The theory of good nature mainly focuses on the educational thought of being friendly to people. Although it is slightly different from the current social pace, such an idea is beneficial to the development of the country after all, and good suggestions will eventually be adopted. That's all. Now the development and construction of our country revolves around this view. Everyone can feel that the state still attaches great importance to the lives and interests of the broad masses of the people. For example, whenever a major disaster occurs, the state will spare no effort to protect everyone's property and health. In recent major earthquakes, floods and other disasters, the government has sent the People's Liberation Army to rescue them, and it will never give up as long as it is possible to survive. This is the result of the enlightenment of the theory of good nature.
The theory of evil nature is not as popular as the theory of good nature. In fact, just as the theory of good nature does not make people do good automatically, the meaning of the theory of evil nature does not allow people to do evil at will. Its influence on education focuses on the survival of the fittest, that is, trying to win in the fierce competition. The original meaning of evil nature refers to the inherent survival instinct of human beings as creatures. If a creature wants to survive, it must be born. Since life must be demanded, there is no need to deny it and avoid it. Xunzi's practice is just not inevitable.
In the view of human nature, Xunzi pointed directly at human nature, which was more "people-oriented" than Mencius' multi-party debate. Mencius' theory began with the theory of good nature and ended with a slight distance from Yang Mo. Xunzi bears the notoriety of sexual evil, but it has more rationality. The theory of evil nature does not necessarily bring bad influence to society.
In short, foster strengths and avoid weaknesses, combined with application, as for the history of education, see below.
The Modern Value of China's Ancient Confucian Moral Education Thought (Second Edition)
In modern society, human nature loss, mental decline and moral decline caused by industrial civilization have aroused widespread concern. In the new century, especially in the period of social transformation in China, it is of great significance to enhance people's spiritual realm through moral education. The author thinks that China's traditional moral education thought is an important ideological treasure house for constructing the moral education system in the transitional period. Among them, the ancient Confucianism's pursuit of individual personality perfection and beautiful moral education goals, the unity of external moral norms and internal psychological desires, the method of self-moral cultivation and the moral education process that emphasizes moral emotion cultivation still have important reference significance.
1. Pursuing the moral education goal of individual personality perfection
In the ideological system of Confucian ethics center, the pursuit of individual personality perfection constitutes the starting point and destination of the whole Confucian ideological system. The ideal personality envisioned by Confucius is "sage" and "gentleman". "Sage" is the highest ideal personality, followed by "gentleman". In Confucius' view, a person who can "give to the people and help others" (The Analects of Confucius, Yongye) is a saint. However, the standard of "sage" is far from being achieved by people. Even Yao Shun is not a saint in the full sense, because "Yao Shun is still ill" (The Analects of Confucius, Yongye). It can be seen that "a gentleman" has two conditions, the first is "self-cultivation" and the second is peace. The ultimate perfection of a gentleman's personality is to govern people through self-cultivation. Corresponding to "sage" and "gentleman", "benevolence" is an effective objective achievement, while "benevolence" is a subjective ideal personality norm. "Benevolence" is actually a social obligation and requirement for individuals. It regards social relations and social interaction between people as the essence of human nature and is an important criterion of "benevolence". It is out of the pursuit of individual personality perfection that Confucius emphasized the study of knowledge on the one hand and the restraint and exercise of will on the other. Knowledge, control and exercise will become two complementary aspects of personality cultivation, and finally make the "benevolence" of individual personality reach the highest point.
Mencius developed Confucius' thought in perfecting personality design. In Mencius' view, the ideal personality should be "sage" and "gentleman", and "sage inside and king outside" is the basic stipulation of this ideal personality. Sage personality is the highest moral personality, which has the characteristics of "harmony between man and nature".
Since Confucius and Mencius, ancient Confucianism in China has always attached great importance to the design of ideal personality and emphasized the pursuit of individual perfect personality. The pursuit of individual perfect personality inspires countless people with lofty ideals to be fearless, regardless of success or failure, regardless of safety and honor, with strong self-sacrifice spirit and lofty moral ideals. Of course, Confucianism is not without defects in shaping personal perfect personality, but for the current market economy society, the pursuit of personal perfect personality is indeed a problem that should be paid attention to.
Second, the unity of external moral norms and internal psychological desires.
It is generally believed that the main category of Confucius' thought is "benevolence". But Confucius said "benevolence" to explain "ceremony". "Rite" is a set of customary laws, regulations, rituals and etiquette that are externally binding on individual members of society. For example, "filial piety is the rule when you enter, and filial piety is the rule when you leave", which is just a traditional norm that people are required to abide by. However, as the ruling order and social norms, etiquette is based on "human nature" such as food, color, sound, taste, joys and sorrows. According to Confucius, this basic "humanity" is psychological dependence. "The Analects of Confucius Yang Huo" said, "I asked,' three years of mourning' is not a long time. If a gentleman is not polite for three years, the courtesy will be bad; If you don't have fun for three years, have fun. Now that the old valley is gone and the new valley has risen, it's time. "Confucius said,' What's wrong with women?' Say:' Ann'. Ann, for it! The husband and wife are mourning and don't want to eat, listen to music and live, so they don't do it. This woman is safe, so do it! Kill me. Confucius said,' It's unkind to do it! The child was born for three years, and then he was separated from his parents. If a husband loses three years, the whole world will lose him, and he still has three years of love for his parents! Here, Confucius directly attributed the traditional ritual system of "three-year mourning" to the life consciousness of parent-child love, and directly regarded the basic appeal of "ritual" as psychological dependence. In this way, the "ceremony" is interpreted as the inner requirement of adults from the external normative constraints, the original rigid mandatory provisions are promoted to the conscious concept of life, the original mysterious things are turned into the daily life of human feelings, and the moral and ethical norms and people's inner psychological desires are integrated. [1] External ethics is no longer rigid and completely mandatory, but humanized, which belongs to the unity of reason and emotion and has strong practicality. Because Confucius emphasized the inner psychological foundation, in fact, "ceremony" is subordinate to "benevolence", and the external moral norms (ceremony) are subordinate to the inner psychology (benevolence). As Confucius said, "What is an unkind ceremony? People are heartless, so what are you happy about? " ("The Analects of Confucius Eight Shu"), "Li Liyun, Jade and Silk Cloud? Music rhyme, bell and drum cloud? " (The Analects of Confucius, Yang Huo) "Rites are frugal but not extravagant, and Keith Downing is lost without escape" (The Analects of Confucius, Bashu). It can be seen that the external entity (ceremony and instrument) is secondary, and the fundamental and main thing is the internal ethics-psychological state, that is, human nature.
Mencius further developed this idea of Confucius. He regards the inner psychological state or psychological principle of morality as the basis of his theoretical structure, and bases his "benevolent governance" entirely on the emotional principle of psychology. "Benevolence is king" is possible not because of any external conditions, but because of "unbearable heart". "Everyone has a heart for others. The late king had a heart that could not bear others, and Sri Lanka had a policy that could not bear others. With the unbearable heart, I can't bear the politics of others and rule the palm of the world "("Mencius Gong Sunchou "). Here, "can't bear the heart of others" has become a necessary and sufficient condition for "benevolent government is king". This greatly highlights the emotional psychology of "unbearable heart". What do you mean "the last straw"? Mencius said: "Therefore, everyone has an unbearable heart. Today, when I first saw the obedient boy going down the well, everyone had a pity. Either give them to the obedient boy's parents, or treat them as friends in the hard country, or hate his voice. From the point of view, there is no compassion, and it is inhuman; No shame, no humanity; It is inhuman to have no resignation; A heart without right and wrong is inhuman. Compassion is the purpose of benevolence; The heart of shame and evil, the end of righteousness; The words of the heart are the end of the ceremony; The heart of right and wrong is also the end of wisdom. People have four ends, but they still have four bodies "("Mencius Gong Sunchou "). In other words, people's moral behavior is only unconditionally subject to the inner "compassion", that is, "can not bear the heart of others." From this point of view, Mencius developed Confucius' inner psychological principle into a "four-terminal" theory with profound moral connotation. In the whole ideological system of Mencius, emphasizing inner psychology is its focus. Xunzi's point of view is contrary to Mencius's, and he emphasizes the function of "ceremony" of external norms.
The thought of seeking the unity of external moral norms and internal psychological desires contained in the Confucian ideological system has important reference significance for realistic moral education. Moral education is essentially the construction process of individual personality and morality, and the dialogue process between individual internal needs and social moral principles. [2] Moral field is a field where people consciously move and give full play to their subjectivity. Morality itself is a positive means for people to explore, understand and develop themselves, and it is also a way for people to master the world. Because the positive needs of reality are the source of people's enthusiasm, and moral needs are the basis and premise of moral education. Psychological research shows that moral needs are the psychological root of moral behavior. People's moral behavior always points to the satisfaction of a certain moral need, so as to obtain positive moral emotional experience. The fundamental defect of moral education in the past is that it pays too much attention to the social function of moral education, while ignoring the individual function of moral education and the inherent moral needs of people as moral subjects. Therefore, to improve moral education, we must unify the external social moral norms with the individual's internal psychological desires.
Third, the method of self-moral cultivation.
Because moral psychological dependence occupies an important position in the Confucian ideological system, the unity of moral norms and people's inner psychological desires makes Confucianism emphasize moral self-discipline, which greatly highlights the individual's personality value, moral responsibility and historical mission. In order to realize moral self-discipline, personal self-moral cultivation is very important. Therefore, Confucian moral education thought attaches great importance to self-moral cultivation. The methods of self-moral cultivation can be summarized as follows.
First, determination. "Ambition" means "where the heart lies", and determination means setting goals and ideals, so that individuals can have a clear direction of efforts and give full play to their subjective initiative. Confucius attached great importance to the role of ambition, as he said: "The three armed forces can win the handsome, but ordinary men can't win the ambition" (The Analects of Confucius, Zi Han). According to Confucius, one should distinguish between good and evil, be kind and heartless, and aim at Tao. As the saying goes, "A gentleman seeks the Tao without seeking food ... but worries about the Tao without worrying about poverty" (The Analects of Wei Linggong), so he is ashamed of what he has done (The Analects of Lutz). If a scholar takes Tao as his purpose, in short, it is "determined to be in Tao, then there is no evil" ("The Analects of Confucius"). Mencius attached as much importance to determination as Confucius. He believes that the first thing to do is to be "ambitious", that is, "benevolence" ("Mencius"). In Mencius' view, if a person can take "benevolence and righteousness" as his ambition, he can distinguish between good and evil, know clearly what to do and what not to do, and "people can do something without doing it" (Mencius Li Lou II). Since a person is determined to do good, he should be ashamed of not being able to do good. The stronger the sense of shame, the more courage he has to actively do good. "People should not be shameless, shameless" (Mencius). While emphasizing determination, Mencius further expounded his theory of "nourishing qi": "The husband's ambition is handsome; Gas, the body is full. ..... stick to your ambition and don't be violent. ..... I am good at cultivating my noble spirit ... "("Mencius Gong Sunchou ").
Second, introspection. Introspection is an important method of self-moral cultivation put forward by Confucius. He said, "I visit three times a day to be unfaithful to others." Don't believe in making friends? Can't you learn? "("The Analects of Confucius "). Introspection is actually a subjective and positive ideological activity in morality, which can have an important psychological effect on people. "Introspection of innocence, why worry about fear? "(The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan) Confucius believed that one should always" see the sage Si Qi, but not introspect "(The Analects of Confucius establishes a man) and" choose the good and follow it, change the evil and follow it "(The Analects of Confucius Uncle Er). When dealing with the relationship between people, we should "do our best until we die" (The Analects of Wei Linggong). If we can be lenient with others and strict with ourselves, we can avoid resentment with others. When there is a contradiction between people, we should "find for ourselves" and find the root cause from ourselves. Mencius further developed Confucius' thought of "loyalty and forgiveness". He believes that if someone treats himself with an unreasonable attitude, he should "reflect on himself" and realize "self-seeking". He said: "If lovers don't kiss, they will turn against each other;" There is no medicine to save people, which is contrary to wisdom; Courtesy people don't answer, respect people. If you don't do what you want to do, you will be self-defeating "(Mencius Li Lou). The purpose of introspection is basically to coordinate the relationship between people. On this basis, The Book of Rites puts forward the cultivation method of "cautious independence". The Doctrine of the Mean points out: "A gentleman is wary of what he has not seen and afraid of what he has heard. Don't see it hidden, don't show it, so the gentleman is cautious. " The method of "cautious independence" emphasizes that people can be independent without supervision and do nothing immoral. This "cautious independence" method has undoubtedly pushed the introspection thought since Confucius to a higher level.
Third, practice. In Confucius' moral education thought, determination and practice are inseparable. He put great emphasis on action, saying, "If you have spare capacity, you will learn from literature" (The Analects of Confucius, Learning and Learning). "Is it possible to use your strength in benevolence one day?" I've never seen a weak one (The Analects of Confucius. He asked people to be cautious in words, sensitive in actions, and talk less and do more. "A gentleman speaks slowly, but acts quickly" (The Analects of Confucius, Liren); If there is virtue, there must be words, and if there is words, there is no need to have virtue ("The Analects of Confucius"). In practice, Confucius particularly emphasized the importance of matching words with deeds, holding that "a gentleman is ashamed of his words" (The Analects of Confucius, a wise article), "Clever words make his colors bright" (The Analects of Confucius, Learning and Thinking), and demanding that "words must be faithful and actions must bear fruit" (The Analects of Confucius, Luz).
Fourth, change it. Changing customs is an important aspect of Confucian self-moral cultivation. Confucius asked people to face up to their mistakes and dare to change course. He said: "If you go too far, don't be afraid to change" (The Analects of Confucius Learn), "If you go too far and don't change" (The Analects of Confucius Wei Linggong). What he values is not that people have never made mistakes, but whether they can correct their mistakes and not repeat their own mistakes, that is, "never fail." He also asked people to treat others' criticism correctly. "What can you say in French?" ? If you change it to expensive, you should listen carefully to the correct opinions of others and correct them. Mencius, on the other hand, inherited Confucius' thought of changing from good to good, and advocated that "it is good to smell it" and "it is good to move it when you see it". He praised Luz and Yu Xia's actions and said, "Luz, if you tell them, you will be very happy." When you hear good things, you worship them (Mencius Gongsun Chou). He believes that if a person can not insist on his own opinions and give himself to others, he can be happy to treat others well and do good every day. Only by changing and doing good can a person become a virtuous person.
As a self-construction process of individual morality, moral education cannot be separated from individual self-moral cultivation. The method of self-cultivation emphasized by ancient Confucianism provides us with a lot of enlightenment.