Pre-Qin is the source and soil of human rights thought. The human rights of pre-Qin Dynasty, especially the Confucian humanities, placed great emphasis on "benevolence". In addition, "benevolence" is not a narrow sense of Confucian benevolence theory, but generally refers to the major schools of thought in the pre-Qin period regarding human life, rights and the relationship between people. Regarding "Ren", "Shuowen Jiezi" explains: "Ren, kinship, from people, two." The two are "Ren", and the essence of "Ren" is to emphasize the close relationship between people. In the pre-Qin period, the issue of "benevolence" or "people" was one of the basic issues shared by all major schools of thought, because issues such as human value, rights, and relationships between people are related to human life. survival and social progress and development. Confucianism takes "benevolence" and love as the core of its thinking. It believes that "benevolence" is the inner nature and desire that everyone should have, and the "ritual" that distinguishes people into different levels of honor and inferiority, superiority and inferiority, high and low, noble and inferior, is also the Taking "benevolence" as the core and serving the realization of "benevolence". "Benevolence" is inside and "propriety" is outside. Without "benevolence", "propriety" is meaningless. The purpose of "denying oneself and restoring propriety" is to make "the world return to benevolence." This "benevolence" is a reflection of the new social trends of the Spring and Autumn Period. The core of "benevolence" is "loving others". Of course, Confucius' "love for people" does not specifically mean loving workers, but it also does not specifically mean loving nobles. People, here is spoken in a broader sense, Confucius's students are not all nobles, and "lovers" certainly do not include his own students. He was the first to propose "education without distinction" and believed that all people, regardless of high or low, high or low, old or young, should have the right to receive education. This was a concentrated expression of his "human rights" thoughts and also the important step for everyone to receive education. Equality on this issue is only reflected in education. From the point of view of "the benevolent love others", Confucius opposed the burial of human beings at that time, and even opposed the use of figurines to replace him. He once said: "The one who created the figurines has no descendants?" This fully shows that Confucius attaches great importance to the status and role of human beings. Human beings should enjoy the rights to the human body and the right to life. Judging from the records in The Analects, Confucius despised physical labor on the one hand, but also admitted that he was not as good as a farmer in farming and a vegetable farmer. In his interactions with workers, his attitude is relatively friendly. According to "Zuo Zhuan", Confucius believed that workers should not just be "violent", but also "lenient" to appropriately reduce exploitation. He also put forward the idea of ??"spending money while loving people so that people can take advantage of their time". These are probably the sources of Mencius’ “people-oriented” thought. The emphasis on human rights, status and role is a progressive idea in the historical process of feudalism replacing slavery. When analyzing the difference between slave society and feudal society, Lenin said that the characteristic of slave society "is that slaves are not treated as human beings" and "slaves are not only not considered citizens, but also not considered human beings." In feudal society, the status of farmers has improved, so "peasants are no longer the direct private property of the landlord." At this time, "the road leading to peasant liberation is relatively broad after all." The Taoist school, represented by Lao and Zhuang, completely negates the "propriety" advocated by Confucianism. "Those who are propriety have weak loyalty and lead to chaos." However, he expressed a high degree of agreement with the Confucian idea of ??loving others or human rights. "Loving others and benefiting things is called benevolence" and "loving others ends with oneself." Highly respecting people's right to life and spirit, and highly affirming the meaning and value of people are one of the core ideas of Taoism. Mohism advocates "universal love" and "non-aggression", showing a strong spirit of benevolence. The issue of "benevolence" or "people" is also one of the core thoughts of Legalism, but Legalism advocates using "law" to govern people and the country, showing a very harsh attitude towards others.
Human rights, one of the basic spirits of traditional Chinese culture, is different from the Western classical God-centered approach and the modern Western pursuit of individual freedom and democratic values. But the development of traditional Chinese culture also always revolves around people. People are the foundation of everything in the world, and people come first in heaven and earth. Specifically, it includes the basic political thoughts of "the people are the most valuable" and "the king is the least important", paying attention to the human life of the people in this world, and pursuing a moral and ethical humanistic care at three levels. First, put the people first. Traditional Chinese humanism adheres to the people-oriented spirit of "people are the most important". There are descriptions in "Shangshu" of "valuing our people", "only inheriting from the people", and "implementing virtues to the people". "Zuo Zhuan" states: "The people are the lords of the gods. Therefore, the holy king first became the people and then devoted himself to the gods." "The Thirty-Two Years of Zhuang Gong" records: "When a country is about to prosper, listen to the people; when the country is about to fall, listen to the people." To God”. There is also a saying in "Guoyu. Luyu" that "the people will be harmonious and then the gods will bring blessings". Confucianism embodies the idea that the people are the foundation of the country.
Confucius always advocated valuing the people, enriching the people, and educating the people. Among the major worldly events such as "people, food, funerals, and sacrifices", the people are ranked first. Once, there was a fire in the stable. When Confucius learned about it, he immediately asked if anyone was injured, without first asking about the condition of the animals. This is also the importance he attaches to people's right to life. Mencius put forward the famous view that has influenced China for thousands of years: the people are the most important, the country is second, and the king is despotic. It has become the motto for enlightened rulers in past dynasties to maintain their rule. He believed that those who win the hearts of the people will win the world, and those who lose the hearts of the people will lose the world: "If you gain the people of Qiu, you will become the world." "When Jie and Zhou lost the world, they also lost their people; if they lost their people, they also lost their hearts. There is a way to win the world: if you win its people, you will win the world. "So, "The people of the region do not rely on the boundaries of the territory, the country is not consolidated by the dangers of the mountains and rivers, the people of the region do not rely on the benefits of military revolution, and they do not rely on the benefits of military revolution. " Mencius started from the way of governing and emphasized that political governance must win the hearts and minds of the people, otherwise it may "endanger the body and weaken the country." In his view, the people are the foundation of a state. Xunzi also advocated that the people are the foundation of a state. He The metaphor of the king, boat and people has been passed down for a long time. It is a lesson that politicians of all ages have learned in their hearts. Those who have achieved three things will have the world return to them; those who have achieved three things will die and the world will go back to them. "
In the long feudal society, this spirit of valuing the people has been continuously enriched and strengthened. "Zhuangzi. Xu Wugui" has a story about a craftsman who used an ax to transport heavy stones. A little bit of white ash as thin as a cicada's wing was cut off from the end of my friend's nose, but "the Cheng people stood up without losing their appearance." When Song Yuanjun asked the craftsman to cut it off again, the craftsman said: "I can cut it off, but I am not good at it." Long time dead. Zhuangzi used this fable to illustrate his painful feelings about the loss of his good friend Huizi: "Since the death of Master, I have no pledge!" I have nothing to say. "It can be seen that the "quality" mentioned by Zhuangzi refers to the inner quality and life spirit of human beings. Zhuangzi attaches special importance to the "quality" of people. Taoism emphasizes quality and denies "literacy", believing that "literature" is essential to the nature of human life. It plays a destructive role. Taoism takes "people" as its starting point and attaches great importance to the spirit and value of human life.
Jia Yi of the Han Dynasty once pointed out: "When it comes to politics, the people are the first priority. also. Li Shimin, the founding monarch of the Tang Dynasty, believed deeply in the principle of valuing the people and devaluing the king, and believed that "the king depends on the country, and the country depends on the people." "Zhang Zai of the Northern Song Dynasty preached "the people's common things and things", while Zhu Xi believed that "there is no more important thing in the world than caring for the people." "This series of thoughts on valuing the people reflects the development and evolution of human rights thoughts and people-oriented thoughts in traditional Chinese culture, and also presents the fundamentals of Chinese-style human rights thoughts.
Second, focus on Human relations are far away from ghosts and gods. Traditional Chinese culture insists on putting people first and attaches great importance to human relations in this world, while leaving religion and ghosts and gods behind. It can be said that in traditional Chinese culture, God-centeredness has never been seen. The ancient Chinese thinkers, mainly Confucian, always focused on human life, human life, and rights in this world, and opposed taking ghosts and gods as the basis. Confucius said: "The meaning of serving the people is Respecting ghosts and gods and staying away from them can be said to be a matter of knowledge. "Zhong Changtong of the Han Dynasty more clearly put forward the view that "human affairs are the basis and heaven is the end", developed the Confucian humanistic thought, and showed an overall trend of focusing on the world, emphasizing human relations, emphasizing human affairs while respecting religion, and staying away from ghosts and gods. .
Third, it affirms the good nature of individuals. Unlike the modern Western bourgeois human rights pursuit of democratic freedom and individual rights, the humanism of traditional Chinese culture is a strong moral one. Humanistic care has distinct moral and ethical characteristics. This kind of humanism positions people in certain ethical interpersonal relationships. From the moment he is born, he enters a network of five ethics: The relationship between monarch and minister in politics, the relationship between father and son, husband and wife, brother in the family, and the relationship between friends in society each have their own behavioral models and moral patterns. , Husbands teach wives to obey, brothers and sisters are respectful, and friends are trustworthy. It pays more attention to personal obligations and responsibilities to the group, but does not attach much importance to individual spiritual freedom and independence, and does not attach much importance to each individual's own rights.
Chinese traditional culture affirms personal value not in the satisfaction of personal material desires, nor in focusing on personal spiritual pleasure, but in affirming the perfection of individual character from the relationship between the individual and the object. In other words, tradition. The person recognized by culture is the "moral subject". The "humanity" here is actually the "humanity of the moral subject." "On the one hand, individuals must shoulder their responsibilities to society.
On the other hand, when individuals assume responsibility, they must also pursue the perfection of the subject's moral character. This perfection is not only a requirement of society, but also an individual's consciousness. Because the "principle" pointed to by the perfection of mind has been raised to the level of "noumenon", it already existed before all things existed. This is the principle derived from "principle". Paying attention to human cultivation and affirming the good nature of individuals are manifestations of the Chinese traditional cultural human rights thought that is very different from that of the West. The "people" valued by traditional Chinese culture are people who exist in this world, but they are "ethical" people in various interpersonal relationships, people who embody moral principles. This pursuit of human values ??and affirmation of human rights has positive significance.
This is copied from a blog
I feel it is better to give you the whole thing, but it would not be complete if I cut out some parts
Here are some famous quotes and the like< /p>
[Song Wenjian] The people are the foundation of the country.
[Li's Series·Laozi's Explanation] Old people are as old as others, and young people are as young as others.
[Fan Zhongyan's "Yueyang Tower"] Worry about the world's worries first, and rejoice after the world's happiness.
[Zhenguan dignitary] The king is the boat; the common man is the water. Water carries the boat, water overturns the boat.
[Jia Yi's "Xinyu Tongji"] The people are the foundation of all generations.
[Historical Records·Chen She Family] Do princes, generals, and Xiang Ning have any kind of talent?
[Historical Records·Chen She Family] Everyone can be Yao and Shun.
[Historical Records·Chen She Family] Hidden wealth among the people.
[Xunzi·Kingzhi] Take in orphans and widows, make up for the poor, and help the world.
[Lu Shi Chun Qiu·Gui Gong] The world is not the world of one person, but the world of the world.
[Book of Rites·Liyun] The journey of the great road also means that the world is for the common good, select talents based on ability, maintain trust and cultivate harmony. The ancients did not only care for their relatives, nor did they only have children for their children, so that the old could have their end, the strong could be useful, the young could grow, and the lonely, weak and sick could all be supported. Men have their share, and women have their home. There is no need to hide the goods on the ground if they are disgusting. The evil force does not come from the body, and it does not have to be for oneself. This is why people seek to be closed but not prosperous, to steal and cause chaos but not to commit crimes, and why the outside world is not closed to the outside world. This is called Great Harmony.
[Liu Zhou] Food and clothing are the foundation of the people; the people are the foundation of the country.
[Liu Yilong] The country is based on the people, and the people regard food as their first priority.
[Lu Xun] The country is based on the people, its strength comes from the people's livelihood, and its wealth comes from the people.
[Fan Chengda] The people are the foundation of the country, and the foundation is solid and helpful
[Mozi] Officials are not always noble, but the people are never humble
[Mozi] 〕Love each other and benefit each other
〔Xunzi〕No one is noble without virtue, no official without ability, no taste for no merit, no punishment for no crime
〔Xunzi〕Hungry and craving for food, When it is cold, it desires warmth; when it is bitter, it desires relief; it desires benefits but hates harm. This is what humans are born with.
[Mencius] The weather is not as good as the right place, and the right place is not as good as the people.
[Confucius] When it comes to rituals, harmony is the most valuable thing.
[Mencius] Practice benevolence with virtue
[Confucius] All things are born, but humans are the most precious.
〔Mencius〕To convince people with virtue, the heart is happy and sincerely convinced
〔Mencius〕To protect the people and become king, no one can control them
〔Mencius 〕
Everyone has the heart of hiding; the heart of good and evil, everyone has it; the heart of respect,
Everyone has it; the heart of right and wrong, everyone has it Yes.
The heart of concealment is benevolence; the heart of good and evil is righteousness; the heart of respect is courtesy;
The heart of right and wrong is wisdom.
[Mencius] The people are the most important, the country is second, and the people are the least.
[Confucius] If you want to establish yourself, you can establish others; if you want to achieve yourself, you can achieve others.
[Confucius] The three armies can seize the commander, but an ordinary man cannot seize his ambition.
[Confucius] Don’t do to others what you don’t want others to do.
[Guan Zi] Any way to govern a country must first enrich the people. If the people are rich, it will be easier to govern, and if the people are poor, it will be difficult to govern.
[Guanzi] The prosperity of government depends on obeying the people's hearts; the failure of government depends on the disobedience of the people's hearts.
[Laozi] The sage's heart is impermanent, and he takes the heart of the people as his guide.