What influence does China's traditional ethics have on today's society?

China's traditional ethical thoughts are rich in content and colorful, and good and evil coexist.

Among them, although there are some old moral knowledge limited by certain history, class and society; But there is also moral wisdom with long-term ideological value, which reflects the moral progress of the Chinese nation and embodies the moral civilization of all mankind.

1, China's long-standing ethical and moral thoughts always run through a moral spirit called "public loyalty". From "staying overnight in the public" proposed in the Book of Songs, to "eliminating private interests with public interests" proposed in the Book of Songs, to "leading by example" proposed by Wang Fuzhi, to "serving the public" and "serving the public" proposed by Sun Yat-sen, the spirit of "forgetting home for the country and private interests for the public" surged, making every effort for the country and the nation. It is also under the influence of the spirit of attaching importance to the overall situation that the lofty patriotic spirit of "worrying about the world first, and enjoying the world later" and "everyone is responsible for the rise and fall of the world" has emerged. In its 5,000-year history of civilization, the Chinese nation has experienced hardships and prospered, with strong national cohesion and perseverance, precisely because our nation has such lofty moral spirit as "Dagong", patriotism and love for the people.

It is precisely because of this fundamental moral value orientation of attaching importance to the overall interests and putting the interests of the country and the nation first that China's traditional morality always emphasizes "self-sacrifice for others, society and the group", "putting others before oneself" and "self-sacrifice for the group". In the relationship between justice and benefit, we put the meaning representing the whole interest above that representing the individual interest, emphasizing "righteousness first", "righteousness first" and "righteousness later", advocating "forgetting justice when seeing benefit" and opposing "forgetting justice when seeing benefit". Although Dong Zhongshu and Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties distorted the debate between righteousness and benefit of pre-Qin Confucianists, and advocated "emphasizing righteousness over benefit" and "emphasizing righteousness over benefit", the basic spirit of China's traditional morality is that when personal interests conflict with the overall interests, justice should be the most important, and the national and national interests should be the first, not at the expense of personal self-interest.

Today, in order to build China, a relatively poor and backward country, into a prosperous, civilized and democratic socialist modern country, we must carry forward the lofty patriotic spirit of "the rise and fall of the world is the responsibility of every man", advocate paying attention to the overall interests, put the prosperity and progress of the country and the nation, social development and people's happiness above personal interests and personal enjoyment, improve national self-esteem and self-confidence, and enhance national centripetal force and cohesion. Only by carrying forward the moral spirit of attaching importance to the overall interests and exerting the great power of morality can we help people overcome the tendency of haggling over personal interests, forgetting righteousness and "money first" under the conditions of market economy, consciously care about the interests of others, collectives and countries, encourage "getting rich first", "developing first" and "developing later" and take the national road of "common prosperity".

2. In China's traditional ethics, "benevolence" represented by Confucianism is an important moral spirit, which is of positive significance to the coordination of interpersonal relationships. "Benevolence" is not only the moral criterion of interpersonal relationship, but also the important moral wisdom of establishing harmonious interpersonal relationship. Confucius said that a kind person should "love others" and "do to others what you don't want others to do to you" (Wei Linggong). "Benevolent people want their people, and they want their people." To be kind, he should be respectful, tolerant, trustworthy, sensitive and generous. We know that the so-called morality requires people to consider the interests of others and society as well as their own interests. China's traditional idea of "benevolence" requires people to think of others, sympathize with others, respect others, trust others, care for others, help others, be honest with others and be kind to others. This is a very valuable moral spirit. Although the universal "great love on earth" is only a beautiful fantasy under the situation of class opposition, the human spirit of "benevolence", as an active and healthy moral belief, has played a positive role in coordinating interpersonal relationships, easing social contradictions and maintaining social order and stability in the long history of human social civilization and progress.

The spirit of "benevolence" is a humanistic spirit with universal human significance. China's traditional "benevolence" is fundamentally opposed to the western egoism of "man is a wolf to man" and "others are hell". It requires people to help each other, care for each other, be friends with others, be friends with everything in the world and live in harmony. In our modern life, people's conflicts of interest, economic competition, the gap between the rich and the poor, etc. It will inevitably lead to tension between people. Therefore, actively carrying forward the traditional "benevolence" spirit of China people in social life and advocating the morality of "benevolence", "benevolence" and "being close to the people" are conducive to creating a new type of harmonious and friendly interpersonal relationship that sympathizes with the weak, helps the poor and helps the poor, and "all for one" and other modern life needs.

3. China's traditional morality has always attached great importance to the moral value of human relations and emphasized everyone's moral obligations in human relations. Shangshu puts forward five religions, namely, the righteousness of father, the kindness of mother, the friendship of brothers, the respect of brothers and the filial piety of children. Mencius put forward the "five ethics", that is, "father and son are blind, monarch and minister are righteous, husband and wife are different, young and old are orderly, and friends have faith." Li Yun advocates "ten meanings", that is, "the father's kindness, the son's filial piety, the brother's kindness, the husband's righteousness, the woman's festival, the long-term benefit, the obedience of the young, the benevolence of the gentleman and the loyalty of the minister", which all stipulate the basic moral principles that everyone should abide by in order to maintain good interpersonal relationships from different perspectives. There is no doubt that the dross of maintaining feudal hierarchical relations in traditional interpersonal relationships should be criticized and eliminated, but the beneficial factors contained in it still play an important role in improving interpersonal relationships between families and society and maintaining good social order as long as they are endowed with new meanings that meet the requirements of the times.

China's traditional human relations thought emphasizes that individuals should abide by corresponding moral obligations in different relationships. Confucianism pays special attention to the harmony and order of family ethical relations. "Filial piety" means respect and kindness to the elders, and "care" means care and love to the younger generation, which is considered to be the basis of all morality. Not only that, Confucianism believes that a moral person should not only honor his parents, but also respect other elderly people; We should not only love our young people, but also care about other people's children. Mencius said: "I am old, and people are old; Young and frivolous, and young people. " This is a very noble interpersonal spirit. In the relationship between modern family and society and human relations, we vigorously advocate the virtues of respecting the old and caring for the young, honoring parents, loving husband and wife, and keeping friends, and carry forward all the valuable human moral spirits in China's traditional morality in the new era.

4. There is a very valuable moral spirit in China's traditional morality, that is, it advocates that people should pursue lofty spiritual realm while meeting their basic material needs, and regard the "gentleman" who is "rich and can't be lewd, poor and humble can't be moved, and mighty and unyielding" and the "gentleman" who loves the country and loves the people, selfless dedication and sacrifices his life for righteousness "as the ideal moral personality in the eyes of all people with moral enterprising spirit. Whether it is "there is a road in the world, you must be martyred; The persistent moral spirit of "martyrdom in the world" or the noble moral ideal of "building a world for the people, connecting the past with the future, and opening up a peaceful world" requires people to transcend personal selfish desires and take the just cause of the country, the nation and the people as the highest criterion of personal behavior. Yi Zhuan said that "Heaven is strong, and a gentleman strives for self-improvement", Confucius said that "the deceased is like a husband, staying up all night", and Mencius said that "he was born in the world, stood upright in the world, and walked in the world; Success, with the people; Go your own way when you are frustrated "(Mencius Under the Knee and Wen Gongxia) has always been respected by people with lofty ideals.

In China's traditional ethics, this idea of encouraging people to pursue noble spiritual realm and ideal moral personality still has important practical significance in our socialist moral construction today. In the process of social transformation from tradition to modern society, some people regard moral spirit as dirt, with inflated selfishness and cross-flow of material desires. In the unhealthy trend of "focusing on money", they become snobs who are insatiable and lose their personality and national dignity. Ideal moral personality is a mirror of national moral spirit. The universal morality of a country's people directly determines the present and future of a country's spiritual civilization. China's modernization and spiritual civilization construction call for us to inherit the precious legacy of China's traditional morality, improve the people's socialist moral spiritual realm in real life, and re-establish a new ideal moral personality with modern ideological characteristics.