When analyzing and evaluating Confucius, Lu Xun pointed out his "Shentong accident" and "golden mean" on the one hand; On the other hand, I also noticed his spirit of "reform" and "enterprising". For example, Lu Xun said in the article On the Collapse of Leifeng Tower: "Mr. Kong Qiu is really great. He was born in an era when witchcraft and ghosts and gods were so powerful that he refused to talk about ghosts and gods when in Rome. But it's a pity that he is too smart. He only used his usual compiling method of Chunqiu, and used the word "Ru" to mean "nifty and mean". He is willing to swear to Lutz, but he refuses to declare war on ghosts and gods, because once he declares war, he will be restless, and he will easily commit the crime of swearing, although he only scolds ghosts. " "Mr. Kong Qiu is an old gentleman who was deeply involved in an accident." In an era when witchcraft and ghosts are so powerful, Confucius refused to talk about ghosts and gods, which is commendable. Therefore, Lu Xun said that Mr. Kong Qiu was really great. Lu Xun's comments are like Confucius' writing style of Spring and Autumn Annals. "Confucius said:' If you don't cooperate with BOC, you will be crazy, crazy people will make progress, and stubborn people will do something!' In fact, there is no way to find a crazy relationship with the wide range of friends of Confucius, which is also the reason why he hummed "the doctrine of the mean, the doctrine of the mean" in his ideal ("gathering in the south and gathering in the north, inferring from the feet of women in China that China people are not the doctrine of the mean, and thus inferring that Confucius has stomach trouble" (one of the archaeology of "learning bandits"). What Confucius wants is a man of moderation, which he can't get. In order to lead an honest and clean life, it is obvious that Confucius pursues the golden mean, but he is not disgusted with enterprising people. Lu Xun also thought that Confucius had a demand for reform: "Confucius and Mohists are dissatisfied with the status quo and should be reformed" (the change of three idlers and rogues), although the way of Confucius' reform is based on "providence" and "destiny", which is not desirable. For Confucius' enterprising spirit of being brave in practice, Confucianism is also soft, and Confucius is still soft, but Confucius advances with softness, so he retreats with softness. This is the key point, that is, Confucius is a practitioner who knows what he can't do, regardless of big or small issues ("Guan Guan" at the end of "Essays on the Pavilion").
Lu Xun took a calm attitude towards Confucius' personal evaluation because he clearly saw that Confucius' thoughts did have a certain degree of far-sighted wisdom, positive factors and historical vitality, which Confucius had practiced all his life. As a great man in the Cultural Revolution, Lu Xun affirmed and acknowledged some positive factors in Confucius' thought and personality. This is inseparable from his denial and criticism of Confucian traditional hypocritical moral concepts. What's more, Lu Xun, as an enlightenment thinker with profound cultural accomplishment in ancient China, must draw nutrition from China's traditional culture, including Confucius' theory, in order to carry forward traditional culture and build a new national culture.
The most prominent point of Lu Xun's degradation of Confucius' aesthetic thought is the denial of "poetry teaching" and "thinking without evil" In "On Moro's Poetic Power", Lu Xun directly pointed out: "Like China's poems, they express their aspirations along with luck; Later, Li Xian said that it is the cloud that holds human temperament, and the purpose of 300 is not covered by evil. Now that my husband has expressed his ambition, why should he hold the cloud? Strong innocence, that is, inhuman ambition, allows freedom under the spur of shackles. Is this almost the case? " It severely criticized the "poetry teaching" that has ruled China's literary world for more than two thousand years since Confucius, and pointed out that "thinking without evil" is a dogma that binds people's will and prohibits poets' feelings. Lu Xun also analyzed the serious harm of "thinking without evil" from the historical height of literary development: "However, after a while, the article can't go beyond this limit. His works praise the master, get it right, get it right, without words, that is, the heart has to respond. " Otherwise, if you feel sad about this world and feel sorry for your predecessors, you can make a dispensable work and talk about it in this world. Embarrassed words will occasionally involve love, and Confucianism will not be true. What is perverted vulgarity? This clearly shows Lu Xun's decisive attitude towards the negative factors in Confucius' aesthetics.
As for the admiration and recognition of Confucius' aesthetics, it is more complicated. First of all, Lu Xun's exposition on Confucius' literary works and aesthetic thoughts is contradictory. For example, the declining feudal bureaucratic family where Lu Xun was born has been an official for generations and has a strong Confucian color. When he was a teenager, he studied in a private school and received the traditional Confucian culture education, which formed a solid foundation for Lu Xun's classical literature. An important reason for being familiar with Confucius' theory is Lu Xun's admission. More than once, he said, "I read the books of Confucius and Mencius earliest and most familiarly" ("The grave is written behind the grave"), "Looking down at the dead sacrifice" and "Going abroad to carry the quality" and other most ingenious things are all in the classics, and I read them very well "("Hua Gai Ji "or similar" not paying attention to the credentials "as he later explained, was caused by the right time and the right place. Generally speaking, Lu Xun's attitude towards old literature, including Confucius' remarks and works, is very clear. He said: "I also think that there can be no clear boundary between' new literature' and' old literature', but there is a change and a comparative bias" (Quasi-Romantic Talk feels old and later (I)), because the new class and its culture did not suddenly fall from the sky, but generally developed against the old dominator and its culture. There are still some choices in the old culture "(Faust and the Postscript of the City). Regarding how to treat the national cultural heritage correctly, Lu Xun also wrote an article, namely "Takeism", emphasizing that "people can't become new people without taking it, and literature and art can't become new literature and art without taking it." The correct attitude is "possession and choice"