1, Spring and Autumn Period: Confucius is the founder of Confucianism and the most influential thinker and educator in Chinese history. His thoughts include: ① benevolence is the core of Confucius' ideological system; He advocates "benevolence, love others" and "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you"; He advocates mediating harmonious social interpersonal relationships with the heart of loving others; (2) Confucius maintained the "courtesy" of the Zhou Dynasty and advocated "nobility and inferiority"

2. During the Warring States Period:

(1) Mencius: Developed Confucius' theory, advocated benevolent government politically, and put forward the idea that "the people are more valuable than the monarch". He advocated "government should win the people", opposed tyranny, and opposed the rulers' "abuse of the people" and "mob". Mencius advocated giving farmers a certain amount of land, not infringing on farmers' working hours, and lenient punishment and thin taxes. Mencius advocated that human nature is good, and goodness is innate.

② Xunzi: He has materialistic thoughts, thinks that nature has its own laws, and advocates "controlling destiny and using it", that is, mastering the changing laws of nature and using it to benefit mankind.

3. Qin and Han Dynasties:

Qin Shihuang's policy of burning books and burying Confucianism was a heavy blow to Confucianism.

(2) During the period of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Dong Zhongshu's Jane Eyre was adopted, hundreds of schools were ousted, Confucianism was the only one, and the idea of "unification" was advocated. Since then, Confucianism has become the ruling ideology of the Western Han Dynasty, and gradually became the orthodox ideology of China feudal society.

4. Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties

(1) Integration of the three religions: After Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism flourished under the vigorous advocacy of the rulers. During the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Confucianism absorbed the spirit of Buddhism and Taoism and made new progress. Buddhism absorbs the spirit of Confucianism and tends to be localized in China. Taoism is influenced by Confucianism and advocates "respecting Confucianism" and "respecting Taoism". Confucianism in Sui Dynasty put forward the idea of "three religions combined with Confucianism", also known as "three religions in one", which advocated that Confucianism should be the main idea and Buddhism and Taoism should be reconciled and absorbed. In the early Tang Dynasty, the rulers carried out the policy of three religions in parallel, that is, respecting Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. The development of Buddhism and Taoism began to challenge Confucianism.

(2) Neo-Confucianism of Cheng Zhu: In the Northern Song Dynasty, Confucian scholars launched activities to revive Confucianism and attack Buddhism and Taoism, and at the same time, they integrated Buddhism and Taoism to explain Confucian justice, forming a new Confucian system with rationality as the core-"Neo-Confucianism of Cheng Zhu". Among them, Cheng Hao in the Northern Song Dynasty, Cheng Yi brothers and Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty are the most prominent, and "Neo-Confucianism" is also called "Cheng Zhu Neo-Confucianism".

(3) Lu Wang's theory of mind and nature: Lu Jiuyuan, a philosopher in the Southern Song Dynasty, regarded mind and nature as the origin of all things in the universe, and put forward the view that mind and nature are the reason, believing that everything in the world is in the heart. He believes that poverty does not need to explore outward, but only needs to reflect on the heart to get justice. His theory is called "mind theory". After the middle of Ming Dynasty, the feudal autocracy was in crisis.

Wang Yangming believes that social unrest is caused by the destruction of people's hearts, and only by rectifying people's hearts can the rule be saved. Wang Yangming became a master of mind, which is called "Wang Lu's mind". After the middle of Ming Dynasty, Lu Wang's thoughts were widely spread.

After hundreds of years' development, Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties had a far-reaching influence on China's social politics, cultural education and ethics.

5. Criticizing and inheriting the traditional Confucianism during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

(1) Li Zhi's deviance: At the end of the Ming Dynasty, the internal contradictions in China were unprecedented. Neo-Confucianism advocates that Confucian classics are sacred and inviolable classic theories, and some people who look like sages but have poor actual quality take this as a cover. In order to support himself, Li Zhi regarded Confucius as sacred. Li Zhi witnessed the formation of official filth and Taoist hypocrisy. It is pointed out that Confucius is not a natural saint, and Confucian classics are not sacred and inviolable. He opposed taking Confucius' right and wrong as the standard, and thought that the standard of right and wrong should change with the times. He criticized the false preaching of Taoism, emphasized people's just selfish desires, and thought that dressing and eating was "the physics of human relations", and people could not talk about benevolence and morality without basic material life. Li Zhi's thought reflects the requirements of the primary stage of capitalism to some extent.

(2) Huang Zongxi's attack on absolute monarchy: Huang Zongxi was a progressive thinker during the Ming and Qing Dynasties. He saw the decay of feudal autocracy from the history of the demise of the Ming Dynasty, and sharply exposed the great harm of autocratic monarchy to the world. He put forward the democratic thought of "the world is the mainstay and the monarch is the guest", and advocated replacing the emperor's "one family law" with "the law of the world", thus limiting the absolute monarchy and protecting the people's basic rights.

(3) Gu Zhu Zhang Jingshi applied it: Gu was a famous thinker in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasties. Facing the increasingly serious social crisis, he abandoned the imperial examination and began to explore the road of saving the country and the people. He attached importance to understanding the actual situation and formed the idea of practical use. He advocates seeking truth from facts and trying to solve practical problems of the national economy and people's livelihood. After on-the-spot investigation, he wrote a famous book "Diseases of China", which described the situation of mountains and rivers.

(4) Wang Fuzhi's materialistic thought: Wang Fuzhi, Huang Zongxi and Gu were contemporary, inheriting and developing the materialistic thought of the previous generation of thinkers. Wang Fuzhi believes that the world is material and material is constantly changing. In epistemology, he believes that everything can be understood through investigation and study. He also believes that stillness is relative and motion is absolute, which has simple dialectical thought. Wang Fuzhi's materialism has inspired modern people.

At the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty, three progressive thinkers, Huang Zongxi, Gu and Wang Fuzhi, criticized and inherited traditional Confucianism, revived China's traditional culture and had a great influence on later generations.

Second, the evaluation

(1) The Confucian thought of "great unification" plays a positive role in consolidating centralization and safeguarding the unity of the Chinese nation.

(2) The Confucian thoughts of "benevolence", "benevolent governance" and "rule by virtue" are helpful to prevent tyranny, social stability and economic development.

(3) The Confucian thoughts of "benevolence" and "filial piety" have gradually become the moral ethics of the Chinese nation, which is conducive to the establishment of harmonious interpersonal relationships.

(4) Confucian educational thought has a positive effect on China's ancient and modern education and personnel training.

(5) Confucianism permeates all aspects of writing, art and science in China, which has a far-reaching impact on the progress of Chinese civilization and the development of traditional culture.