With the rise of the new scholar class, many monarchs realized the truth that "those who gain scholars prosper and those who lose them die", so the wind of cultivating scholars rose, and respecting the virtuous corporal became the strategy of talent competition in various vassal States. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, when a hundred schools of thought contended and thought was free, many thinkers discussed the relationship between selecting talents and governing the country.
Confucius was the first thinker who clearly put forward the idea of "promoting talents". In the thirteenth edition of The Analects of Confucius, when discussing how to govern the country with Zhong Gong, Confucius put forward three aspects of work: "first divide the work, forgive minor mistakes and promote talents", that is, first establish rules and regulations, do a good job in the reform of government institutions, secondly forgive minor mistakes of subordinates, and then promote talents with both ability and political integrity. As for how to "act according to his talents", Confucius thinks that we should "know what he knows, but not what he doesn't know", that is to say, talents are not necessarily limited to people we know personally, and there will be many talents among people outside our eyes and ears. Only by widely recommending can we really get talents. On another occasion, Lu Aigong asked Confucius how to make people obey. Confucius replied: Only by selecting talents can people encourage each other to make progress and obey the monarch. Xia Zi, a disciple of Confucius, said in The Analects of Confucius Zhang Zi Nineteen: "Being an official is important in learning, and being an official is important in learning", which typically reflects the ideal that Confucius teachers and students advocate governing the country by virtue.
"Learning to be an excellent official" is one of the important propositions in Confucius' theory. According to the most popular interpretation in ancient China, "learning" means learning, that is, receiving education; "Excellence" means Excellence; and "being an official" means being an official. On the other hand, I also understand that being an official requires education and study, and people with poor academic ability should not be an official. The standard of this theory lies in the quality of knowledge, not in the nobility of birth. This, combined with another educational ideal of Confucius, that is, the viewpoint of "there is no class in education", laid a solid theoretical foundation for the implementation of the imperial examination system in later generations. Confucius himself came from a humble background, and after he started his career, his disciples were all kinds. He advocates "regardless of class", that is, education can be given to all kinds of people, and emphasizes that education should be open to all kinds of people. Since all kinds of people can receive education, those who learn well can be qualified for certain official positions, which is equivalent to advocating that government positions should also be opened to the lower classes of society. "On Wei Linggong" still remembers another famous saying of Confucius about reading and being an official: "Learning is among them." If you concentrate on your studies and get good grades, you will have an official position. The traditional society in China regards Confucianism as a classic and respects Confucius as a saint. The imperial examination system is the result of putting into practice the Confucian political thought of "learning to be excellent and being an official".
Mencius, who is in the same strain as Confucius' theory, continues to carry forward Confucius' theory of governing the country with virtue and political integrity. He believes that without selecting talents, the country will be empty. The country is rich and the people are safe, and talents are used. He advocates that as a monarch, we should respect and admire sages. "Yue Xian can't be promoted and raised, so it can be said that she is Yue Xian?" A passage from Mencius in The Chapter of King Liang shows that Mencius attaches great importance to the respect of sages: "If you enter a sage, if you have to, you will make inferiority more than respect and sorrow more than sorrow." Can he be careless? Both left and right are virtuous, and cannot be done; Doctors are all virtuous, not for; China people are all virtuous, and then observe; See the sages and then use them. " Mencius realized that the use of talents will bring social mobility effect from later generations, and will change the original relationship of honor and inferiority. People at the lower level of society may enter the upper level of society because of their own talents, so we should fully investigate and consider whether they are talents before appointing them. His view of advocating talents reflected that the system of scholars and hereditary aristocrats with many people and no family background was becoming more and more relaxed.
Xunzi studied in Xia Ji Palace of Qi State for a long time, and was also one of the representatives of Confucianism who advocated the appointment of virtuous officials during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. On the principle of selecting talents, he put forward the view of respecting saints and valuing sages. He believes that Shang Xian's empowerment is the key to the founding of the country, and only "respecting the sages" can become the king of a powerful country, and said: "Respect the sages, the sages dominate, the sages survive, and the slow sages die, both ancient and modern." What is particularly commendable is that he advocates breaking the system of world officials and world leaders in selecting talents, openly proposing the policy of "ruling the country by virtue and appointing officials by ability", and implementing the method of meritocracy and fair competition. In Xunzi Wang Zhi, he said: "A saint can't wait for the second time, but can't wait for the second time." "Wang Zhilun, no virtue is not expensive, incompetent and not official, no reward for reactive power, no guilt and no punishment." This is a clear declaration of the theory of being able to govern the country. And "the descendants of princes and princes belong to Shu Ren, although they can't belong to propriety and righteousness. Although Shu Ren's descendants also have literary accumulation and walk upright, if they can be attributed to propriety and righteousness, they should be attributed to official studies, and clearly advocate the opening of political power and the upward and downward mobility of social strata, which is actually the ideological forerunner of the imperial examination system in later generations.
In addition to Confucianism, others in hundred schools of thought during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period put forward the idea of governing the country by virtue, the most prominent of which was Mozi's "Shang Xian" theory. Mozi believes that if a country wants to control chaos, it needs a virtuous person to be in power. He said: "If the country is chaotic, then Shang Xian is also." In Mozi Shang Xian, he collected his own views on respecting talents. Mozi pointed out: "There are many sages in the country, and the country will be well governed. If there are few virtuous people, this country will be governed very weakly. Therefore, the matter of adults must lie in the sages. " Mozi raised the importance of talents to the height of national security and chaos control, and regarded recruiting talents and inspecting talents as the primary task of rulers. Shang Xian is the foundation of governing the country. He also put forward five important principles for selecting talents:
The ancient sage, Shang Xian, is impartial and rich. The sage raised it, rich and expensive, thinking it was an official; Corrupt people are suppressed and abolished, and poor and despicable people are considered slaves. It is a sage to be persuaded by the people and be afraid of being punished by them. There are many sages and few greedy people, which is called sages.