"The people are precious, the country is second, and the monarch is light." It means the people first, the country second, and the monarch last. Mencius believed that the monarch should take care of the people first, and politicians should protect the rights of the people. Mencius agreed that the monarch has no way and the people have the right to overthrow the regime. For this reason, Hanshu and Yiwenzhi only regard Mencius as a sub-book, without giving it its due status. In the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms of Houshu, Meng Changjun, the master of Houshu, ordered people to carve stones in eleven classics such as Mencius, which may be the beginning of Mencius' being included in the classics. By the time of filial piety in the Southern Song Dynasty, Zhu called Mencius, the Analects of Confucius, the University and the Doctrine of the Mean as the "Four Books" and became one of the "Thirteen Classics", and Mencius' position was pushed to the peak. Legend has it that Zhu Yuanzhang, the founding emperor of the Ming Dynasty, was dissatisfied with Mencius' people-oriented thought and ordered people to abridge the relevant contents in Mencius. Mencius inherited and developed Confucius' thought of ruling by virtue, and developed it into the theory of benevolent governance, which became the core of his political thought. Mencius' political theory is king with benevolent governance as its content, and its essence is to serve the feudal ruling class. He applied the principles of "pro" and "long" to politics, eased class contradictions and safeguarded the long-term interests of the feudal ruling class.
On the one hand, Mencius strictly distinguished the class status of the ruler and the ruled, and thought that "those who do things rule their people, and those who do things rule their people", and imitated the Zhou system to draw up a hierarchy from emperor to ruler; On the other hand, the relationship between the ruler and the ruled is compared to the relationship between parents and children, and it is advocated that the ruler should care about the sufferings of the people like parents, and the people should be close to and serve the ruler like parents.
Mencius believes that this is the most ideal politics, and the rulers can win the heartfelt support of the people if they implement benevolent policies; On the other hand, if people's lives are ignored, they will lose people's hearts, become solitary thieves and be overthrown by the people. The specific content of benevolent government is very extensive, including economy, politics, education and ways to unify the world, among which there is a clue of people-oriented thought. This thought developed from the idea of valuing the people over the gods in the Spring and Autumn Period.
Mencius said: "Benevolence must go through first". The so-called "well boundary" means dividing and sorting out the field boundary and implementing the well field system. The well-field system conceived by Mencius is a feudal natural economy, which is based on small farmers of one household and takes the form of exploiting labor force for rent. Every farmer has a five-acre house and a hundred-acre field and is self-sufficient. Mencius believes that "people are the way, those who have constant production have perseverance, and those who have no constant production have no perseverance." Only when people have "permanent property" and settle down on the land can they not violate the criminal law and do evil. Mencius believes that when people's material life is guaranteed, rulers can re-establish schools, educate them on the principle of filial piety and guide them to be kind, which can create a good moral trend of "kissing" and "growing up", that is, "everyone kisses and grows up, and the world is peaceful." Mencius believed that the benevolent government of the ruler could win the heartfelt support of the people all over the world, thus being invincible. Mencius' benevolent policy should be based on the ruler's "unbearable heart". Mencius said: "The former king had an unbearable heart and Sri Lanka had an unbearable policy." "Unable to bear the heart of others" is a kind of pity and kindness. But this kind of sympathy and kindness is different from Mozi's "universal love", but comes from the feelings of blood. Mencius advocated that "Kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss kiss is the political embodiment of this unbearable heart.
Benevolence, according to Mencius' explanation, is "human heart" What is benevolence? According to Mencius, it can be summarized as follows: First, be close to the people. 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.
Exchange children for education.
Mencius' educational thought is also the inheritance and development of Confucius' educational thought of "teaching without class" (The Analects of Wei Linggong). They all regard education for all as the means and purpose of benevolent governance. On the one hand, it advocates "setting up a school to teach it in an emergency" (in Teng Wengong's chapter) to strengthen school education; On the other hand, those in power need to set an example. "Ren Jun, ruthless; Junyi, all righteousness; Jun Zheng, Zheng Mo. " Educate the people with the power of example. The purpose of education is to make people "understand human relations", so as to establish an ideal society with harmonious and orderly human relations, and "human relations are on the top, and people are dating each other" (Teng Wengong chapter).
Mencius has always regarded himself as the orthodox successor of Confucius, and his educational contribution is unparalleled. He not only taught and educated people, but also trained outstanding students such as Le Zhengzi, Gong Sunchou and Zhang Wan. He also wrote seven books with his disciples for future generations. Like a continuous spring rain, it falls in the long river of history and culture.
For the improvement of educational methods, Mencius highly praised the traditional educational method of "teaching by changing children". When his favorite pupil, Gong Sunchou, asked why some gentlemen didn't personally educate their sons, Mencius replied, "Impossible. Teachers must be honest; Whether you are doing it right or not is followed by being angry. If you continue to be angry, you will be defeated. ..... The ancients changed to teach it, and the father and son did not blame goodness. If you complain about goodness, you will leave, and if you leave, it will be ominous. " Because of the deep affection between father and son, the father's education for his son is often lax, and some mistakes and faults of his son are indulgent and arrogant, which makes the correct education unsustainable. Therefore, "father and son don't complain about others", Ziyi let others educate them, which can be strict and maintain the intimate relationship between father and son without hurting feelings.
Moral ethics
Mencius summarized moral norms into four categories, namely, benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom. He believes that "benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom" are inherent things of human beings and are not obtained from the external world that exists objectively. At the same time, the human relations are summarized into five kinds, namely, "father and son are close, monarch and minister are righteous, husband and wife are different, old and young are orderly, and friends are trustworthy". Mencius believed that benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom were the most important. Benevolence is based on filial piety and filial piety, and it is the basic moral standard to deal with the blood relationship between father and son. He believes that if every member of society uses benevolence and righteousness to deal with all kinds of interpersonal relationships, the stability of feudal order and the unity of the world will be reliably guaranteed.
"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.
Mencius put forward the idea of good nature. He believes that although there are differences in division of labor and class among members of society, their human nature is the same. He said, "So, people of the same kind are all similar, so why doubt others?" A saint is like me. Here, Mencius put the ruler and the ruled in an equal position and discussed their universal humanity. This discussion adapted to the historical trend of slave liberation and social change at that time, marked the deepening of human understanding and greatly promoted the development of ethical thought. The highest category of Mencius' philosophical thought is heaven. Mencius inherited Confucius' thought of destiny, removed the residual meaning of personality god, and imagined heaven as a spiritual entity with moral attributes. He said: "Honest people, heaven is also. "Mencius defined the moral concept of honesty as the essential attribute of heaven, and thought that heaven was the origin of the inherent moral concept of human nature. Mencius' ideological system, including his political thoughts and ethical thoughts, takes heaven as the category.
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: there was a man in the Song Dynasty who died his seedling and came home and said, "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"))
Epistemological epistemological
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 the "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" in Confucius' educational method. To be sure, in education, we must adopt various methods that vary from person to person. Moreover, Confucius' "teaching students in accordance with their aptitude" has also developed. People think that the education of students must have certain standards, so that students have clear goals. The learning method and educational method advocated by Mencius are the crystallization of ancient Chinese pedagogy, which still has certain reference value for our study and education today.
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.
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.
Theory of human nature being good
Mencius' main philosophical thought is his theory of good nature, which is opposite to Xunzi's theory of evil nature (Liang Qichao thinks that Mencius' theory of good nature emphasizes the possibility of education and Xunzi's theory of evil nature emphasizes the necessity of education). 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 and courtesy; The heart of right and wrong is also wise. Benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom are not foreign, but inherent to me. " ("Gao Zi Shang")
"People who can do what they don't learn have good abilities; Those who don't worry have a conscience. " ("Dedicated")
Mencius' theory of goodness of human nature only said goodness of human nature, which was supplemented by Zhu in the Southern Song Dynasty as "the beginning of life is goodness of human nature". Wang Yangming inherited and carried forward the theory of conscience in the Ming Dynasty, and contemporary scholars put forward the theory of goodness of human nature.
Mencius regards the theory of "goodness of human nature" as the theoretical basis of people's self-cultivation and benevolent governance, and holds that ethical requirements such as benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom are derived from human nature and have ethical significance. At the same time, the theory of "good nature" holds that everyone can become a gentleman like Yao Shun through study, and it is of great educational significance to emphasize the possibility of education.
Dietary viewpoint
Mencius put forward many opinions on diet, which was regarded as a classic by later generations. From the point of view of benevolence: "a gentleman is a beast, and he can't bear to see his life or his death;" Hearing its sound, I can't bear to eat its meat, so it's a gentleman who cooks far away. " Later generations interpreted "a gentleman is far from the kitchen" as not close to the kitchen, and took it as the theoretical basis for Mencius to despise cooking, which is not desirable.
The so-called "gentlemen are far away from the kitchen" is just a psychological state of reluctance to kill. That is Qi Xuanwang's psychology of "exchanging sheep for cattle", because he saw with his own eyes how the cattle were killed, but didn't see how the sheep were killed. "Out of sight is clean", a gentleman stays away from the kitchen where chickens and ducks are slaughtered. The Book of Rites Jade Algae: Selected translations
At that time, I saw cows with my own eyes, not sheep. A gentleman can't bear to die when he sees birds and beasts alive; I can't bear to eat their meat when I hear their whining. Therefore, gentlemen always stay away from the kitchen. "
Mencius believes that diagnosing diet is the most basic and important thing in life. This is in line with the Confucian concept of diet since Confucius.