the West have made their own contributions to the development of human culture. Humanism has long been regarded as one of the basic features and elements of Western culture. Starting from the Renaissance, humanism, with the pursuit of freedom, equality and personality liberation as its main spirit, began to be established, and since then, with the success of the industrial modernization of Western society, humanism has thrived and borne fruit in Western society, making it the basic spirit of Western culture. In contrast, does Eastern culture, with Confucianism at its core, also contain humanistic thinking? What is the main difference between it and Western humanism? In the author's opinion, the Eastern culture represented by Confucianism is rich in humanistic thoughts, and the difference between them and Western humanism mainly lies in the difference of value orientation. The following is a comparison.

Eastern humanistic thought is first represented by Confucianism, the core of Confucian culture is the idea of benevolence. Ren initially refers to the daily etiquette of a certain ethnic group, indicating the behavior of two people greeting each other, a kind of humble demeanor. Confucius borrowed it to express his thoughts. Confucius said that a benevolent person loves others. Confucius's anthropological thought mainly includes the following aspects: first, Confucius put forward the "nature is similar to each other, the habit is far away."

They are both human-centered, with the reality of life as the starting point, both oppose or set aside theology, and take a positive attitude towards life. Confucianism advocates the doctrine of benevolence and love, from pro pro to pan love of all, from pan love of all to the king "Bo Shi to the people and can help the people", with a positive 'human attitude towards all beings in the community, to deal with the relationship between people with a positive attitude towards human beings, "I want to stand up and stand up for the people, and I want to reach the people and reach the people "The spirit of life has influenced generations of Chinese men of benevolence. The spirit of Qianjian in the I Ching - Qian Gua, "Heaven walks with health, and the gentleman is unceasing in self-improvement," is a reflection of the spirit of the Chinese nation. Western humanism starts from opposing the rule of theology over human beings, exalts the rational spirit of human beings, pursues realistic happiness in life, and demands the restoration of various rights of human beings, reflecting the positive and optimistic spirit of the emerging bourgeoisie. In dealing with the world of ghosts and gods outside of man, Confucianism obviously adopted a shelving attitude, which objectively influenced the atheistic thought in China. Confucianism emphasizes that the real world of human beings is above all else, and that things should not be dealt with in such a way as to jeopardize human beings' normal right to life and survival, all of which are valuable aspects of Confucianism. Western humanism, on the other hand, is clearly opposed to the oppression of theocracy, and they oppose theocracy to human rights, believing that only by overthrowing the rule of feudal theocracy can man himself be completely liberated.

The difference between Confucian humanistic thought and Western humanism

First, in the treatment of the relationship between human beings and nature, Confucianism focuses on the harmony between human beings and nature, emphasizing the "unity of man and nature"; Western humanism emphasizes the human desires and requirements as a starting point, and takes the conquest of nature as a way to conquer, to make the world a better place for human beings. Western humanism emphasizes human desires and requirements as the starting point, and takes the way of conquering and plundering the nature, emphasizing the concept of "heaven and man competing with each other". The I Ching, as the first of the five Confucian classics, embodies the cultural connotation of the spirit of "unity of heaven and mankind", which is further elaborated in the Yi Chuan, which mainly says that people have to carefully observe, recognize and adapt to nature, that is, they have to learn from nature and constantly improve their ability to survive, and they have to exercise moderation, Moderate use of nature for the benefit of mankind, to achieve the harmonious development of man and nature.

Secondly, Confucian humanistic thinking is based on the collective; Western humanism is based on the individual. Confucian humanistic ideology attaches importance to the interests of the family, the family, the state such collective interests, individual interests must be based on the premise of the collective interests, to the family to filial piety and fraternal duty as the core, to the country to be loyal to the basic value, so collectivism is the main value orientation of Confucianism. Western humanism, on the other hand, attaches more importance to the interests and rights of the individual, they emphasize the freedom of the individual, focusing on the individual's struggle and the rights of the individual, the sanctity of private rights and property, and sometimes even for the sake of personal self-interest without regard for the interests of the country.

Third, Confucian humanistic thought emphasizes goodness over wisdom, while Western humanism values natural science and reason. Confucianism takes the goodness of personality as its greatest aim, and therefore attaches great importance to the moral perfection of human beings, emphasizes self-restraint, and stresses that self-cultivation and family unification are the most basic moral requirements of a person. Since China has long been in the period of agrarian economy, the demand for natural science and technology is not very high, which objectively results in Confucianism not attaching importance to the development of natural science knowledge, but rather to the perfection of one's own character and the stability of the state order. Therefore, Confucianism paid special attention to the "rule of virtue", which had a far-reaching influence on Chinese society. Dong Zhongshu's famous assertion that "to be righteous is not to seek profit" actually facilitated and promoted the religiosity of Confucian benevolence, objectively shaping the tendency of traditional Chinese ethical culture to emphasize righteousness rather than profit. This has had a long-term negative impact on the development of the Chinese nation. Western humanism attaches importance to natural science knowledge, from the ancient Greek era of "virtue is knowledge" to the modern Bacon's "knowledge is power", in the West has formed an excellent tradition of respect for knowledge. With the development of European capitalist society, natural science in modern Europe has also formed and developed, and promoted the development of natural philosophy. Natural philosophy emphasizes natural science and reason, and they seek to oppose the medieval solipsistic feudal theology with science and reason, in order to liberate man and nature under the rule of theology.

Third, the revelation and significance of the comparison between the two

Confucian humanistic thought and Western humanism are the mainstream values in the East and West cultural traditions, and both of them have had a fundamental impact on the development and progress of their respective societies, and the modernization of Confucian culture cannot be separated from the borrowing of Western culture. Especially in today's era of cultural globalization, cultural pluralism has become a trend, and Western societies are gradually recognizing the value of Eastern culture, which is of great significance in solving some of the difficult problems faced in today's era of globalization. Therefore, how to enhance traditional culture to adapt to the needs of modernization and solve the difficult problems in the era of globalization has become an urgent task. The Confucian humanistic ideology of the unity of heaven and man, harmony **** life, the whole over the individual and other contents are reasonable, and the re-interpretation of these contents will inevitably play a due role in the development of today's human beings. In the process of China's socialist modernization, freedom, equality, human rights, the rule of law and other cultures with a modern spirit originating from Western humanistic thought also have an important value. The culture of modernity has its direct origin in the humanism of the West since the Renaissance, which respects science, rationality and the rights of the individual, and these factors are very important for China, which is inherently deficient in modernity. We should seriously study and learn from them, so as to make them conducive to the construction of China's modernization. At the same time, both cultures are products of their own times and inevitably have their limitations, so we should recognize their shortcomings and make fewer mistakes when learning from them. Confucian humanistic thinking pays too much attention to the stability of the whole and ignores the reasonable desires of the individual, thus resulting in the lack of momentum for social development, hovering at a long time at a low level under the feudal agrarian economy, and the low level of development of the quality of people's livelihood, which ultimately results in the backwardness of the historical reality of the modern era. We must be vigilant in developing our traditional culture and must not make the same mistake again. Western humanism has overemphasized man's conquest of nature, resulting in today's environmental crisis and energy depletion, directly affecting the sustainable development of mankind; overemphasized man's various desires and requirements, resulting in the proliferation of various evil natures in human nature, causing social chaos, moral decline, and bringing uneasiness and trepidation to people's lives; these phenomena are the undesirable consequences of Western humanism, and they must be scientifically summed up. We are building socialism and modernization today, which is to be guided by the Marxist idea of comprehensive and free development of human beings, to draw on the culture of human rights, rule of law, freedom and science as the main culture with modernity in Western humanism, and to develop the culture with vitality in the national culture, and to elevate it to the height of modernization, and to innovate and develop the advanced culture in line with the requirements of the socialist and harmonious society.

References:

[1]Yang Bojun. The Analects of Confucius [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua Shubu, 1980.

[2]Yang Bojun. Mengzi [M]. Beijing: Zhonghua shub, 2005.

[3] Zhang Chunian. From Reason to Faith - A Study of Italian Humanism [M]. Hangzhou: Zhejiang People's Publishing House, 1996.

A Comparison of the Similarities and Differences between Confucian Humanistic Thought and Western Humanistic Thought Part 2

Similarities

(1) Both focus on human beings and human society. The thinking of ancient Greek philosophers was full of humanism, emphasizing the dignity and value of human beings. But humanistic thinking is not unique to the West, Confucius advocated the love of man, Mencius's "human nature is good", Xunzi's "human nature is evil", Dong Zhongshu's "Three Principles and Five Constants". The "Heavenly Human Induction" and so on, all care about people and human society.

(2) All of them regard morality as the foundation of politics, and believe that correcting morality is the root of revitalizing the state and saving the country. Confucius regarded the root cause of "the collapse of rites and music" as people's moral degeneration, so the core of Confucianism is the doctrine of "benevolence" and "propriety". Therefore, the core of Confucianism is the doctrine of "benevolence" and "propriety", and "restoring oneself to propriety" means "being benevolent". The connotation of "benevolence" is extremely rich, but its core content is "loving people", starting from loving parents and brothers to "loving all people". Confucius built the foundation for the restoration of ideal politics on the individual's moral psychology, transforming the compulsory constraints of external norms into the inner conscious demands of the human heart, thus integrating ethical norms with psychological desires. Socrates, the ancient Greek philosopher, believed that in order to govern the politics of the city-state, we must improve people's souls, cultivate good citizens, and teach people by virtue, and rule them by virtue.

Differences

(1) The focus on human attributes is different. Confucianism emphasizes the "social" person, while the ancient Greek thinkers put special emphasis on the "individual" person. Confucianism believes that each person should take up his or her due responsibility and role in society and family, advocates the value of human relationships, and emphasizes the position of each person in social and human relationships. Protagoras of the Greek School of Wisdom believed that "man is the measure of all things", emphasized the subjective feelings of individuals, and often spoke and thought entirely from the perspective and interests of individuals. They denied authority and dared to innovate.

(2) dealing with the relationship between the individual and society with a different focus. Confucianism emphasizes the hierarchical order of society, and ancient Greek philosophers emphasized the equality of man. Confucianism attaches great importance to ethical principles, "three principles and five rules" in the view of Confucianism is the natural order, eternal and unchanging, and Confucius pursuit of a society of etiquette and music in fact, in the monarch of the ruling system under the top and bottom of the hierarchical order of superiority and inferiority. This played an important role in maintaining the authoritarian political system. The radicals of the ancient Greek School of Wisdom were opposed to the clear-cut class distinctions and inequalities that existed in the city-states, and demanded that equality in education, property, and race be realized in the city-states. The Stoics, on the other hand, believed that all human beings are born with reason, and that all human beings are born equal, and for the first time in the history of mankind, they argued for the human rights, freedom and equality as the core theories of Western humanism, laying the ideological foundation for the emergence of modern democratic politics in the West.

(3) The research attitude of natural science is different. Confucianism emphasizes that man and nature are one, and speaks of the unity of heaven and man, but Confucianism in the study of man and nature, it focuses on social and humanistic issues as the theme of the study, ignoring the exploration of natural science. Ancient Greek thinkers used different approaches to the exploration of nature and human beings, so that in its humanist spirit is full of rationality and passion, rationality is the power to cognize the world, invent technology, and explore the mysteries of the universe and nature; passion is the pursuit of romance, search for happiness, and appreciation of the power of beauty. The ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle was concerned with the natural world and human life.

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