Second, Confucianism is utilitarian in the purpose of life. Confucianism in East Asia puts the goal of life on this world and pursues its success. It has a strong achievement motivation and has something in common with the values of modern society.
Thirdly, in terms of social relations, the eastern society under the rule of Confucian culture emphasizes the rule of law, but pays more attention to the rule of courtesy, so it has strong educational harmony and stability. This way is conducive to a socialized modern society with close division of labor and cooperation, and this high degree of social integration is the order guarantee for East Asian economic take-off.
To sum up, Confucianism is rational in world outlook; In the view of life purpose, it is utilitarian; It is harmonious in dealing with social relations. These basic concepts of Confucianism can adapt to modern society, and they are interlinked with the spirit of modern capitalism. In this sense, some Confucian ideas have some reasonable cores of modernity. It is precisely because of the modernity of Confucianism that East Asia chose the road of modernization before other backward areas and achieved modernization success before other backward areas. It is precisely because of the rational core of the modernity of Confucianism that overseas Chinese deeply influenced by Confucian culture have made great achievements under difficult conditions.
Therefore, in the market economy today, Confucianism still has its positive value. It can be said that Confucianism is an important source of building socialist market economy ethics and has a positive impact on the market economy. Its specific function can be analyzed from two aspects.
First of all, the Confucian concept of justice and benefit is conducive to promoting the market economy to develop in a correct and healthy direction.
As mentioned above, Confucius admitted that the desire to get rich and expensive is an innate attribute of human beings, but opposed ill-gotten gains. The Confucian concept of justice and benefit, the concept of "ill-gotten wealth is as expensive as floating clouds on me", the legitimate business concept of "just making money" and the manly spirit of "wealth can't be lewd, poverty can't be moved, and power can't be bent" are valuable legacies of the spiritual civilization construction of the Chinese nation and important principles of the socialist market economy, which have positive social significance in the past and now. In the new era, expounding the concept of justice and benefit is helpful to carry forward the law-abiding, civilized business, pay attention to business ethics, and correctly handle the relationship between individuals and other people's interests or social interests, which has more practical reference significance in the construction of today's market economic system.
Second, Confucian ethics has positive value for the development of market economy.
1, honest and trustworthy
Confucianism emphasizes that the most fundamental gentleman's personality is honesty. Confucius said: "A gentleman is ashamed of his words, but he has acted too much" [9]. Treating others with sincerity is not only an important accomplishment of Confucian gentleman's personality, but also a basic business ethics. Both parties who sign contracts and agreements must fulfill their promises, abide by their credit and resolutely implement them. In today's market economy activities, there are many unethical behaviors that violate honesty and morality, such as fake invoices, fake certificates, fake academic qualifications, fake ID cards, etc ... These "fake" and dishonest phenomena run counter to the socialist business ethics of treating customers honestly. Market economy and commodity competition call for the integrity of Confucian ethics, which should and can serve the socialist market economy.
2. Harmony is precious.
Confucianism emphasizes that people should be friendly to each other and live in harmony. Confucianism believes that "harmony" is the fundamental principle in dealing with interpersonal relationships, with harmony as the most precious and harmony as the beauty. As the saying goes, "He who is harmonious reaches the Tao." . It is necessary to advocate a new business concept of "harmony is precious" when applying the Confucian ethical thought of "harmony is precious" to socialist market economy activities. Some people say: "Shopping malls are like battlefields, peers are like enemy countries, and market competition is irreconcilable." This view is one-sided and harmful. Battlefield and enemy country belong to the category of contradiction between ourselves and the enemy, and commercial competition in socialist society belongs to contradictions among the people. There are essential differences between "death" and "injury" in the competition of socialist market economy and "death" and "injury" in enemy countries and on the battlefield. If we act in accordance with the socialist business ethics and the Confucian ethics of "harmony is precious", then we can turn our enemies into friends, turn our enemies into friends, and turn our competitors into partners, so as to unite all forces that can be United, mobilize all positive factors, minimize business friction and resistance, and establish a wide network of harmonious and cooperative business relations at home and abroad, thus broadening the financial path and broadening the financial resources. It can be seen that the Confucian thought of "harmony is precious" is a lubricant to improve interpersonal relations in the market economy and a magic weapon to implement a benign competition cycle.
3. Be thrifty
Confucianism advocates frugality and opposes extravagance and corruption. Frugality is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. At present, in the market economy and business contacts, ostentation and extravagance and waste are serious. Today, when sustainable development is strongly advocated, waste is not only a matter of personal quality, but also the waste of resources will eventually hurt the wasters themselves. Therefore, today, with the development of market economy and people's increasingly affluent life, we should still carry forward the Confucian thrifty thought of "saving money", persist in thrift, continuously increase accumulation and expand reproduction, so as to make the economy develop continuously and healthily.
4. Kindness and love
What is "benevolence"? Confucius said, "The benevolent loves others." [10] He also said: "A benevolent person wants to be a man and want to be successful." [1 1] According to Confucius, "benevolence" means "loving" and "loving all people". From a positive point of view, "benevolence" means "establishing people to achieve themselves" and "establishing people"; On the negative side, "benevolence" means "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you" [12]. "Benevolence" is the highest moral standard of Confucianism. From the word "benevolence" and "two", it contains the meaning of correctly handling the relationship between "self" and "person" On the one hand, "stand up for yourself" and "stand up for others"; On the other hand, "Don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you". "Benevolence" is the unity of "building a man into himself" and "building a man". When we apply this moral concept of "benevolence" to the market economy, we ask people to achieve "mutual benefit". On the one hand, we should be brave and good at pursuing personal legitimate interests and strive for our own legitimate rights and interests within the scope of laws and policies; On the other hand, we should benefit others and benefit ourselves. Competition in the socialist market should be fair and reasonable, altruistic and self-interested, and take into account all parties.
The above four Confucian moral codes of conduct, honesty and trustworthiness, valuing harmony, frugality and kindness, are four medicines that can radically cure the persistent diseases often committed in the current market economy activities. After the new elaboration and transformation of the above-mentioned traditional moral norms, its basic connotation tends to be consistent with socialist business ethics in value orientation. Make it serve China's socialist market economy and promote the healthy development of the market economy.
It should be pointed out that the Confucian way of thinking also has very important enlightenment to modern management. The so-called concept of thinking means that everything contains two opposing aspects, which can be interdependent, mutually transformed and mutually inclusive. The Confucian classics such as "righteousness and benefit", "Confucian classics", "self-cultivation, calmness and calmness" embody this view of thinking. Looking at Confucian culture today, its way of thinking can provide useful enlightenment and reference for modern management.
1. "Righteousness and benefit life": the unity of opposites between righteousness and benefit.
Here is the harvest of property, meaning the distribution of products. The relationship between righteousness and benefit is just like the relationship between production and distribution. In an enterprise, if managers are selfish and unreasonably occupy more property in distribution, then subordinates and employees will inevitably have resentment, while employees will feel comfortable, improve their enthusiasm and produce more benefits. Righteousness is a means, and profit is an end. They are the unity of opposites. Ceremony is the system, and the provision of ceremony is to ensure reasonable distribution, that is, righteousness. If rational distribution is implemented, more social wealth can be generated, people's needs can be met more, and people can live and work in peace and contentment. Confucianism regards "righteousness benefits life" as the management theory of value, and first emphasizes that it is human nature to pursue material interests. Secondly, it is emphasized that taking things should be meaningful and conform to recognized moral standards, and should not occupy other people's material wealth. On the one hand, China's productivity is relatively backward and its absolute population is relatively large. More than one billion people * * * share this limited material wealth and have an egalitarian psychological tendency. The gap is too large, and some people do not have enough to eat and wear, which affects social stability and unity. On the other hand, the social wealth created by * * * can't be uniform, and everyone is average, otherwise people's enthusiasm for production can't be mobilized, especially those who can make greater contributions to society, resulting in low labor productivity and stagnant social development. Therefore, how managers deal with the relationship between justice and benefit reasonably restricts the progress and development of society. In order to make the enterprise full of vigor and vitality, so that every member of the enterprise will not complain because of the excessive income or distribution gap, which requires managers to correctly handle the relationship between justice and benefit and properly position themselves.
Second, "economic use right": a high degree of unity of principle and flexibility.
"Jing" and "power" are a pair of contradictions, and "using Jing power" explains how to solve this contradiction reasonably. What are "classics" and "rights"? "Men and women shoushoushoubuqin, ceremony also; Sister-in-law drowned with her hands, and she has the right "[13]. It means that men and women don't hand in things themselves. This is an ancient ceremony, which is a principle that everyone must follow, that is, a classic. But under special circumstances, if my sister-in-law falls into the river and doesn't have to fish with her hands, she will drown. Picking her up by hand is not only against the rules and etiquette, but also reasonable. Instead, for a moment, I was bound by the ceremony and didn't reach out to save her. Formally, I respect the ceremony, but in essence, I am not even as good as an animal. This is a simple exposition of Confucian classics and rights. In modern enterprise management, many management contents have rules to follow and strong regularity, which can be called "Jing" according to Confucian interpretation, and the "Jing" here is the "Jing" in management. However, in the specific management practice, it is often counterproductive and dogmatic. For example, in terms of organizational scale, if the number of members of an organization increases from two to twenty, then group performance will be improved. We often see that in small-scale enterprises, senior managers are in good order, but as soon as the scale expands, they suddenly panic and don't know what to do. This shows that although they have mastered the "classic" of small-scale operation, they don't know how to transform this "classic" when the scale and number of people change, that is, they don't know how to use "rights". The contingency theory in modern management science puts forward that there is a certain relationship between environmental variables and management concepts and technologies. That is, under normal circumstances, the environment is an independent variable, while management concepts and technologies are dependent variables. For example, during the economic recession, enterprises should adopt a centralized organizational structure when operating in an oversupply market, while during the economic boom, it is best to adopt a decentralized organizational structure when operating in an oversupply market. The "contingency theory" in modern management coincides with the thought of "using power and things" in China's traditional Confucianism, so some traditional elements still have a reasonable space for their development and existence in modern society.
Third, "self-management and management of others": unity of opposites.
"Self-cultivation, keeping the family in order, governing the country and leveling the world" is a four-step management process advocated by Confucius. "If you know how to cultivate yourself, you will know how to govern people, and if you know how to govern people, you will know how to govern the world." Self-cultivation, as the beginning of management practice, is aimed at protecting people. Keeping people safe is to meet people's spiritual and material needs, and the ultimate goal is to make the members of the organization get their own position and safety, which is conducive to the realization of organizational goals. As a business operator, we should pass on the corporate culture and business philosophy to every employee through "example". "Cultivation" is an important part of the quality of modern leaders. Of course, the "self-cultivation" advocated by Confucianism has historical limitations in content and is far from the requirements of modern managers in knowledge and skills. Although they can't be mentioned in the same breath, the spirit of "never tire of learning" advocated by Confucianism is still highly respected by modern managers. Modern management believes that the quality of leaders should have good political quality, knowledge literacy, good style, strong physique and strong practical work ability and social activity ability. It can be seen that the content of self-cultivation is not uncommon. Of course, having these conditions does not necessarily make management successful, because the quality requirements of modern management activities for managers and leaders are dynamic. The original intention of "establishing people" is people-oriented and people-oriented. Among all the resources of an enterprise, people are the most precious and potential resource. The first task of managers is how to mobilize the enthusiasm of employees most effectively, but the premise must be to meet the spiritual and material needs of employees, that is, how to "comfort people." Facts have proved that all enterprises with strong activity ability and vitality in China attach great importance to people-oriented management, such as "OEC" management mode of Qingdao Haier Group, "40% education" and "Five Spirits" of Baoshan Iron and Steel Company, which are all successful examples of people-oriented management of enterprises in China.
Of course, discussing the positive side of Confucianism does not mean that the modern transformation of Confucianism has been completed. In fact, Confucianism has many limitations in the process of modernization:
First of all, the feudal Confucian tradition prevented the capitalist process in modern China, and the gradual politicization and socialization of Confucianism strengthened the legitimacy consciousness of absolute monarchy and the sense of isomorphism and stability of home and country. Regard "complex ceremony" as the ultimate pursuit of social goals, regard "destiny" as the highest category of divine right thinking, regard "benevolence" as the natural morality of patriarchal clan system, and regard loyalty to the monarch and patriotism as the highest belief of political ethics. Thus, a fixed norm of governing the country and leveling the world was formed, and the trinity of monarchy, elite culture and small-scale peasant economy instinctively resisted the social changes with the nature of "ritual collapse and bad music". This national orthodoxy accumulated deeply in the Qing Dynasty and became stubborn and decadent, which strongly rejected the spread of western democratic politics, science and culture. It is precisely with the politicized Confucian and Mencius principles and feudal principles that the old school opposes the Westernization school's thought of "learning from foreigners and gaining skills" and repeats the old tune of closing the country to the outside world. It is believed that as long as we are loyal to the monarch and feudal rules, we can force the enemy to "win the hearts of the people and consolidate the country." The failure of the Reform Movement of 1898 and the demise of scientific democracy fully confirmed the stubborn conservative power and restraining power of Confucian political thought among the elite intellectuals and people in China, and confirmed the people's slow response and psychological resistance to the challenges of western capitalism. After the May 4th Movement, the feudal Confucian tradition changed the modern outlook and continued to hinder China's modernization process.
Second, the Confucian tradition also has many negative effects on China's modern politics and economy. Some people say that the remarkable feature of China after entering the socialist stage is that feudalism has left too many backward things, while capitalism has brought too few outstanding achievements. It is true that feudal orthodoxy was abolished at the political level, but all levels of society and people's activities left traces of tradition.
1, lack of democratic consciousness, is a unified feature of Confucianism under feudalism. Although Confucianism also has the democratic proposition that "the people value the monarch", this kind of democracy is to "serve the people" and is not a real democracy. Leaders' strategy of governing the country with power as the supreme and authoritarian totalitarianism have brought many negative effects to modern leaders in national practice.
2. The ideological tendency of rejecting science is a major defect of Confucian tradition. Since Xunzi, Confucian scholars have always lacked the idea of natural science and social development, and "emphasizing the foundation and restraining the end" and "emphasizing agriculture and restraining commerce" have hindered the development of industry and commerce. The promotion of small-scale peasant economy tradition forced ancient science and technology to stay at the level of empirical science and craftsman technology. In particular, it led to the abnormal tendency of modern authorities and intellectuals to attach importance to political education, light economy and industry, and light science and technology, and the weak scientific consciousness of the whole society delayed the modernization process.
3. The values of "valuing righteousness over profit" have brought heavy losses to the modern society of China that exclude economic interests. No matter how profound Dong Zhongshu's interpretation of Confucius and Mencius' thoughts such as "figurative meaning", "figurative benefit" and "only doing the right thing, but knowing the right thing but not doing it well", its influence on later generations intuitively strengthened the "rebellious" mentality of attaching importance to righteousness rather than profit, politics and excluding economy. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, when the "Left" deviation was rampant, it was even simpler, as long as it took political significance and did not take economic benefits. The absurd logic of "preferring the grass of socialism to the seedlings of capitalism" can only be bred by the ignorant tradition of feudalism.
4. The Confucian concept of hierarchy is a kind of rope net that deprives personality power, resists equal competition and annihilates creative personality. The traditional Confucian theory of "herdsman" and the theory of innate wisdom and foolish personality have caused people to be confined to rank and position, and social progress has suffered the evil of "official standard" that has continued to this day, especially that has not been eliminated.
5. The negative effects of Confucianism have long been manifested in the substitution and exclusion of legal norms by virtue and man. Confucianism values ceremony over punishment, attaches importance to moral education, attaches importance to law and discipline, replaces law with emotion, and is politically arbitrary, which has a bad influence on modern society.
6. Confucianism, headed by Confucius, has repeatedly emphasized the traditional idea of great unity, which cannot but reflect the objective requirements of society. Because political unity is the prerequisite for the survival of the Chinese nation, we must resolutely safeguard political unity to defend Chinese culture. Even in the long-term social life, this thought has evolved into the psychological set of our nation. It is this solid psychological set that has enabled us to overcome division many times in history and remain United and strong. However, we should also see that the political unity advocated by Confucianism is essentially the political unity of absolutism and a political compulsory union that transcends economic power. Therefore, in a certain historical period, it will become an obstacle to the development of our nation and have some negative effects.
Confucianism has been circulating for thousands of years. Although today's reform and opening up is far from the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, it still has vitality, because it has been given new significance with the changes of social situation. Corporate culture construction is not once and for all. In today's rapidly changing market economy, there is no best but better, and only by adjusting ourselves in time can we be better. As the first designer of corporate culture, entrepreneurs should grasp all kinds of changes in time, make new breakthroughs on the basis of inheriting the tradition, pay attention to opening up new channels outside the old communication channels, and let employees get new ideas in time on the basis of accepting corporate values. All these can be classified as: establishing a learning organization with teamwork as the basic form, learning from each other and learning from each other as the basic methods, and going all out to reach a consistent vision. Confucianism, represented by Confucius and Mencius, has attracted much attention since its establishment. In the long feudal society, it has long been regarded as a social orthodox thought. After being washed by the driving force of life, it has been deeply rooted in people's hearts, cultivated and cultivated the noble personality and noble husband spirit of intellectuals in previous dynasties, and it still shines today. We should re-examine, interpret and study it from a historical and developing perspective, carry forward the excellent culture of the Chinese nation, and make the ancient Confucianism make new contributions to the all-round rejuvenation of the Chinese nation today and in the future.
"Rite" is the most important part of Confucianism, so Confucianism is sometimes called "ethical code". But for a time, especially in the Mao era, Confucianism was regarded as feudal superstition, and "ceremony" was regarded as red tape, even as a spiritual shackle that imprisoned working people. Western-born people who advocate democracy and the legal system also despise Confucianism, believing that Confucianism hinders the opening and progress of China people's thoughts and imprisons the vitality and prosperity of China people. In fact, whether Mao Zuo or you, their views on Confucianism are far from the truth. Confucianism has made great contributions to the glory of Chinese civilization. Today, we revisit Confucianism, which naturally contributes a lot to the great rejuvenation of Chinese civilization!
Confucianism is very extensive and profound, and short posts are difficult to involve. However, in order to arouse people's interest, we are trying to explore the significance and aesthetic feeling of "ceremony" in real life through the popularization of Confucianism and the film Confucius.
What is a "gift"? In short, it is the code of words and deeds for dealing with people, which reveals the inherent law of communication with people in our daily life, so as to maintain the normal relationship between people and the normal structure of society. As far as the overall social order is concerned, if "monarch, monarch, minister, father, son, son", brothers and sisters, friends and neighbors are in their proper places, the whole society can be stable and harmonious. In the past, we often criticized that "the monarch and his son" was a feudal order and served feudal rule. However, if the monarch and the minister are ectopic and the minister is above you, wouldn't the world be in chaos? If the father and son are ectopic and the children are above their parents, can the family be harmonious? Extending the relationship between monarch and minister to the present is actually the relationship between superiors and subordinates. If the relationship between the superior and the subordinate is ectopic and the subordinate is above the superior, the corresponding social field will be chaotic. For example, during the Lushan meeting, General Peng wrote to Lao Mao and made many criticisms, which became one of the evidences of Lao Mao's rectification. This is actually a rude performance to your superiors without rationalizing the relationship between superiors and subordinates. Lao Mao took the opportunity to attack angrily and let nature take its course. For another example, the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution was the result of the subordinates subverting the superiors and the masses subverting the government. This kind of loyalty to Lao Mao and thorough subversion of all superior-subordinate relations will inevitably lead to a "rude" state of national chaos.
From the actual connotation of "ceremony", it reflects a kind of respect between people. For example, the relationship of "monarch, minister and father" in Confucianism emphasizes the respect of courtiers for monarch and father, otherwise it will not only lead to chaos, but also lead to disaster. Not to mention the monarch and his son, even ordinary people don't say hello and pay attention to each other's etiquette, which is not only easy to breed estrangement, but also creates layers of contradictions due to mutual suspicion. For example, if a person greets you politely and you don't reciprocate, he will naturally think that you don't respect him, from sulking to alienating you, to holding a grudge and waiting for revenge. The famous story of "two peaches killed three scholars" in history is that Yan Zi paid tribute to three meritorious warriors but got no response, so he persuaded the king to reward three warriors with two peaches, which led to three warriors committing suicide one after another because of their incompatible merits and fears of hurting each other's loyalty.
Confucianism attaches great importance to mutual respect between people, so "reciprocity" will become the wisdom of China from ancient times to the present, and the proverb "reciprocity with peach" has become the best annotation of "reciprocity with courtesy". If you are polite to others, or give them gifts, and they are indifferent, do you still think they respect you? Of course not, so it will be difficult for you to continue to associate with it. If you are too sad, you will even get back at others.
People tend to be arrogant, selfish or biased. In this state, it is easy for people to be rude to others, and rudeness is the most likely to hurt others' self-esteem. Therefore, in order to avoid rudeness caused by bad habits such as arrogance, selfishness or prejudice, Confucianism constantly advocates people's "self-denial". "Self-denial" is to restrain your inappropriate desires, including all kinds of arrogance, selfishness, prejudice, stupidity and so on. "Paying attention to etiquette" means learning the proper etiquette in dealing with people, so as to strictly follow the etiquette norms and avoid all "indecent behaviors" that may offend others as much as possible. If everyone can "self-control", the world will be really harmonious and peaceful. However, for thousands of years, people have not always "restrained themselves" and the world has not always "reciprocated", which is also the reason why disasters have been turbulent for years. This may be human nature. However, due to the existence and development of Confucianism, China's civilization for thousands of years is still harmonious, stable and peaceful compared with other civilizations.
Some people say that in the past two or three hundred years, the West has dominated the world. They have no Confucianism, and only rely on science and technology, democracy and the legal system to maintain a peaceful and developed society for hundreds of years, while China has been declining and chaotic in the same period. What is the explanation? First, the decline of modern China had nothing to do with Confucianism, and it was at that time that the Confucian society in China fell apart. The disintegration of traditional Confucian society is directly related to the invasion of foreign powers. Due to the heavy losses caused by western guns, China people have deep doubts about their own civilization traditions, so they actively embrace various western theories, leading to the struggle between democratic and free capitalism and monolithic Marxism-Leninism in China, and the traditional Confucianism has even declined.
Secondly, there is no contradiction between Confucian civilization and western democracy and legal system. The former only regulates the relationship between people, while the latter is fixed and protected by the legal system. The former makes people "self-denial" mainly through ideological education, while the latter forces people to abide by the minimum human moral norms through institutional checks and balances and legal backing. Therefore, Bai Caoshui believes that Confucian civilization and western democracy and legal system are in the same strain, and their purpose is to create the best social order. For example, in the understanding of "reciprocity", democracy and legal system focus on the equal definition of rights and obligations and the protection of reasonable and legal contracts. Another example is "self-denial." Modern democracy and legal system only use a strong legal system to force people not to try the law easily, thus ensuring the harmonious development of human society at the minimum. It can be seen that Confucianism is more inclined to people's ideology, while democracy and legal system focus on behavior punishment. The former cures "no disease" and the latter cures "disease".
However, despite the superiority of Confucianism, the moral level of human beings has been seriously declining for a long time. Therefore, "self-denial" has lost its due market, and democracy and the legal system have to become the only effective prescription to treat the current human ills. The revival of Confucianism in China does not mean that we can go back to the past. It is impossible for modern people with stubborn thoughts and loose morals to "self-discipline". Therefore, only by democratizing and legalizing the rational core of Confucianism can we find a way out for the great rejuvenation and long-term stability of Chinese civilization. Nevertheless, Confucianism is not useless in daily life. Standardizing the way China people treat people by simplifying the complicated Confucian etiquette will be the best strategy to quickly improve the quality of China people and reduce the daily conflicts between people.