Governing the country is the noblest way to govern the country. This strategy of governing the country is also called "rule by virtue" or "rule by courtesy". In fact, this strategy broke the traditional creed that courtesy is no less than Shu Ren's, and broke the original important boundary between nobles and civilians. Confucius' theory of benevolence embodies the spirit of human nature, while Confucius' theory of propriety embodies the spirit of etiquette, that is, order and system in the modern sense. Humanism is the eternal theme of mankind, which is applicable to any society, any era and any government, and order and institutional society are the basic requirements for establishing a civilized human society. This humanitarianism and order spirit of Confucius is the essence of China's ancient social and political thought. Economic Thought The most important economic thought of Confucius is the concept of valuing righteousness over profit, the concept of "distinguishing right from wrong" and the idea of "enriching people". This is also the main content of Confucian economic thought. Have a great influence on future generations. Confucius' so-called "righteousness" is a social moral standard, and "profit" refers to people's pursuit of material interests. In the relationship between "righteousness" and "benefit", Confucius put "righteousness" in the first place. He said, "see what you want". (1) requires people to consider how to conform to "righteousness" before material interests. He believes that "righteousness follows", that is, it can only be obtained if it conforms to "righteousness". Confucius even suggested in The Analects of Confucius Zi Han that it is necessary to talk less about "profit", but we should not avoid it. "Zuo Zhuan's Two Years of Success" records that doing immoral things to get rich is like floating clouds, and ② disdaining ill-gotten gains. Confucius also believed that the attitude towards "righteousness" and "benefit" can distinguish "gentlemen" from "villains". A moral "gentleman" can easily understand the importance of "righteousness", while a "villain" who lacks moral cultivation only knows "Confucius in film and television works".
"And I don't know" righteousness ". This is what Confucius said in the Analects of Liren: "A gentleman is righteous and a villain is beneficial". Some people think that since Confucius values righteousness, he must despise manual labor. This view is wrong. According to the Analects of Confucius, he was very dissatisfied with Fan Chi, a disciple who wanted to study agriculture, and called him a "villain". This is because Confucius believes that people should have greater ideals and pursuits and shoulder greater responsibilities. He wants his students to be value bearers, not farmers. Because of Confucius' conservative political attitude, the reform of economic system also reflects conservative thoughts. For example, in the fifteenth year of Shandong (594 BC), the "initial tax mu" was implemented to legally recognize the legal status of private land, which was a major economic reform in the Spring and Autumn Period; However, according to Zuo Zhuan, Confucius recorded the "first tax mu" when compiling Spring and Autumn Annals, in order to criticize its "indecency". People are not rich, and you are not rich. It is also recorded in the Analects of Confucius that Confucius advocated "benefiting people", that is, doing things that are beneficial to the people. On the other hand, he advocated that taxes should be lighter, and the apportionment of corvees should not delay the farming season. According to the Analects of Confucius, Confucius also preached to politicians at that time, demanding that politicians should not be too extravagant and pay attention to thrift. He said: "luxury is not bad, frugal and solid." Better solid than bad. At the same time, it also advocates "saving and loving others". This includes applying Confucius' thought of "benevolence" to the economic field. Education Thought Confucius put forward for the first time in the history of China that people's natural qualities are similar, and the difference in personality is mainly influenced by acquired education and social environment ("similar in sex, far from learning"). Therefore, everyone can be educated and everyone should be educated. He advocated "no education for all", founded private schools and enrolled more students, which broke the monopoly of slave owners and nobles on school education and expanded the scope of education to civilians, conforming to the trend of social development at that time. He advocated "learning officials" and became an official after his studies. The purpose of his education is to cultivate a political gentleman, who must have high moral quality. Therefore, Confucius emphasized that moral education must be placed in the first place in school education ("Disciples are filial when they enter, filial when they leave, sincere and trustworthy, loving the people and being kind. Learn to write if you have spare capacity "). The main contents of Confucius' moral education are "courtesy" and "benevolence". Among them, "courtesy" is the moral standard, and "benevolence" is the highest moral standard. " "Rite" is the form of "benevolence" and "benevolence" is the content of "ceremony". With the spirit of "benevolence", "ceremony" can be truly enriched. In terms of moral cultivation, he put forward methods such as determination, self-denial, practice, introspection and courage to reform. "Learning and knowing" is the dominant idea of Confucius' teaching thought. While advocating being shameless and eager to learn, he emphasized the combination of learning and thinking ("learning without thinking is useless, thinking without learning is dangerous"), and at the same time, he should "apply what he has learned" and apply what he has learned to social practice. He first proposed heuristic teaching. He said, "No anger, no anger, no anger." This means that when students think seriously and reach a certain level, teachers should inspire and inspire students. He was also the earliest educator who adopted the method of teaching students in accordance with their aptitude in teaching practice. Through conversation and individual observation, he understands and is familiar with students' personality characteristics. On this basis, according to the specific situation of each student, different educational methods are adopted to cultivate talents in morality, language, politics and literature. Confucius loved education and engaged in educational activities all his life. He never tires of learning and teaching. We should not only teach by example, but also lead by example and influence students with our own example behavior. He loves his students and they respect him very much. The relationship between teachers and students is very harmonious. He is a shining example of ancient teachers in China. Confucius' educational activities not only cultivated many students, but also put forward his educational theory on the basis of practice, which laid a theoretical foundation for China's ancient education. The core of Confucius' aesthetic thought is the unity of "beauty" and "goodness", and the unity of form and content. Confucius advocated "poetry teaching", that is, combining literature and art with political morality, and taking literature and art as a means to change social politics and an important way to cultivate sentiment. Confucius believes that a perfect person should cultivate his self-cultivation in three aspects: poetry, ceremony and music. Confucius' aesthetic thought has a great influence on later literary theories.