On Mencius' Thought of Population Education

Double-click Auto-scroll Author: Yang Guangming Source: Editorial Department of this journal Release Time: 201-2-2 Reading Times: 27 times.

(Department of Sociology, Anhui University, Class 09 Demography, Hefei, Anhui 230039)

China Library Classification Number: G63 Document Identification Number: A Document Number:1673-0992 (201) 01-0026-01.

Mencius was a famous educator and thinker in the pre-Qin period, but few people mentioned Mencius' population thought. This paper attempts to expound Mencius' population education thought from the perspective of pedagogy and demography.

Keywords: Mencius; Population education thought; Theory of human nature being good

No matter from the development of production in feudal society or the source of tax revenue in feudal countries, population and land are the basis of feudal rule. The rulers of feudal society in China and their thinkers were keen on spreading land among the people. Generally speaking, the main line of China's ancient population thought is the theory of "all the people". Mencius is no exception. Mencius said, "Three treasures of princes, land, people and politics." Mencius even put forward the important proposition that "there are three kinds of unfilial, and there is no queen" (Mencius Li Lou). It can be seen that it is the "people." In addition to "the whole people", Mencius' population thought also has a prominent feature of "attaching importance to the people", that is, it does not simply emphasize the population proliferation and how to proliferate, but also attaches importance to improving people's status in nature and society. Give full play to people's role and pay attention to the improvement of population quality. Mencius, like Confucius, devoted himself to education in his later years. The following is a brief discussion of Mencius' population education thought from the perspective of demography.

First, the theoretical basis of Mencius' population education

Confucius put forward the viewpoint of "similar in sex, far in learning" and saw the influence of acquired learning on human development. Mencius clearly put forward the idea of "the theory of good nature", which laid a theoretical foundation for his education.

1. Human nature is good, and human goodness is innate. Mencius said: "Everyone has a heart that can't bear others. ..... shameless and inhuman; 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 Gongsun Chou") "Benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom are not external, so I have them and I think about them." "The goodness of human nature is like water. There is nothing wrong with people and there is nothing wrong with water. " ("Mencius Gaozi Shang")

2. People's kindness is not immutable; it can be gained or lost. Mencius believes that human goodness is only a kind of "end", and "end" is the bud. The influence of external environment can change one's own goodness and be "evil". Mencius said, "A bad husband is also a crime of non-talent. ..... Benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom, not from the outside, but also from the inside, is my own. Therefore, there is a saying,' You will get it if you ask, and you will lose it if you give up.' Still those who don't count, can't do the best. "("Mencius Gaozi Shang ")" Talent "is the essence. This means that some people are bad, not because they were born with no "natural death", but because they abandoned these "natural death" under the influence of the acquired environment.

Learning is the best way to be kind. "You will get what you ask, and you will lose if you give up. It's good for you, and it's good for me. " (Mencius devoted himself to it), that is to say, if people don't expand it, it will be covered up, and if they continue to expand it, they will become saints. From the above three points, we can see that education is necessary and possible.

Second, the principle of Mencius' population education.

He established the ideal personality of "gentleman" that students should pursue: "wealth can't be lewd, poverty can't be moved, and power can't be bent" (Mencius Teng Wengong II), requiring students to adhere to the ideal and belief of "benevolence and righteousness", properly handle the relationship between benevolence and righteousness, and "sacrifice their lives for righteousness" when necessary to curb the disadvantages of "righteousness"

Thirdly, the content of Mencius' population education thought.

1. "People" in "People-oriented"

Mencius not only saw the great destructive effect of predatory war on society, economy and culture, but also believed that without the support of the people by force alone, it would not succeed politically. It was precisely because of the great repercussions caused by the people's rebellion against the rulers at that time that he proposed that "those who get the right path get the world, and those who get the right person get the world." From the perspective of maintaining the rule of the emerging landlord class, Mencius advocated "benevolent government" to alleviate the increasingly fierce social class contradictions at that time, and asked the rulers to make some concessions to the workers, and put forward the theory that "the people are the most important, the country is the second, and the monarch is the least". Mencius also said that "if the people have no constant production, because there is no perseverance" (Mencius Teng Wengong).

2. Respect the old and love the young. Mencius said in Mencius Hui Liang Wang Shang, "I am old, and people are old; Suitable for all ages, there are also young people, and the world can be transported in the palm of your hand. " "People are divided into groups, and the world is at peace" (Mencius Li Lou). He believes that the rulers advocate respecting the old and loving the young, and the world will be easy to govern. Through Mencius' advocacy, respecting the old and loving the young has gradually become an important part of China's traditional virtues, which has promoted the improvement of the overall quality of the population in China.

3. Pay attention to the education of the masses. "A gentleman has three pleasures, ... and he has three pleasures when he wins the talents in the world." Mencius believes that educating people is one of the three pleasures of a gentleman. Therefore, anyone who is willing to receive education should educate them, and he personally put this suggestion into practice. The famous "Xia Ji Gong Xue" has trained a large number of outstanding academic talents. From the viewpoint of "good nature", he advocated attaching importance to people's acquired education. He said: "Everyone has compassion; Everyone has a heart of shame and evil; Everyone has a respectful heart "("Mencius told the son ") Mencius believes that human nature is good and evil is caused by the day after tomorrow. Therefore, to maintain a kind heart, we must strengthen the education of the people.

4. "Gentlemen" and "Savages". The "gentleman" is actually the dominant exploiter, while the "savage" is the field laborer at the bottom of society. Mencius inherited Confucius' view that "a gentleman works hard and a villain works hard". He said: "There are things about adults and things about villains. ..... So there is a saying: Either work hard or work. Hard-working people govern others, hard-working people govern others; Treat people eat people, treat people eat people; The meaning of the world is also. " Mencius said this in order to educate the broad masses of the people to understand the division of labor between "toil" and "labor" in class society.

References:

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About the author: (1987.9—), male, Han nationality, from Hefei, Anhui Province, is a 2009 graduate student majoring in demography in the Department of Sociology, Anhui University. The main research direction is regional population research.