→ Confucius

Confucius made outstanding contributions in education. His educational theories and methods are full of creativity. He proposed educational theories and methods that combine morality, intelligence and body, combine inherited learning with creative thinking, and combine passion with personality, and carried out rich educational practices in this combination.

Confucius founded the Confucian school of thought. The so-called Confucianists at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period refer to those who are well-educated and full of admiration for the ritual system and culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The rich and profound etiquette and music culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty is not only reflected in some important classics, but also reflected in all aspects of social systems and social customs. It is no accident that the ritual and music culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty became the source of hundreds of schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. The Confucianism founded by Confucius not only inherited the culture of the Western Zhou Dynasty, but also made significant developments. Confucius trained a large number of disciples, among whom there were more than 70 outstanding ones. These disciples made a comprehensive discussion of Confucianism along the ideological direction established by Confucius. During the Warring States Period, the most important representatives of Confucianism were Mencius and Wei. They enriched Confucius's ideological system from different perspectives, thus establishing the basic characteristics of Confucianism. This characteristic is roughly reflected in three aspects:

1. A personality ideal that pays attention to ethics. In Confucius' view, a person should have the lofty ideal of benefiting the majority of people. If a person's ideals conflict with life, he can only choose the former and cannot live in an ignoble way. His famous saying is: "A person with lofty ideals and a benevolent person will not harm his benevolence by seeking life, but he will sacrifice his life to achieve benevolence." This kind of thought evolved into the awe-inspiring spirit of Mencius. With this kind of righteousness, one can achieve "wealth and honor cannot be promiscuous, poverty and lowliness cannot be moved. Mighty and unyielding." Wei called it moral conduct. He said: "Life depends on what is right, and death depends on what is done. This is called moral conduct." Ethics, integrity, or righteousness are the fundamental spirits related to human life and death. If this is lacking, If you are spiritual, you cannot become a real person. With this kind of ethics, you can "act according to your position", "people don't know but don't be surprised", you can play your best role according to your position, you can "stand in the middle of the world", and have the moral courage to shoulder the moral responsibility. , have the sense of social and historical mission to dare to resist evil and reverse the current customs.

2. Education-based social belief. Pre-Qin Confucians studied the origin of politics and believed that the difference between humans and other animals was that humans had social lives and had rationality and emotions. Social rules originate from human emotions and rationality. So they made quite an in-depth analysis of human emotions and reason. Confucius once analyzed various human qualities, and Mencius theoretically summarized them into the four principles of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Confucians firmly believe that the key to making society develop toward a more perfect form is to improve people's emotional qualities and rational abilities. So too do they regard the highest aims of politics. Confucianism has proposed two social ideal goals: great harmony and moderate prosperity. Both Datong and Xiaokang have one common feature, that is, they closely revolve around the satisfaction of people's material life and the improvement of spiritual character. Confucianism believes that education is the most important way to realize social ideals.

3. The cultural proposition of "harmony without difference". Ancient Chinese thinkers preferred to talk about "harmony" and opposed "sameness". The so-called harmony means unity that recognizes diversity; the so-called unity means unity, isolation, and no contradiction. Confucius said: "A gentleman is harmonious but different; a villain is harmonious but not harmonious." This means that an upright person takes harmony as his principle, but refuses to blindly follow and agree with him, but dares to put forward his own opinions; an undecent person blindly follows and agrees with him everywhere. and dare not put forward their own opinions. It can be seen that Confucius approved of harmony but disapproved of unity. This is dialectical thinking. He also applied the principle of "harmony without difference" to the field of cognition and created the cognition method of "tapping at both ends". "Harmony without diversity" gradually became a Confucian proposition in dealing with cultural issues in the pre-Qin period. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Confucianism dealt with its conflicts with Taoism based on this point of view, thus digesting and assimilating the theoretical achievements of Taoism. Later, during the Wei, Jin, Southern and Northern Dynasties, Confucianism on the one hand launched theoretical debates with Buddhism and Taoism, and on the other hand continued to enrich and transform the original theoretical system, eventually establishing the Song and Ming New Confucianism. It can be said that integration and penetration on the basis of "harmony without difference" is a distinctive feature of the development of Confucian thought.

→ Mencius

Mencius believed that human nature is good. All mortals have a heart that cannot tolerate others. This kind of intolerance is the heart of compassion and the beginning of benevolence. In addition, there are the end of righteousness, the end of propriety, and the end of wisdom, which are all ends of goodness.

Mencius believed that everyone has thoughts of doing good (good things), and the key is to have a good environment to cultivate them. Therefore, he attaches great importance to people's consciousness in moral cultivation to resist the influence of harsh environment. If a person can extend the kindness of caring for his own father and brothers to other people's fathers and brothers, and the kindness of caring for the children at home to other people's children, that is the kingly way.

→ Xunzi

As far as the theory of human nature is concerned, Xunzi established a universal theory of human nature "evil nature", and directly criticized Mencius for his good nature. How was his theory of evil nature established? This is a topic that needs to be discussed by post-school scholars. Post-school scholars should also pay attention to the theoretical legitimacy and influence of such a theory of human nature.

There are two steps for Xunzi to establish the theory of evil nature. First, he defines the original meaning of nature, and secondly, he establishes the theoretical proposition that "human beings are evil because of their nature" from many aspects of human affairs. Let’s discuss the definition of nature first. Xunzi believes that nature and human beings each have their own duties. Heaven is material and objective, and man is social and active. Man must play an active role and control the destiny of heaven. Xunzi's definition of nature is explained in the distinction between nature and falsity. Xunqing criticized Mencius's theory of good nature and believed that "human nature is evil, and those who are good are false. Human nature is born to love benefits, so it is right." , so you are born with the desire for ears and eyes, and you have good voices and colors, so you are born with courtesy, so you are born with courtesy. Righteousness, literature, and principles are lost. However, following human nature and obeying others' feelings will inevitably result from fighting, and violating the rules will lead to violence. Therefore, there will be the transformation of learning, etiquette, and righteousness, and then resignation. It is consistent with literature and theory, and it belongs to governance. If we look at it this way, it is clear that people are inherently evil, and their good nature is false. "The Evil Nature Chapter" means that people are naturally born with evil nature.