"Only women and villains are difficult to raise. If they are close, they will not become grandchildren, and if they are far away, they will resent." ("The Analects of Confucius Yang Huo". The "Analects of Confucius" is quoted below, and only the title of the chapter is noted.) It is generally regarded as an argument for Confucius's contempt for women and manual workers. Even those overseas who sincerely respected Confucius found it difficult to deny his words and said helplessly: "Confucius was wrong in saying this."
Confucius is a historical figure. Although he stood in a human position and transcended the limitations of the times and classes from a historical perspective; after all, he lived in reality and could not be immune to the influence of reality. Not only today, but also at that time, what he said cannot be "everything is the truth." Some of his words were obviously wrong even at the time. For example: "Ye Gong said to Confucius: 'There is a person in our party who is straight and bowed. His father is chasing sheep, and his son is the one who proves it.' Confucius said: 'The people in our party who are straight are different from this. The father hides for the son, and the son hides for the father. It is straight. Among them. '" ("Zi Lu") is not in line with the spirit of Confucius' thought. The "Book of Filial Piety" written by Zengzi's disciples has been revised: "Zengzi asked Confucius: "May I ask if a son obeys his father's orders, can it be called filial piety? ’ Confucius said: ‘What do you mean by and? What do you mean by and? In the past, the emperor had seven quarrels with his ministers. Although they were dishonest, they did not lose their empire... If a father had quarrels with his sons, he would not fall into injustice. Therefore, if it is unjust, then the son cannot but fight with the father... Therefore, if it is unjust, then fight with him. How can we be filial by obeying our father's orders? '" ("Remonstrance") Eastern Han Dynasty Confucian scholar Zhao Qi noted in his "Mencius Chapters" that "There are three types of unfilial piety, and the greatest is not having descendants." ("Mencius Li Yushang") said: "There are three things that are unfilial about etiquette: Ayi Qu obeys his relatives, which is unrighteous. The first is; the family is poor and the relatives are old, and he does not become a wealthy scholar, the second is; not marrying and having no children, the ancestors are sacrificed, which is the third. Among the three, the one without descendants is the greatest. " (Quoted from "Comments on the Thirteen Classics") This understanding of memorizing scriptures and combining Taoism was very systematic and complete by the time of Xunzi. Xunzi said: "Entering filial piety and leaving one's brothers is a small act of human beings; It is the conduct of a man; he follows the Tao but not the king, he follows righteousness but not the father. This is the great conduct of a man. ... There are three reasons why a filial son should not obey orders: if he obeys orders, his relatives will be in danger; if he disobeys orders, his relatives will be safe; if a filial son disobeys orders, it is his sincerity. If you obey orders, your relatives will be disgraced; if you disobey orders, your relatives will be honored. A filial son who disobeys orders will be righteous. If you obey orders, you will be a beast; if you disobey orders, you will be groomed; if a filial son disobeys orders, he will be respectful. Therefore, if you can follow it and don't follow it, you are not a disciple; if you can't follow it, you are incompetent. Being aware of the meaning of never obeying, but being able to be respectful, loyal, upright and conduct yourself prudently can be called great filial piety. It is said: Follow the Tao but not the king; follow righteousness but not the father. This is what we call it. Confucius reprimanded Zigong, who believed that "a son obeys his father's orders to be filial, and a minister obeys his emperor's orders to be chaste." He said: "It's a villain who doesn't know what to do." However, they are actively correcting the mistakes of Confucius, while vulgar Confucianism has viciously developed into the "three taboos" of being taboo for respected people, taboo for relatives, and taboo for sages. Since the Qin and Han Dynasties, it has been reduced to one taboo: taboo for the emperor. Confucius not only conceals the faults of the emperor, but also the achievements of his ministers: all achievements are attributed to the emperor's sage, and all mistakes are the fault of his subjects. To this day, it is still regarded as a great statesmanship. "The son hides from his father" was originally a mistake of Confucius. The "gentleman Confucianism" corrected it, went against the classics and followed the Tao, and inherited and developed Confucius' thoughts; while the "little man Confucianism" developed it viciously, followed the classics and went against the Tao, and distorted and corrupted Confucius' thought. "Only women are in trouble with villains." The fate of the phrase "raise it" is even worse: Confucius was not wrong originally, but it was completely distorted or misunderstood by later generations, intentionally or unintentionally
From the text, this sentence, according to logical analysis, "only" If it is an adverb, it is said as "only, only, only", which has always been a common usage. This is how it is translated in Mr. Yang Bojun's "Analects of Confucius", which means: only "women and villains" are difficult to raise. Not all "women and villains" are difficult to raise. Then this sentence is a specific rather than a universal proposition. The word "WEI" can also be used as a modal particle at the beginning of the sentence. In this way, this sentence The meaning of the words is "Ah, it is difficult to raise women and villains!" "Although this is not a declarative sentence, it clearly asserts something and can be regarded as a universal proposition. However, from the analysis of its meaning, it is actually a specific proposition. The first sentence is a conclusion, and the second sentence is an argument: "If you are close, you will not follow. "If you are far away, you will be resentful" is the reason and manifestation of "women and villains" being difficult to raise. It is also the definition of "women and villains" said by Confucius: Not all women and villains are difficult to raise, but "near women and villains are difficult to raise." "Women and villains" are difficult to raise if they don't have grandchildren, and they will be resentful if they are far away. The "women" mentioned by Confucius are not the same as women. The words "women" are just words among women. "Those who are resentful". Similarly, "little people" are not manual laborers among men, but only men who "will not become grandsons if they are close, and resent if they are far away".
It can be seen from the above analysis , "Women" and "little people" by no means refer to all women and manual workers. Unfortunately, the Mohists and famous scholars who valued logic in ancient China declined after the Qin and Han Dynasties, resulting in the underdevelopment of logical thinking in traditional Chinese culture since the Qin and Han Dynasties. . Modern scholars who have studied Western logic have followed the old chapter at critical moments, contented themselves with passing on falsehoods and imposing the charge of contempt for women and working people on Confucius.
The Analects of Confucius is a quotation from Confucius recorded by Confucius’s disciples and subsequent disciples. It contains many categorical sentences and is a summary of experience rather than a rational and logical statement. It has no inference process and omits the language environment and combines specific conditions. The following words were generalized and given universal meaning. As a result, later generations interpreted and quoted the meaning of the text according to their own needs, or used it to judge others. For example, Confucius said: "I have never seen anyone who loves virtue as much as he loves sex." "Zihan" and "Wei Linggong" appear repeatedly. According to "Historical Records: Confucius' Family", this sentence was said after Zihan met Nanzi.
The writing is very vivid. Nanzi, the concubine of Duke Linggong of Wei, was not satisfied with meeting Confucius, but also wanted to show off publicly to improve his own reputation. Confucius "lived in Wei for more than a month. Duke Ling and his wife were riding in the same carriage. The eunuch Yong Qu came out and asked Confucius to ride second. He passed by in public. Confucius said: 'I have never seen anyone who loves virtue as much as lust.' So he was ugly. So, go to Wei." Thus we can determine the linguistic environment of this sentence. But the incident of "Zi meeting Nanzi" is recorded in the "Yong Ye" chapter. I speculate that "Only women and villains are difficult to care for" was probably said after this incident. They all refer to each other: the "woman" refers to Nanzi, the "villain" refers to the lecherous Wei Linggong, and the "difficult to raise" refers to the two of them: they are both difficult to get along with and to raise. Later generations are limited by the old idea that "little people" are manual workers and those in power are "gentlemen" and do not think so. Of course, this is just speculation.
To speak with emotion and reason, let’s talk about “villain” first. One of Confucius's great contributions in history was the discovery of human beings - the personality and value of individual people (Socrates, who was more than 80 years later than Confucius in the West, first discovered human beings). Raise the will of ordinary men and women to the height of sanctity: "Thousands of troops can capture the commander, but one man cannot capture the will." ("Zihan") Even the horseman with the lowest social status is regarded as a human being: "The stables are burned. When Zi retreated from the court, he said: "Is it hurting people?" ("Xiang Dang") In the transitional period when different value standards coexisted, he took the lead in affirming and advocating the new standard of replacing power, status and wealth. Although the view of a gentleman and a villain is mainly based on rational thinking based on knowledge, there is also a painful emotional issue. Confucius lost his father at the age of three, was orphaned and widowed, ran away from home, was neglected and abandoned by society, and went through many hardships, which inspired Confucius to be fair and honest, "I am a young man who is humble, so I can do many despicable things" ("Zihan"). The pursuit of a just society: “I am determined to learn (Tao) out of ten. " ("Wei Zheng") After he became known as "a courteous young man" and made a living by teaching, he was still discriminated against and rejected by the upper class society: "Confucius is coming, Ji's family is a feaster, and Confucius will be with him." Yang Huqiu said: "The Ji family's food ministers don't dare to eat their children." " ("Historical Records: The Family of Confucius") The old hierarchical concepts stifled the new forces, which made them feel deeply.
It is based on this new value concept that the Confucian system with benevolence as the core was born. The main object of benevolence is the common people: the "public" of "general love for all" ("Xueer") naturally does not distinguish between men and women, and must "provide for the common people, enrich them, and teach them" ("Zilu"), so as to "near those who are near" Joy, come from afar. "("Zi Lu") "The people from all over the world come here carrying their sons" (ibid.). Of course, the "people from all over the world" who follow the good will refer to manual laborers. It is precisely because of the discovery of "similarity in sex" ("Yang Huo") ), everyone has the same essence and equal personality, so that we can sincerely treat everyone equally, especially ordinary people; we neither deify those in power, nor ourselves. Therefore, "benevolence" is not a gift from above. Rather, it breaks through the saying that "courtesy is not inferior to common people" ("Book of Rites: Qu Li 1") and "the way is based on virtue, and the order is based on etiquette" ("Wei Zheng"). It is not only "don't do to others what you don't want others to do to you". ("Yan Yuan"). Moreover, "If you want to establish yourself, you can help others, and if you want to achieve success, you can help others" ("Yong Ye"). Not only does "there is no distinction between education" ("Wei Linggong"), everyone has the right to education; Moreover, "excellence in learning leads to officialdom" ("Zi Zhang"). Everyone who participates in political power can achieve the character of a gentleman or even a saint in the pursuit of self-cultivation, family management, country governance, and world peace. Obviously, "little people" are not. Manual laborers are mainly those who have the status of an old "gentleman" but have bad qualities. Those who are like Confucius's shameful words and deeds of "good words, good looks, and courtesy... who hide their grudges and make friends with others" ("Gongye Chang"), "have no state." "Tao, rich and noble" ("Tai Bo"), "Yei" ("Advanced"), "Those who do not have the beauty of a man but become a man of evil" ("Yan Yuan"), "Difficult things are easy to say" ("Zi Lu") , those who are "the same but not harmonious" (ibid.), those who are "arrogant but not harmonious" (ibid.), those who "cannot accept big things but know small things", those who are "poor and indiscriminate", "live in groups all day long, do not speak righteous words, and like to do small favors" "("Wei Linggong"), etc., all of them are talking about those who have the reputation of a gentleman but not the virtues of a gentleman. If the order of the chapters in "The Analects" is admitted to be intrinsically linked, the "Yang Huo" chapter lists various types of " "Little people", such as "hometown wishes", "people who listen to the Tao but talk nonsense", "cowardly people", "people who use clever words to attract beauty", people who "use purple to seize vermillion", "people who use sharp tongue to conquer the country", "people who are full all day long and have no purpose" ”, “Those who are brave but unrighteous and cause chaos”, “Those who call others evil”, “Those who lie below and talk to those above”, “Those who are brave but rude”, “Those who are courageous but suffocated”, “Those who pretend to be knowledgeable” ", "Those who don't think they are brave" and "those who criticize those who think they are straight" are followed by a concluding statement: "Only women and villains are difficult to support", which makes it even clearer: "villains" are by no means ordinary manual workers. , and mainly those who have the reputation of being a gentleman but act like a villain.