Mencius believes that the real world is a moral world, and the standard behind the moral root is heaven. Nature is embodied in people, and this is sex. If people have enough self-cultivation, they can understand the sky and achieve harmony between man and nature.

Theory of mind and nature

Goodness and Four Purposes —— The Root of Moral Value

Mencius' theory of "goodness of nature" mainly shows Confucius' concept of "benevolence", which lacks theoretical basis and has not yet explained the "root of moral value" Therefore, Mencius should establish a "conscious consciousness of the root of moral value" and think that goodness is the basic consciousness of human beings, which is manifested in compassion, shame, resignation and right and wrong. The "four ends" show that moral value consciousness is innate. This can supplement the deficiency of Confucius' theory of "benevolence"

Discrimination between righteousness and benefit

(demonstration of moral value)

Mencius believes that "four ends" are inherent in the conscious mind and belong to the "essence" of human beings, that is, the so-called human nature. Human nature is necessarily different from animals, and this kind of "different from animals" means "dying well". He pointed out that people are not good because they are blinded by selfish desires. Therefore, people should give up self-interest in order to achieve social justice. The purpose is to establish a good personal morality.

political thought

People-oriented said: Mencius pointed out that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the second", and the government should protect the interests of the people and the monarch should take care of the people as the premise. Therefore, the destiny lies in the heart, not in the monarch. If the monarch has no choice, the people can overthrow him; But if the monarch has a purpose, the people should stick to their posts.

Former French king: Mencius advocated benevolent governance, and he must follow the example of the former kings (Yu, Tang, Wen, Wu, and) to govern politics, in order to implement benevolent governance in the world.

Benevolent policy and king: Mencius advocated that benevolent policy should be implemented after benevolence Mencius believes that people have the heart and the policy of being unable to bear it, and benevolent governance is a necessary condition for unifying the world. The specific performance of benevolent government is to make the family give to the people, the people enjoy happiness, practice kingliness, respect the virtuous and enable them.

Idea of rule by virtue

Confucius' theory of "benevolence" is a conscious morality; Mencius' "benevolence" has both educational functions. The monarch mainly focuses on Xiu De, and virtue is the condition for implementing benevolent policies, so he advocates "the rule of virtue". Mencius advocated the benevolent policy of serving people with virtue and opposed the hegemonic policy of serving people with force, aiming at alleviating the pain of people's livelihood and easing social contradictions. Therefore, Mencius advocated "kingly politics" and opposed bullying and being afraid of hard work to serve the people. Mencius believed that the ideal economic system was "minefield system". The "farmland system" means that the land belongs to the state, and the state grants farmland to the people for cultivation, but the people also have to help cultivate farmland as a tax. So farmers have "constant production" (constant and fixed cultivated land), and the country will be stable.

Educational proposition

(throughout)

Mencius believed that it was necessary to "cultivate talents in the world" and advocated personality and moral education. He said, "We should strictly observe filial piety." . Moreover, Mencius believes that self-cultivation is the basic point of reading, but he also believes that human goodness cannot be cultivated from the outside (education can only play an influential role), and ultimately it must be realized by one's own thinking. In the method of self-cultivation, we advocate free development and guide the situation.

In addition, Mencius also attached great importance to the learning environment, put students in a good environment and gave them spontaneous education in order to succeed. The influence of Mencius' theory on later generations inspired the unknown Neo-Confucianism. Mencius put forward the "inner sage", pointing out that human nature is good, as long as everyone develops goodness, suppresses material desires and reflects on themselves. This method of introspection became the mainstream of Confucianism in later generations. Cheng Hao, Cheng Yi, Lu Jiuyuan, Wang Yangming and other Song and Ming Neo-Confucians all inherited Mencius' theory in this respect.

Orthodox ideas

Mencius even praised Yao, Shun, Yu, Yu, Wen, Zhou Gong and Confucius. As a Confucian "orthodoxy" (a knowledge system of the same strain). Since then, the concept of orthodoxy and Confucianism have become an inseparable whole. The influence of people-oriented thought Mencius' people-oriented thought and benevolent government thought are based on the people's hearts. This revolutionary theory became the original idea of China's traditional political theory. However, this theory lacks modern democratic spirit, but it has become the rational source of restraining absolute monarchy in the traditional governance system. Mencius' thought of "producing for the people" has become the highest ideal of economic systems in past dynasties, such as the land equalization system in Sui and Tang Dynasties.

People-oriented thought

"The people are precious, the country is second, and the monarch is light." 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.

Benevolent policy theory

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. 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. Moreover, this thought was developed from the idea of valuing the people over the gods in the Spring and Autumn Period.

Yiqi Chengde

Mencius put forward that we should rely on self-cultivation and the exertion of goodness to fully develop the "four ends" existing in our hearts, which Mencius called "all-out". The cultivation of "doing one's best" cultivates noble spirit, making people a gentleman who can't be slutty, poor and humble, and powerful and unyielding. Then, using the "mind" to control your emotions can become a virtue.