Psychologically speaking:
2 1 century will be a century of great material wealth, and people's living standards will be generally improved. However, if people only pursue material enjoyment and do not pay attention to spiritual and moral cultivation, there will be violent crimes, moral decay, individualism, spiritual emptiness and other problems, which will seriously harm society. The values and morality advocated by Confucian culture represented by Confucius and Mencius are effective ways to solve these social problems. As Dr. Taylor of UNESCO said: "No matter whether we make progress or lack progress, today is a prosperous and successful society. To a great extent, man is based on many values established and expounded by Confucius. These values transcend national boundaries and times; Belongs to China and the world; Those who belong to the past will also reflect on today and the future. " Dr. Taylor gave a pertinent and appropriate evaluation of the contemporary significance and future value of Confucian culture based on Confucius and Mencius in spiritual and moral aspects.
In international relations:
In today's world, politics, thoughts and religious beliefs are all diversified. The 265,438+0 century will be a diversified century and a new prosperity among different civilizations. However, the world today is still not peaceful, and some areas are still filled with the smoke of war. Confucian culture, represented by Confucius and Mencius, advocates the idea that "harmony is precious while being different" and "all men are brothers within the four seas", which will help the diversified coexistence of world cultures, avoid wars, learn from each other's strengths and promote each other. It will also become an ideology recognized by all countries in the world and will also be the norm of peace in all countries of the world. These principles advocated by Confucian culture are the principles that all countries in the world should follow when adjusting the relations between people, nations and regions, and countries. c
From the perspective of economic management, while the "Cultural Revolution" in mainland China criticized Confucianism, several neighboring Asian countries and regions were quietly carrying out industrial revolutions, and their economies rose rapidly, all of which were based on Confucian culture and guided their own industrial construction with Confucian ideology and culture. This example proves that it inspires people to rethink the relationship between Confucianism and modern culture. Some people even put forward "the third industrial civilization", and then put forward the concept of "modern neo-Confucianism". This shows that Confucianism can be used not only to build spiritual civilization, but also to engage in industrial management, develop economy and build human material civilization.
Man and nature:
Confucianism believes that "nature" is a harmonious whole, advocates "harmony between man and nature" and "harmony between man and nature", and advocates a universal harmony. If all countries in the world can attach importance to the Confucian concept of "cosmic harmony", interpret it as adapting to modern social life, and implement it at the operational level, adjust the relationship between man and nature, protect nature, and make rational use of natural resources, we can achieve ecological balance, thus realizing the sustainable development of mankind, our blue planet will be more beautiful, and we humans will be healthier, happier and happier!
At the beginning of this century, German sociologist, economist and historian Max? Weber put forward a famous conclusion in his masterpiece Protestant Ethics and the Spirit of Capitalism: Protestantism formed after the religious reform in western countries has an inevitable causal relationship with the emergence of modern western capitalism. In the book Religion in China, he believes that traditional Confucianism and Confucianism not only do not help the formation and development of capitalism in China, but constitute a great obstacle. Therefore, modern capitalism can only be produced in western countries, but not in eastern countries. However, the development of history seems to have reached Max? Weber's point of view poses a challenge. In the 1960s and 1980s, when the economies of western countries fell into depression, East Asian economic circles, such as Japan, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan Province Province and Hongkong, witnessed the miracle of economic take-off. At that time, when investigating the reasons, people first considered the economic factors themselves, such as introducing advanced western science and technology and economic system, capital accumulation, labor technology and so on. But at this time, all developing countries in the world are actively introducing western advanced technology and experience. Why is there no economic miracle like East Asia? At the same time, people have also investigated the non-economic institutional structure, and these countries also have great differences in institutional structure. When people look at their own cultural factors, they find that these areas are similar because they have been deeply influenced by Confucian culture for a long time. Thus, a meaningful question arises: Does Confucian culture have a beneficial cultural impact on the economic achievements of these five regions in Asia? What are the inherent characteristics of Confucian culture? What does it have to do with modernization?
First, the inherent characteristics of Confucian culture and its integration value to society
Mannheim, a knowledge sociologist, believes that all thoughts and knowledge are the products of a certain social structure or historical process [1]. Confucian culture is produced on the economic structure dominated by small-scale peasant economy and the vertical monarchical social structure with the emperor as the highest vertex in China traditional society. With the contention of a hundred schools of thought, the exclusive respect for Confucianism in Han Dynasty, the integration of Confucianism and Taoism in Wei and Jin Dynasties, the coexistence of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism in Sui and Tang Dynasties, and the prosperity of Neo-Confucianism in Song and Ming Dynasties, Confucian culture has lasted for a long time, and it has been preserved through the absorption of other cultures and its own transformation in the historical transformation of China's traditional society. The reason why Confucian culture has become the mainstream culture of China traditional culture for more than two thousand years lies not only in that it reflects the needs of the traditional social structure in China, but also in that it has formed its own unique cultural characteristics in the historical development of China traditional society.
(A) the inherent characteristics of Confucian culture
1, humanistic thought
In western myths and legends, everything in the universe is created by various gods, and there is a unified and controlled god above god. In China's fairy tales, it is not gods or supernatural forces that create everything in the universe, but great men in the world: Panshi, Nvwa 、 Fuxi, Shennong, Suiren, Youchao, and so on. In other words, the Chinese nation affirmed the dominant position of human beings in the universe from the very beginning. Confucius said in the Book of Filial Piety that "between heaven and earth, man is precious". In Xunzi? In Wang Zhi, Xunzi said, "People are the most expensive in the world". Then it explains that people are more expensive than animals and plants and between heaven and earth because people have "benevolence" and "righteousness" "Benevolence" is the essence of Confucian humanistic spirit. A benevolent "lover" is to push yourself and others and extend your love for yourself and your loved ones to everyone. "The language of depravity? "Yongye" said: "The benevolent wants others, but wants others." The Analects of Confucius? Yan Hui said, "Don't do to others what you don't want them to do to you." . This is a spirit of fraternity, advocating respect and understanding of people. "Righteousness" means that people have the ability to understand objective things, know how to abide by social morality, affirm that everything depends on people's efforts, and change nature and real society through people's conscious activities. So Confucianism is a positive philosophy of life. It has shaped the Chinese nation's hard-working and diligent character, and cultivated the sense of responsibility and urgency for the Chinese nation to actively participate in social life. "Scholars have a long way to go to strive for self-improvement" (The Analects of Confucius? Taber "). "Therefore, the sky will fall on the people of Sri Lanka, and they must first suffer their minds, work their bones and muscles, starve their bodies, and empty their bodies" ("Mencius? Sue "). This spirit inspired the people of China in history to create the splendid civilization of ancient China.
2. The concept of "inner saints and outer kings"
After positively affirming the attitude towards life in real life, Confucianism put forward the ideal principle of real life, which is the famous thought of "being sage inside and king outside". "Inner Sage" is the requirement of individual psychological cultivation, so as to achieve the ideal realm of benevolence and holiness; "Foreign king" refers to the requirements for social education in order to achieve the purpose of benevolent governance and kingliness. "Being sage inside and being king outside" is the unity of life and social ideal, focusing on the cultivation of individual personality, the completion of life ideal and the governance of social interpersonal relationship. Confucianism put forward a series of concepts and norms on how to cultivate people's inner self and realize the life goal of "inner holiness", such as "courtesy, benevolence, loyalty, filial piety, faith, righteousness and forgiveness" and so on. "Benevolence" refers to the kinship love between parents and brothers linked by blood, and the love extended to all people. In order to achieve the realm of "benevolence", Confucianism put forward the concept of "ceremony". "Li" means "correcting one's name" Confucius put forward "Jun Jun, minister, father and son", and Mencius put forward the "five ethics" thought of "father and son are blind, monarch and minister are righteous, husband and wife are different, young and old are orderly, and friends have faith". Confucius and Mencius also emphasized loyalty to the monarch, filial piety to the father and kindness. Here, Confucianism provides a code of conduct for the relationship between monarch and minister, family relationship and general interpersonal relationship, and an effective ethical norm for the feudal patriarchal clan system and the autocratic monarchy system. As for how to implement these norms, Confucianism believes that in addition to people's self-cultivation, it also depends on social moral education for individuals, internalizing these ethical norms into people's psychological process and transforming them into people's inner quality and personality. Therefore, Confucianism attaches great importance to education, and Confucius advocates "teaching without class", and education comes first. Confucianism put forward a set of thoughts of governing the country and ensuring the country's security in the thought of "external king". Such as Mencius' "people-oriented thought", he said: "Protecting the people is king, irresistible" ("Mencius? Liang), winning people's hearts is the place to win the world. Therefore, Mencius advocated "benevolent government", that is, "controlling people to keep constant production", because people have perseverance when they have constant production, and there is no perseverance without constant production. Benevolence is king politics.
Basic requirements. After Mencius, Xunzi put forward the idea of "Shu Ren's security", and he vividly explained the role of "Shu Ren's security" with boat water: "The monarch, the boat is also; Shu Ren, water also. Water can carry a boat or overturn it. " In addition, there are many Confucian political thoughts that advocate kingliness. "Inner Sage" and "Outer King" are not antagonistic, but unified. Confucius believed that "self-cultivation" can "fix people"; Xunzi believes that "saints" can be kings, saints are kings, and saints and kings are one, that is, to cultivate one's morality, keep one's family in order, and achieve holiness, so that one can rule the country and level the world.
3. The concept of "harmony between man and nature"
Confucianism emphasizes humanism, but it is different from humanism after the Renaissance in the West. Confucian culture not only emphasizes human subjectivity, but also advocates "the unity of man and nature" and the harmonious relationship between man and nature. Western humanism is anti-monotheism, but also anti-nature, which emphasizes people's determination to conquer nature and its infinite development. Today's ecosystem imbalance is not unrelated to this "theory of heaven".
Confucius said that the destiny is not equal to the Christian God. Guo Moruo, a famous historian and writer in China, said: "The' heaven' mentioned by Confucius is actually nature, and the so-called' fate' is the number or inevitability of nature." [2] such as "The Analects? Yang Huo said, "What's in heaven? Everything is born at four o'clock, what is the sky! " The Confucian idea of "harmony between man and nature" is to put "heaven" and "man" in an organic system that can consciously maintain balance when studying the problem of "harmony between man and nature", and think that heaven and man are closely related and inseparable. Mencius believed that "those who do their best know their nature;" He who knows his nature knows his days "("Mencius? Dedicated "). Dong Zhongshu put forward the theory of "the similarity between man and nature" in the early Han Dynasty, arguing that man and nature are similar, that nature is the master with will, purpose and morality, that man is commanded by nature, and that there is a mysterious inductive relationship between man and nature. Heaven and man are connected by the king, and the king walks according to heaven. "Tian Rui should surrender in good faith"; On the other hand, if the king goes against the sky, it will lead to "God's scourge". Obviously, its purpose is to seek the harmonious unity between man and nature and maintain the existing social order. The traditional Confucian thought of "harmony between man and nature" embodies the concept of organic nature and is also one of the characteristics of Confucian culture.
Judging from the above, Confucian culture is full of humanistic spirit, organic view of nature, perfect ethical system and people-oriented thought. These thoughts not only had a great influence on the rulers of China's traditional society, but more importantly, the Confucian cultural spirit has penetrated into the daily mode of production and lifestyle of the Chinese nation, and its value has far exceeded the requirements of the era when it was born, and has become an inseparable part of the Chinese nation and the world culture.
(B) the integration of Confucian culture on the traditional society in China.
A certain ideological culture is produced on the basis of a certain socio-economic structure and political structure, and reflects its cultural value. The German philosopher Rickett pointed out: "All cultural phenomena reflect certain cultural values. For this reason, cultural phenomena are either produced or deliberately preserved, although they have already formed. " [3] The cultural value of Confucian culture characterized by core ethics lies in its powerful cohesion and integration function for coordinating interpersonal relationships in social life, maintaining social order and achieving social stability.
1. Integration of values. Different people in society have different demands and desires, thus forming different values. If there is no unified cultural influence, it is difficult to reach a general agreement in all aspects of social life. The reason why Confucian culture has lasted for thousands of years in the traditional society of China lies in that it has provided a unified value for people from all walks of life in the traditional society of China, that is, the idea of "self-cultivation, governing the country and leveling the world".
2. Standardize integration. Unified values need to be maintained by unified norms, and cultural integration norms are generated by the needs of values and systematized and coordinated by cultural integration. Therefore, it is necessary not only to formulate unified norms, but also to internalize them into personal codes of conduct, so that the behavior of social members can be brought into a certain track and mode to maintain a certain social order. The normative integration of Confucian culture lies in that it puts forward a series of behavioral norms such as "courtesy, benevolence, loyalty, filial piety, faithfulness and righteousness", emphasizes people's self-cultivation, consciously abides by social norms through people's inner education, and realizes the integration of norms.
3. Structural integration. Society is a multi-structure system, which consists of many separated and interrelated parts. Each part and unit has its own function, but this function can only be realized by combining with the functions of other parts, and it can play a role in the operation of the whole society, which is called functional complementarity. Due to the unified culture, social structure has become a coordinated functional system. Confucian culture not only put forward the monarch thought of "Jun Jun, minister and minister", but also put forward the people-oriented thought. Loyalty to the monarch and love for the people is not contradictory, but interdependent. "Loyalty to the monarch" is to safeguard the absolute authority of the monarch, and "love for the people" is to win the hearts of the people, and those who win the hearts of the people will win the world. Both of them are aimed at consolidating the monarchy, thus realizing the structural integration of the monarchy and the people's class and further realizing the social ideal of governing by doing nothing. At the same time, the Confucian idea of harmony between man and nature has realized the structural integration of natural system and human society. There is also the idea of sanctification, that is, as long as everyone concentrates on self-cultivation, they can be sanctified, and so on. The function of integration is a major feature of Confucianism. Therefore, it is not too much to say that Confucian culture is an order culture, and it pursues social stability and harmony.
Second, the role of Confucian culture in modern society in East Asia
After hundreds of years of decline, Confucian culture makes people realize its value again, which is due to the recession of western economy and the rapid rise of East Asian economic circle in recent years. It is found that the rapid development of East Asian economy is supported by the normal operation of economic order in addition to material reasons such as science and technology and economy, that is, the deep-rooted Confucian culture still plays the role of core culture in modern society. As reischauer, an American scholar, said, "Although the contemporary Japanese are no longer Confucius and Mencius in the sense of their ancestors in the Tokugawa era, they are still permeated with Confucian values and ethics."
(A) the Confucian principle of integrity
Since the middle of this century, due to the vicious expansion of western individualism and the infinite pursuit of interests, the normal operation of economic organizations and groups has been destroyed. Although East Asians also have modern consciousness of democracy, freedom and equality, and also pursue personal interests, the society still maintains unity and shows the overall efficiency of the group. For example, in South Korea, government intervention in the economy and the role of market economy have been strengthened at the same time. This is true in Japan and Singapore. This is mainly due to the unified mechanism of society itself. These countries in East Asia have long been influenced by Confucian culture in China, so they all have a historical tradition of centralization. Although the monarchy has ceased to exist in modern society, the Confucian ethical order based on "loyalty and filial piety" has been imperceptibly influenced in people's lives for a long time, and the overall summoning mechanism superior to other cultures has been preserved so far. As a result, "the country, as a large group, has the ability to achieve a predetermined goal efficiently" [5].
(B) family management
The western bureaucracy is known as the most reasonable and efficient management method in modern times, which is popular all over the world. Family management is regarded by Weber as a traditional backward and inefficient management model. Today, it has shown its effectiveness in the economic organization and management of East Asian countries. East Asian countries regard country and nation as the same concept, and all groups are linked by familism. In the enterprise, although people have different status, they all have a sense of family unity, and members of the enterprise maintain family-style interpersonal relationships and a behavior pattern of loyalty and filial piety. In Korea, many enterprises refer to their employees as family members. In Japan, the family is not only a unit based on blood relationship, but also an expanded independent social group or organization. Japanese scholars believe that the whole secret of Japanese enterprise management lies in "family consciousness". A company is like a family. In order to maintain the reputation of the company, every employee should work hard and forget about himself and his family. The company implements a lifelong employment system for employees, so as to be ultimately responsible for employees and their families, enhance the cohesion of the company and the sense of belonging and responsibility of employees, and enable employees to link the fate of the company with their own destiny, thus giving play to the overall efficiency of the group.
(C) the pursuit of harmonious interpersonal relationships
In the normative system based on Confucianism, loyalty and filial piety, East Asian countries pursue harmonious and normal interpersonal relationships to overcome the social disaster caused by the expansion of individualism. At the beginning of its independence, Singapore absorbed western science, technology and democratic politics, and quickly became a modern country with prosperous economy in a decade or two. In view of the sudden increase in material enjoyment, personal interests are valued, but the mind is empty, ignoring the national concept and sense of responsibility, attaching importance to Confucian ethics from its own national conditions, leading and planning to carry out Confucian ethics education, and regulating various interpersonal relationships in society. In the process of absorbing and transforming Confucianism, Confucian ethics has been endowed with a new spirit and explanation suitable for Singapore's modernization. Japan is known as the "Yamato" nation, and this "harmony" way of thinking is mainly a sense of harmony, that is, justice and human feelings in interpersonal relationships. When this kind of "harmony" is applied to enterprises, Japanese-style competition is formed, that is, the integration of competition and coordination, that is, the exclusiveness outside the group and the harmony within the group. Therefore, Japanese business circles believe that the essence of Japanese enterprises is "harmony". When this way of "harmony" is applied to Japan's vertical social structure, the interpersonal relationship of "harmony is precious" integrates the hierarchical relationship in Japanese society, forms a cohesive force, and works together for a goal. Pursuing harmonious interpersonal relationship is one of the characteristics of East Asian society.
(D) the principle of education priority
At the beginning of the 20th century, most East Asian countries were colonies and semi-colonies of western countries, and Japan was defeated in the Second World War. Their rapid development in just a few decades is also due to their educational achievements. This achievement stems from the Confucian tradition of attaching importance to education. In order to realize the ideal of "sage inside and king outside", Confucianism advocates educating individuals first and advocating "teaching without distinction". Everyone has the right to receive education, advocates selecting talents through the imperial examination, emphasizes social achievements and status through study and examination competition, and becomes useful talents in society by learning social knowledge. This tradition makes East Asian countries and regions attach great importance to education, both in government and family. In Korea, parents should send their children to school at all costs for their children's education, no matter how poor their lives are. At the same time, the Korean government has implemented the policy of "education first" and invested heavily in education. In China, apart from Israel, South Korea's government investment in education is the highest. From 65438 to 0968, China Taiwan Province Province implemented "Nine-year National Compulsory Education". In Japan, building a country through education is more prominent. After the war, Japan's education funds increased rapidly, from 1950 to 1972, an increase of 25 times, accounting for more than 20% of administrative funds. In the same period, the United States accounted for 15%, the former Soviet Union accounted for 16%, West Germany accounted for 12%, and Britain accounted for about 13%. The Japanese government believes: "The achievements of education investment are characterized by the accumulation of talents. Therefore, once an investment is made, it can be considered as an important investment in production from the point of view of its lasting effect. " [6] The development of education and the improvement of talents' quality are undoubtedly the original driving forces of scientific and technological progress and economic development.
A survey of the modernization experiences of Japanese, Korean, Singaporean, Taiwan Province and Hongkong East Asian countries and regions fully shows that modernization is not only a simple transplant of science and technology, economic system and management experience of western countries, but also rooted in local cultural traditions. These countries and regions reflect, criticize and inherit the traditional Confucian culture, and transform it to adapt to modernization, so that Confucian culture promotes modernization and economic development to varying degrees. As Kim Rijun, a Korean scholar, said, "The key to economic development lies not only in the need to introduce effective capitalist economic principles or economic principles, but also in the need to handle the fundamental problem of the internal relationship between social culture and economy in this country." [7] Confucian culture advocates the values of loyalty, responsibility, dedication, collectivism and education priority, which undoubtedly creates favorable conditions for the coordinated development of social economy in East Asia.