Comments on Confucius’ Thoughts and Modern Democratic Politics
September 28, 2005 is the 2556th anniversary of the birth of Confucius. Many Confucian admirers around the world held global Sacrifice to Confucius. Now that too much has happened, it’s okay to think about it again after the dust has settled. Confucius was a great thinker and educator. There have been many outstanding talents in the world and in China throughout the ages, and they are all worthy of the people's memory. How to commemorate historical figures? You can hold a commemorative meeting, study and discuss his academic thoughts, publish a collection of papers, give a report, etc., you can commemorate historical figures in various ways. As for global worship of Confucius, I think it is inappropriate and simply nonsense.
Confucius founded Confucianism, whose central idea was to maintain the feudal hierarchy and was a powerful tool to maintain feudal rule, so it was highly praised by the ruling classes of the past dynasties. After successive feudal rulers deposed hundreds of schools of thought and only respected Confucianism, Confucianism occupied a prominent position in the feudal era. His idea is to be loyal to the emperor without mentioning patriotism. He advocated tabooing for the venerable, tabooing for the elders, and tabooing for the noble. That is to say, the common people should hide the hidden mistakes and shortcomings of the rulers, officials, and seniors. He advocated that excellence in learning leads to officialdom (The Analects of Confucius), and the purpose of studying is to become an official. All his life he wanted to serve the ruling class as an official with a salary. "Plowing is a reward, and learning is a reward." He took it for granted that when he was a farmer, he was hungry and that he was an official. Confucius advocated a policy of obscuring the people. He said: "The people can be guided by it but not informed." Due to the progress of society, various countries at that time successively promulgated criminal laws to provide a basis for governing the people, which was progressive at the time. Confucius was very disgusted with this. When the Jin State also built a punishment cauldron and promulgated the criminal law, according to Zuo Zhuan, in the 29th year of Zhao Gong's record, he said: "The Jin State is going to fall. The punishment cauldron is built and the criminal law is promulgated. The people will only read the terms on the cauldron and not the nobles." What else can the nobles do! How can a country be founded by the nobles and the humble? "He wants to make the law mysterious and in the hands of the nobles to make the people unpredictable. It can be said that the idea of ??slavery still exists seriously in Confucius' thought. Li Zizeng, a thinker on slavery, said: "This is the rule of the sage: empty his heart, strengthen his belly, weaken his will, and strengthen his bones. It often makes the people ignorant and desireless. It makes the wise men dare not do anything. To do nothing, Then everything should be cured." (Chapter 3 of the Tao Te Ching) Li Zi means: "To govern the common people, we must make them have no thoughts but have enough food to eat, and have no willpower but have strong bodies (to be able to work only if they are strong). The common people will never have knowledge and desire, and the wise people will not dare to do anything. In this way, the rulers will not have to carry out any suppression, and the world will be peaceful. "It's the same thing. In addition, in order to control the minds of the German people, Goebbels, the Minister of Propaganda of Nazi Germany, on the one hand blocked all news that was unfavorable to Nazi Germany from the people, and on the other hand spread rumors to deceive the German people. Goebbels's famous saying is "A lie repeated a thousand times becomes the truth." Although he succeeded for a while and ruled most of Europe and enslaved most of the people in Europe, in the end the Goebbels family perished with Nazi Germany. This is the result of Goebbels fooling the people by learning that "the people can act on it but not know it".
Confucius advocated etiquette. What is etiquette? Ritual refers to many rules set by the ruling class, and people's actions that comply with these rules are in compliance with etiquette. Confucius advocated that punishment should not be compared to the courtesy of a great official, but should not be treated as a courtesy to a common man. Not punishing officials means that rulers and officials will not be punished if they make mistakes; not being polite to common people means that rulers and noble officials do not have to abide by any rules for ordinary people (but the rules set by the nobles must be followed by the common people) Rules are what common people must abide by). In a slave-owning society, slaves are animals and have no human status. They do not need to be treated like human beings. Confucius also held the same view.
As a feudal thinker, in order to better maintain feudal rule, Confucius once said: "Tao is governed by government, and punishment is used to regulate, and the people will be free and shameless; Tao is governed by virtue, and regulations are unified. To use etiquette, there is shame and dignity." (The Analects of Confucius is a political chapter). This sentence means that the way to govern does not rely solely on punishment, but also on etiquette (that is, the rulers and nobles set many rules for the people to abide by) so that the people can more consciously accept the ruler's rule. In 20050927, a domestic newspaper reprinted a Taiwanese article that called Confucius's words "the great cause of virtue for the common people under the ritual". The article said: "He brought the rituals and music that originally belonged to the aristocratic life to the people. The first person; he was also the first person to bring academic knowledge that was originally reserved to the nobility to the people. "The reason why Confucius' life and personality can be superior to that of Yao, Shun, Yu, Tang, and the Duke of Zhou in civil and military affairs is because of this "common man under the rites". The great cause of great virtue".
I disagree with the newspaper's views. I believe that the formulation of etiquette is the exclusive property of the aristocracy, and the common people have no right to participate. The aristocrats have formulated etiquette (that is, various rules) that the common people must abide by, but the aristocrats do not have to abide by these regulations for the common people. This is the essence of the fact that courtesy cannot be extended to common people. How can it be related to the "great cause of great virtue"? What a mess! We should seek truth from facts when it comes to historical figures. How can we arbitrarily falsify the thoughts and actions of historical figures just because of immediate needs? Wouldn't this seem too sad?
Confucius wanted to be an official all his life, but he only served as a small official and the time was not long. He has never been richer in his life, and he has also been hungry. So he also has a progressive side that is close to the people. Confucius opposed excessive taxation and excessive taxation. Confucius believed that "tyranny is stronger than a tiger." His student Ran Qiu was appointed as the Ji family's prime minister, and he gathered for the Ji family. He was so angry that he asked his disciples to beat drums and attack him. He advocated promoting talented people, being cautious about punishments, sparing taxes, and emphasizing education. He proposed to politicians: "Killing without teaching is called cruelty, failure to discipline is called violence, and slow order is called thief (The Analects of Confucius, Yao Yue Chapter). But we should comprehensively look at his central idea, Instead of taking one or two sentences out of context to represent his comprehensive thoughts, as a feudal thinker, he maintained the security of feudal rule. He hoped that feudal rulers would be enlightened and that people under feudal rule would live better. To rebel. These purposes are just to protect the feudal rulers from being overthrown and to ride on the people forever. Therefore, he advocates the golden mean and wants to be impartial between the rulers and the people. Due to the limitations of history, he always favors the rulers unconsciously. His purpose is to make the people always willing to be exploited as cattle and horses, so that the aristocratic rulers can always ride on the people's heads and live a life of luxury and luxury. The doctrine can be respected by feudal rulers of all ages and become the most holy teacher. We should also understand that because of his "dedication to the times", Confucius' thoughts could not transcend the limitations of the society at that time. Due to the environment in which he lived, he could only become a feudalist. Thinker.
In terms of talking about ghosts and gods, he said, "If you can't do anything to people, how can you do something to ghosts?" "How can you know death if you don't know life?" This kind of thinking can be regarded as progressive.
During the ancient Warring States period, Chinese society was in the era of contention of a hundred schools of thought, and Confucius was a representative scholar (an upper class among free people). ) thought. Among the handicraftsmen, there was also a great thinker named Mo Zhai. At that time, Mohism was no less influential than Confucianism. Mozi advocated "universal love" and "non-aggression" and opposed war and war. He opposed the decadent and decadent life of the ruling class and opposed generous burials. He focused on the development of production, cared about the people's food and clothing, advocated innovation, and promoted the development of technology. However, his ideas did not meet the needs of feudal rulers, and he was also deposed in feudal society. . Even in the eyes of some rulers, it was regarded as a dangerous organization and gradually declined and disappeared.
Confucius was truly a great educator throughout his life. He is tireless in teaching. His attitude towards learning is "know more and doubt", "know what you know, don't know what you don't know", and "there must be a teacher among us." Choose what is good and follow it, and change what is bad." "Learning without thinking will lead to failure, thinking without learning will lead to peril", "Learning and then knowing that it is insufficient", "Learning and practicing from time to time, is not a pleasure?" ". When Confucius entered the Ancestral Temple, he would ask questions about everything. This was his spirit of not being ashamed to ask questions. He said: "I don't eat all day long and stay up all night thinking about it. It's useless. It's better to learn." He said that he never tires of learning. , this is his perseverance in learning. Many of his remarks on teaching and learning are still very meaningful and valuable.
Confucius was an outstanding and great thinker in feudal society. The stability and interests of feudal society were respected by the rulers of feudal society. However, Confucius was a figure more than 2,000 years ago. Human society has developed from feudal society to capitalist society and now our country has developed into socialism. We believe that society is transitioning to a communist society. In this era, what value do these ruling theories that maintain feudal society have to us? A Singaporean article “We must replace Western capitalist thought with Eastern Confucian thought. "Said" an enlightened emperor can win the loyalty of his subjects. "I think that trying to replace capitalist ideas with feudal ideas will have no good results. What we want to promote is communist ideas. Communist ideas are more advanced ideas than capitalist ideas.
It is further developed on the basis of capitalist ideas. The feudal ideology is more backward than the capitalist ideology. Therefore, it is extremely inappropriate to promote feudalism in the modern era.
20051120 A domestic newspaper reprinted an article from "Hong Kong Asia Times Online" on November 15, titled: The Revival of Confucianism. The article stated: "There is no doubt that the success of Japan and the 'Four Asian Tigers' is largely due to following the basic Confucian teachings such as self-discipline, social harmony, strong family values ??and emphasis on education.", "Confucian ideas can Become the moral foundation of a 'harmonious society' to solve social problems such as the polarized 'money supremacy' mentality." "A large amount of material inducement may lead to the emergence of moral emptiness. Confucianism can just be at this time. China provides a much-needed moral backbone,” and so on.
Attribute the economic success of Japan and the Four Asian Tigers to Confucianism? But to what ideas did the rapid economic recovery of East Germany and the entire Europe at that time be attributed (the economic recovery of East Germany and Europe preceded the economic development of the Four Asian Tigers)? It is obvious that Confucianism emphasizes politics (the purpose of studying is to become an official) and maintains the emperor's rule, but despises economics, and business ranks as a low priority. None of the Four Books and Five Classics talks about economics. Confucianism also despises technology and calls technology "little skills." During World War II, the economies of all countries in the world were greatly damaged. Except for a few very few countries such as the United States and Switzerland, the world (especially Japan and Germany) was almost completely destroyed. What is the reason for the rapid economic development in the world after World War II? This is due to the rule of law, compliance with economic laws, scientific and technological progress, democratic politics and other reasons. These are the weaknesses of Confucianism. How can we attribute it to Confucianism? As long as we observe which countries are developing fast and which countries are lingering in the same place and progressing slowly, we can understand what is driving the development of these countries. In the 18th century, due to the invention of the steam engine, productivity was greatly improved. Especially in some European countries, due to the development of productivity, the industry developed and the country also developed. Under the rule of Confucianism for more than two thousand years, China's feudal society has been in a state of relative stagnation for a long time, and changes have been very slow. The germ of capitalism that was nurtured in the late Ming Dynasty had been gestating for more than two hundred years on the eve of the Opium War, and was still in its infancy. This is the hindering role that Confucianism plays in the development of production. I can understand why advanced young intellectuals shouted "Down with the Confucius Family Store" during the May 4th Movement.
Currently, our country is in the transition period from a socialist society to a communist society. There are many contradictions in Chinese society, especially the "inequality between rich and poor" and "corruption of social morals".
For example, some people put their hope in a wise king, such as a Singaporean article reprinted in domestic newspapers. The article said that "a wise king can win the loyalty of the people." I think this approach is unworkable. Looking at the history of China's feudal society for nearly three thousand years (counting from the Western Zhou Dynasty in 1066 BC), how many wise emperors have produced outstanding achievements? How many incompetent people have appeared? Even if a famous historical figure like Qin Shihuang made great achievements, what was the life of the people like? Do the people support the rule of Qin Shihuang? How were people's lives during these three thousand years of history? Especially in modern society, science and technology are developed and the productivity is huge, creating huge wealth for mankind every year. In the face of this huge wealth, how many officials can resist material temptations and avoid corruption? Which feudal dynasty in the past was not corrupt? Some emperors also committed corruption (well-known ones such as Zhu Yuanzhang and Yongzheng). Although they achieved results at that time, they also established anti-corruption systems. But any dynasty will eventually end in corruption. Are we so helpless? Is there no other way but to rely on the Confucian feudal thought of more than 2,000 years ago to save the current society?
Human society is constantly making progress. We have now reached the stage of socialist society and are moving towards a communist society.
Communist society has abandoned all the reactionary and backward ideas of the old society and inherited all the excellent and advanced ideas of the past dynasties. Therefore, it is a more advanced society than capitalist society. Capitalist society advocates advanced ideas such as democracy, freedom, equality, and fraternity. These ideas have not been fully implemented in capitalist society because capitalist society is a society of private ownership of property, with poor and rich people. Under the influence of people's worship of money, there is no real equality between the poor and the rich. In communist society, the means of production are owned by the whole people, and social wealth is owned by the whole people. People only possess personal property necessary for their personal lives. Only in this kind of society can human beings be truly equal and can real democratic politics be carried out. In order to prevent corruption, a communist society also requires people's democratic supervision. Without the supervision of the people, any government will become corrupt. Therefore, a communist society must also be based on democratic politics. Therefore, it is extremely inappropriate to promote Confucius's feudal thoughts now.