First, the harmony between man and nature.
In the relationship between heaven and man, there are mainly two different viewpoints, namely "the unity of heaven and man" and "the separation of heaven and man". From the dominant thought of Confucianism, it is mainly the thought of "the unity of man and nature". In the idea of "harmony between man and nature", it can be divided into people's active adaptation and control of natural laws, and people's obedience and worship of the dominant God and reason. Therefore, there is "Tian Xingjian, the gentleman strives for self-improvement" ("Zhouyi? Do divination? Like ") and" man can conquer nature "("Xunzi? The extreme thought of Tian Lun; There are also some negative factors in the theological and idealistic nature of heaven and the resulting connection between heaven and man.
From the relationship between heaven and man to the relationship between man and education, The Doctrine of the Mean makes the most general statement: "Destiny is nature, frankness is Tao, and cultivation is teaching." These three sentences outline the basic thread of the logical structure of China's ancient educational philosophy. Song Confucianism further interpreted "destiny" as "righteousness", which unified "Tao" and "reason". It can be seen that the Confucian ontology does not reveal and discuss the natural generation of the universe, but personifies all issues such as heaven, Tao, reason, qi, mind and sex, forming the traditional culture of China based on ethics. Zhang Zai's Cell of the People, Harmony of Things (Zhang Zai's Mingxi) and "Building a Heart for Heaven and Earth, Building a Life for the People, Connecting the Past with the Future, and Creating a Peaceful Future for All Generations" (by Zhang Ziquan? Notes on recent ideas "). This paper summarizes the relationship between man and nature advocated by Confucianism, and puts the idea of "harmony between man and nature" to the highest realm of imagination.
The relationship between man and nature with ethics as the content will inevitably lead to the theory of human nature with the theory of good nature as the main body, which links human nature with Tao, defines human nature from the perspective of ontology, and makes human nature Taoist. Yu Zi put benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom in human nature, which further developed Confucius' thought of "benevolence" and decided that education must put moral cultivation in the first place, and education is to change people's temperament from their inner nature. "Benevolence" is the value standard of Confucianism, and "benevolent governance" and "rule by virtue" are the political ideals of Confucianism. Starting from filial piety, cultivating one's morality and keeping one's family in harmony with the world embodies the individual's high sense of responsibility, obligation and dedication to others, family and society, so that individuals and groups can achieve balanced development. This is a remarkable manifestation of the Confucian thought of "the unity of man and nature" in solving the relationship between man and me.
However, the Confucian thought of "harmony between man and nature" did not distinguish between man and nature, and did not understand and discuss nature as an independent object, which affected the independent research and development of ancient natural science in China. As a result, intuitive thinking replaces scientific sincerity and moral practice replaces production practice. This way of thinking and practice is not conducive to the development of natural science, which is its negative side.
Second, the unity of politics and religion.
It is the consistent thought of Confucianism to look at the role of education from the perspective of political requirements and make education serve politics closely. At the beginning of "University", it is pointed out: "The way of a university is to be well-known and close to the people, and stop at perfection." In the Book of Learning, it is pointed out that "teaching is the first priority of building the country and the people" and "if you want to change people into customs, you should learn it". "Teaching" and "learning" here refer to the whole education. Paying attention to the political function of education is a major feature of Confucian educational thought.
As mentioned above, Confucianism attaches great importance to "benevolent governance" and "rule by virtue". Confucius believes that "ruling the country by virtue" is not as good as "ruling the country by virtue", because the former can only achieve "people are free from shame" and the latter can achieve "shame and dignity" (The Analects of Confucius? Politics "). Different people have different opinions, so we must attach importance to education, improve people's moral level through education, and consciously restrain our own behavior, so as to achieve the political goal of making the country rich and strong and the people safe. Mencius further put forward that "good governance is not as good as good education." Good governance and fear, good teaching and love; Good governance gains people's wealth, and good education gains people's hearts "("Mencius? Dedicated "). Therefore, he attached great importance to the role of education and asked the rulers to "learn from it and teach it", so that all the people in the world could achieve "human relations are bright" and "human relations are above, and people are blind" (Mencius? Teng Wengong "). He believes that the key to the gain and loss of popular support lies in education. Confucius and Mencius' thoughts of "ruling by virtue" and "benevolent governance" had a great influence on later generations, which played a positive role in loving the people, but also formed a long-term tradition of attaching importance to ruling by virtue and neglecting the rule of law in China.
Dong Zhongshu in Han Dynasty further put forward that "politics is the foundation"; Prison, the end of politics "argument (Dong Zhongshu:" The Spring and Autumn Period? Essence), the education as the basis of political rule. In his "Good Strategy", he clearly stated that "the ancients knew this, so to govern the world from the south, education must be the most important task", and he took the role of education in politics as a historical experience and made suggestions to Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty.
Education serves politics in many aspects, for example, the ruling class uses state power to grasp the leadership of education and stipulates the opportunities and rights of all classes and strata to receive education; Formulate a series of educational principles and policies, use state power to manage and control schools, formulate school plans, determine teaching materials, and conduct supervision and inspection; Until the personnel training specifications and selection system are determined (such as the imperial examination system and the imperial examination system in history).
In Confucianism, learning and being an official are closely linked. "Learning to be an excellent official" has always been an important creed of feudal social education. "Cultivate one's morality and protect the people" and "cultivate one's morality and protect the people" in Confucian governance (The Analects of Confucius? Under the guidance of the constitution, he regarded being an official as an important way to realize his political thought. Confucius once put forward that "being an official is meaningless" and "being an official gentleman is also righteous" (The Analects of Confucius? Micron "). In other words, to be an official is to be a doer to achieve his political goals. Therefore, the educational theory system of "three cardinal principles" (showing virtue, being close to the people and stopping at perfection) and "eight aims" (respecting things, knowing and doing, being sincere, cultivating oneself, keeping the family in order, governing the country and calming the world) put forward in "University" is the most systematic exposition of the Confucian relationship between politics and religion.
In a word, the relationship between education and politics is extremely close, which is a major feature of traditional education in China, which is dominated by Confucianism. How should we look at this problem today?
First, the relationship between education and politics. The political function of education is an important issue in the relationship between education and society, but the political function of education is not the only function of education. In addition to political functions, there are also economic functions (including production functions), cultural functions, population control functions, environmental protection functions and so on.
Second, in modern society, modern politics and concept education should be characterized by modernization, scientificity and democratization, and improve the cultural quality of the whole people and the subjectivity of the educated, which should become the basic requirements of modern politics for modern education.
Third, the combination of literature and Taoism.
"Literature carries Tao" and "respecting morality and learning" are important principles of Confucian education and traditional education in China. Traditional education in China is based on ethics and moralizes knowledge teaching and teaching process. The combination of knowledge teaching and moral education forms the characteristics of the theory of knowing morality. The Doctrine of the Mean puts forward that "knowledge, benevolence and courage are the virtues of the world". Because "the knower is not confused, the benevolent is not worried, and the brave is not afraid" (The Analects of Confucius? Zi Han "). "Learning is close to knowing, doing is close to benevolence, knowing shame is close to courage" (The Doctrine of the Mean). Some people understand knowledge, benevolence and courage as intelligence, morality and physique, but in Confucianism, the requirements of intelligence, morality and physique are also inseparable from the content of morality: Confucius taught people four things, that is, literature, conduct, loyalty and faith, most of which were moral education. His six classics, Poems, Books, Rites, Music, Book of Changes and Spring and Autumn Annals, are the most important textbooks in China feudal society except Lost Jing Yue. The significance and function of the Six Classics, as explained by Sima Qian in Preface to Taishi Gong, are all important teaching materials for moral education: "Rites are for saving lives, joy is for promoting peace, books are for teaching, poems are for expressing ideas, easy for enlightenment, and spring and autumn are for morality".
In China's traditional education, it is required to infiltrate moral education into knowledge education, closely combine moral ideals with real life, and embody them in daily life, starting from children and starting from small things. Zhu divided education into two parts: primary school and university. He thought that primary school education is "teaching things", that is, "teaching sweeping, coping, advancing and retreating, courtesy, music, shooting, imperial, calligraphy and mathematics", which can instill moral and ethical concepts in children and cultivate and train Taoist behavior habits. In the university stage, we will "teach them the way of poverty, the way of being a man, the way of self-cultivation and the way of governing people". And pointed out: "The size of learning is different, but if it is Tao, it is only one" (Preface to University Chapters and Sentences). This Tao is the moral code and code of conduct required by the society at that time. Of course, there are many historical and class limitations in these ethical principles, such as the "three cardinal guides" in feudal ethical relations. However, there are also many moral norms that are in line with social development and are applicable to human social life. Until today, they can be modified and supplemented for my use, which is what we often say is the traditional virtue of the Chinese nation. These virtues constitute the unique character and fashion of the Chinese nation and are the main body of national centripetal force and cohesion. As long as we endow it with new characteristics of the times, it can still be used by us today.
Fourth, knowing and doing are consistent.
In the relationship between knowledge and action, although there are successively important points; Different fields (such as knowledge and morality) also have different requirements for knowing and doing; On the basis of knowing and doing, there are materialism and idealism, and so on. However, in the traditional culture of China based on ethics, emphasizing practice is its main feature.
The above are some brief explanations of China's traditional educational ideas, as well as the tasks before us at present: First, when carrying forward traditional educational ideas, we should focus on Confucianism, eclectic, and gather the achievements of ancient excellent culture; Second, we should combine traditional ideas with the spirit of the times, base ourselves on China and look around the world, and build a modern educational philosophy system with China characteristics.