Mencius' main philosophical thought is his theory of good nature. The theory of "good nature" is the theoretical basis for Mencius to talk about life and politics, and it is the central link in his ideological system.
"Everyone has compassion; Everyone has a heart of shame and evil; Everyone has a respectful heart; Everyone has a right and wrong heart. Compassion, benevolence; Shame and nausea, righteousness also; Respect, right and wrong, wisdom. Benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom are not foreign, but inherent to me. " ("On Gao Zi")
"People who can do what they don't learn have good abilities; Those who don't worry have a conscience. " (on "exclusive use")
He believes that "benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom" is something that people are born with, and it is not obtained from the external world that exists objectively. The theory of "good nature" is a set of idealism, but Mencius regards the theory of "good nature" as the theoretical basis of people's self-cultivation and benevolence. It also has certain positive significance.
Second, moral theory.
"Benevolence and righteousness" is the core idea of Mencius' moral theory. Mencius' "benevolence and righteousness" has a class nature and is based on the feudal hierarchical society. However, he opposed the exploitation of the people by the rulers and the war between the state and the family.
Benevolence is an ancient category of political thought. The interpretation of the word "benevolence" in Shuowen is: "Benevolence is also near. From the second person. " With the development of society, its meaning has also evolved. Confucius' theory of benevolence has given more enrichment and play. Benevolence is the highest moral ideal of Confucius: Confucius uses the concept of benevolence in various senses, which reflects that Confucius' theory is not complete and rigorous. Mencius is also the most benevolent. Mencius' development of Confucius' thought of benevolence is embodied in Mencius' theory of good nature. He put forward four virtues of benevolence, courtesy and wisdom, with benevolence as its central point. The relationship between benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom is further discussed. Secondly, based on the ethical thought of benevolence, Mencius put forward the theory of benevolent government. Mencius took benevolence as the starting point of his administration, asked the rulers to "govern the people with benevolence" (see King Hui of Liang), and also put forward specific economic and political measures of benevolent governance.
Three. Political and economic aspects
Mencius gave full play to Confucius' thought of "benevolence" and put forward the political proposition of "benevolent government"
"Benevolence" and "righteousness" are the core of Mencius' ideal theory and the starting point of his political economy theory. Mencius' political theory is king with benevolent governance as its content, and its essence is to serve the feudal ruling class.
Benevolence, according to Mencius' explanation, is "human heart" What is benevolence? According to Mencius, it can be summarized as follows: 1. Kiss. Mencius advocated that rulers should "share with the people" and "have fun with the people". Second, use virtuous people. "Those who win the world are called benevolence." ("On Teng Wengong") "Respect the sages and enable them, and Jie Jun is in office." ("Gong Sunchou") "When a saint is in office, an able person is in office; Ming's political punishment. " Third, respect human rights. Mencius publicly preached the slogan of "people value the monarch but despise him", and advocated reconciling the relationship between rulers and working people within a certain range. Fourth, compassion. The rulers are required to adopt the method of "old people and old people, young people and young people" to govern the people. I believe that this will be welcomed and supported by the people, so as to achieve "invincible in the world." Fifth, killing people who have no choice is also benevolence, which is the greatest benevolence. Mencius called for a solemn condemnation of all tyrants and corrupt officials who were arrogant by the disabled people, and tried to develop the real society into a political track of "protecting the people as kings".
Mencius established an ideal economic plan based on "minefield" with "benevolent government" as the fundamental starting point. Advocate the idea of "saving punishment, collecting thin taxes" and "not violating the farming season" It is required that feudal countries should attach importance to and develop production while collecting taxes, so as to make the people rich, so as to have sufficient sources of fiscal revenue. This kind of thinking should be affirmed. As a thinker of the new landlord class, Mencius also put forward the theory of emphasizing agriculture but not restraining commerce, which improved the traditional concept of "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce", which was progressive at that time. Mencius' ideal of "well-field system" has far-reaching influence and guiding significance for later generations to establish a theory of governing the country to limit land annexation and ease class contradictions.
Fourth, in philosophy and epistemology.
Mencius' view contains some elements of idealism. Mencius' Heaven holds that Heaven is the highest will, and the change of dynasties, the translocation of kings, the rise and fall, wealth and poverty in the world are all determined by destiny. People want to go with the weather, "those who go with the weather will prosper, those who go against the weather will die", and God's will is irresistible. He stood on the opposite side of materialist reflection theory, denied that human thought was a reflection of social existence, and believed that people were born with the seeds of goodness.
Mencius' thought is complex, which is mainly composed of materialism: the epistemological viewpoint reflected in Mencius contains many simple materialistic thoughts.
There is a saying in Mencius: "... Heaven will be a great power to the Sri Lankan people, so we must first torture their minds, work hard on their bones and muscles, starve their bodies and bodies, and confuse their actions, so we must be patient and have (increased) what they can't do ..." (Under a High Attitude) points out that many intellectuals must go through difficulties. The objective world has its own laws, and people can't violate them.
Mencius clearly saw that the development and change of everything has its own process. He told a story in the book as a metaphor: people who would rather die before the seedlings grow come home and say, "I am sick today!" " Help Miao Miao! "My son rushed to see that Miao was dying. The world can't help the Miao and the old! Those who give up because they feel useless don't raise seedlings. Those who help the elderly germinate are not only useless, but also harmful. ("Gong Sun Chou"))
To understand the world is to transform it. The most important thing is to master objective laws. Mencius used Xia to control water, and according to the law that the water potential drops, it can guide Fukashi, which shows that it is necessary for people to know the world and transform it.
Mencius inherited and developed this affirmation, that is, when carrying out education, we must adopt various methods that vary from person to person. "Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" in Confucius' educational methods. But Confucius' "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" developed. People think that the education of students must have certain standards, so that students have clear goals. The learning methods and educational methods advocated by Mencius are the crystallization of ancient pedagogy in China, which still have certain reference value for our study and education today.
In addition, Mencius also attached great importance to self-cultivation. In terms of spiritual cultivation, Mencius, starting from the fundamental idea of "the theory of good nature", believes that the most important motive force for implementing "benevolent government" depends entirely on the benevolence of a gentleman. This kind of "conscience", "virtue" and "code line, abandon or die" depends on the word "support". Based on Zi Si's way of sincere thinking, Mencius put forward such viewpoints as "one heart", "intellectuality" and "knowing heaven", thus forming a set of ideological system containing subjective idealism.