Let’s talk about Confucianism first:
Confucianism basically adheres to the legislative principles of “relatives” and “respecting respect”, maintains “rule by etiquette”, advocates “rule by virtue”, and attaches great importance to “rule by people” ". Confucianism had a great influence on feudal society and was regarded as orthodox by feudal rulers for a long time.
The fundamental meaning of Confucianism's "ritual rule" is "difference", that is, noble and humble, superior and inferior, elder and younger each have their own special behavioral norms. Only when there are proper etiquette for nobility, inferiority, elder and younger, relatives and strangers, can we achieve the ideal society of monarch, minister, father, son, elder brother, younger brother, husband and wife in the eyes of Confucianism. The governance of a country depends on the stability of the hierarchical order. Confucian "ritual" is also a form of law. It is centered on maintaining the patriarchal hierarchy. Anyone who violates the norms of "ritual" will be punished by "penalty".
The Confucian doctrine of "Government by Virtue" advocates the use of morality to influence and educate people. Confucianism believes that regardless of whether human nature is good or evil, morality can be used to influence and educate people. This kind of education method is a kind of psychological transformation, making people kind-hearted, aware of shame and without evil intentions. This is the most thorough, fundamental and positive approach and cannot be achieved by legal sanctions.
Confucianism's "Government of Man" doctrine is to value the specialization of people, their possible moral development, their compassion, and treat people as capable of change and complex choices, initiative and "People" with ethical nature manage the idea of ??domination. From this perspective, the doctrine of "rule by virtue" and the doctrine of "rule by man" are closely related. "Government by virtue" emphasizes the process of enlightenment, while "rule by man" focuses on the moralizer himself, which is a kind of meritocratic politics. Since Confucianism believes that "personality" has great appeal, it has developed on this basis into extreme "government by people" doctrines such as "government depends on people" and "there is no way to rule people," etc.
I personally think that Confucianism values ??etiquette! In the later Mohist thought, Zhai, the founder of Mohism, studied Confucianism in his early years. Later, he thought that the etiquette of Confucian thought was too complicated, so he abandoned Confucianism!
Let’s talk about Mohism next:
Confucianism talks about governing the country by virtue and advocates the role of role models; Mohism takes the path of totalitarianism in governing the country and advocates obedience to superiors (Shangtong). ("Everything above is everything, and everything above is not everything." This saying is probably familiar to everyone. It comes from Mozi.
Mozi was the founder of the Mohist school and a great thinker in the early Warring States Period. , politician, and a natural scientist with outstanding contributions. During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, hundreds of schools of thought contended, and the academic atmosphere was very active, and many thinkers and scientific schools emerged.
Mozi’s name is Zhai, and his birth and death dates are unknown. Modern scholars generally believe that Mozi was born around 476 BC and died around 390 BC. Some people also verify that Mozi was born in Zhou Jing. Around the 40th year of King Weilie's reign (480 BC), he died around the 6th year of King Weilie of Zhou Dynasty (420 BC). The place where Mozi was born is also disputed in "Historical Records: Biography of Meng Xun". He was a senior official in the Song Dynasty. "Lu Shi Chun Qiu Dang Ran" believed that he was a native of the Song Dynasty, but he may have belonged to the "scholar" class at that time. But he himself was a craftsman who made tools and had rich production skills. It is said that his ability to make city defense equipment was better than that of Lu Ban, the most famous craftsman in history. He once competed with Lu Ban in front of King Hui of Chu. The technology of the city eventually defeated Lu Ban.
According to legend, Mozi first learned Confucianism, but because he was dissatisfied with the cumbersome "rituals" advocated by Confucianism, he learned the spirit of hard work and simplicity from Dayu, so he established his own new theory. Founded the Mohist school. Mozi's teachings had a great influence on the ideological circles at that time, and were called "Xianxue" together with Confucianism. The Mohist school was the main opposition to the Confucian school. Most of them came from the lower classes of society. They formed a well-organized political group with very strict disciplines. These people were able to endure hardships, be diligent in conducting experiments, and were very brave in fighting. Mozi and his disciples did good things for people, even at the expense of their own lives. No matter what.
Therefore, "Huainanzi" says: "Mozi served one hundred and eighty people, and they were all ready to go through fire and death without repaying their heel." Moreover, they were not rewarded for their achievements, and did not seek repayment for their kindness, so they lived an extremely simple and peaceful life. A hard life.
Mozi’s whole life was devoted to the just cause of helping those in need. Ban Gu said in "Answering the Guests": "Confucius’s mat is not warm, and Motu is not warm." That is to say, Mozi is like Confucius. Working all day long for world affairs, I didn't even have time to warm the mat or dye the stove chimney black. He "worked day and night, taking self-suffering as the ultimate extreme" and traveled among the vassal states for a long time to promote his political ideas.
According to legend, he once prevented the powerful Chu State from attacking the weak Song State and implemented the principle of "universal love and non-attack". Later, Wenjun of Lu Yang wanted to attack Zheng. After Mozi found out, he went to explain the situation and persuaded Wenjun of Lu Yang to stop attacking Zheng. He "traveled to the south to envoy the guards" and preached "preparing soldiers" for defense. He also visited Chu State many times and presented letters to King Hui of Chu. But later he refused the fiefdom given to him by the King of Chu and left the state of Chu. Mozi came to Qi in his later years and tried to dissuade Xiang Ziniu from attacking Lu, but he failed. The King of Yue invited Mozi to serve as an official and promised him a fiefdom of five hundred miles. Mozi took "listen to my words and follow my way (listen to my advice and act according to my principles)" as the conditions for his departure, regardless of fiefdom and rank, in order to realize his political ambitions and ideological opinions.
What the Mohist school represents politically is the interests of the broad class of small producers and small private owners. Mozi's theories, such as "Heaven's Will and Mingsi" are still inseparable from the traditional thoughts of the Yin and Zhou dynasties, but they are endowed with the content of "non-fate and universal love" to oppose the Confucian "destiny" and "love with differences" thoughts. Mozi believed that "carrying on one's destiny is a great harm to the world" and strongly advocated "mutual love and mutual benefit", and there should be no distinction between closeness and distance, high and low. He also has the spirit of dedication to "put your feet on the back and help the world".
His "non-offensive" thinking reflected the people's intention to oppose predatory wars at that time. He put forward the ideas of "no pleasure", "frugal use" and "frugal burial", and opposed the "excessive decoration of rituals and music" and the decadent life of luxury and enjoyment of the aristocrats in power. He realized the basis of laboring human life and put forward the proposition of emphasizing the importance of production and "those who rely on their own strength will survive, and those who do not rely on their own strength will not survive." Politically, he advocated improving the social and economic status of laborers and small producers, advocating that "the hungry must be fed, the cold must be clothed, the laboring must be rested, and chaos must be cured", and proposed that " The views of "Shang Xian" and "Shang Tong" hold that "officials are never always noble, and people are never always low."
Mozi conducted in-depth research on issues such as knowledge and logic, formulated the "Three Tables" as a criterion for understanding truth, and put forward the concept of "not by its name, but by its name" Materialist epistemology. Mozi's educational thought is "hard practice and obedience to discipline", and he puts forward the educational purpose of "promoting the benefits of the world and eliminating the harm of the world".
Mohism was once a "prominent school" in the pre-Qin period, but it declined in the Han Dynasty. However, the Mohist spirit has not been lost. The chivalrous people after the Han Dynasty are the successors of the Mohist spirit of "universal love". China's civil socialist party's chivalrous spirit of equality and mutual assistance of "all brothers within the four seas" is to a large extent the true inheritance of the Mohist spirit. The spiritual origins of Chinese poems and chivalrous novels that praise the chivalrous spirit are closely related to Mohist thought. Mohist thought is spread at the bottom of Chinese folk society, and its influence on Chinese culture is as great as that of Confucianism and Taoism.
It can be said to be a supplement to Confucianism.
Quote
Taoism regards Tao as the origin and universal law of the world. It believes that the way of heaven is inactive and the way of Tao is natural. Based on this, it proposes politics such as governing by inaction, valuing softness and guarding femaleness, and using softness to overcome hardness. , military strategy.
The political thought of ancient Taoism was even more complex than that of Confucianism. Laozi's main thoughts are "governing by doing nothing" and "a small country with few people"; Zhuangzi avoids politics and is the master of the theory of no king; Yang Zhu is "everyone does not lose anything, everyone is detrimental to the world, and the world is governed." While inheriting Laozi's "governing by inaction", Huanglao Taoism also mixed the thoughts of other schools, such as the legalism of the Legalists; Ruan Ji and Ji Kang in the Wei and Jin Dynasties practiced personal disobedience in politics. After that, Taoism The political views are transformed into Taoist political thoughts. I am not familiar with this, so I will omit it.
There is a view in Western political science: "The government plays the role of a night watchman" and "the government with the least control is the best government." Lao Tzu's "governing by inaction" has many similarities with this. At the same time, Lao Tzu's "I do nothing and the people transform themselves" also has many similarities with Hayek's "spontaneous order", but Lao Tzu's inaction is a response to the authoritarian government. Warning, and those Western ideas all come from the concept of liberal democracy. Lao Tzu's "small country and few people" refers to the state of natural villages in ancient society, but it has many similarities with the ideal of autonomy in modern society.
Zhuangzi’s thought of escaping politics makes people think that the entire Taoism advocates escapism. In fact, Zhuangzi's critical spirit on social politics is unparalleled, and he can be said to be the master of the ancient theory of no king. This kind of thought was widely used by Ruan Ji, Bao Jingyan, "The Incompetent Son", Deng Mu, etc., and became a valuable resource for Huang Zongxi to criticize the monarchy.
Yang Zhu is regarded as a typical example of selfishness without spending any money, but their selfishness is based on not harming the interests of others, which is bold for China's collective thinking. rebel. They have a bit of the image of modern "economic man". If their political ideals become reality, it will be the pre-Qin version of "Pareto optimality".
People also have a misunderstanding about Taoism, that is, it is the representative of Machiavellianism. In fact, although Machiavellianism is related to Taoist thought, it was originally a patent of Legalism. Later, Huang Lao Taoist blended Taoist thought and Legalist thought together, forming the so-called technique of the south facing the person. However, Huang-Lao Taoism carried forward the idea of ??governing by doing nothing and advocated tranquility and self-determination. The prosperity of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties was closely related to Huang-Lao Taoism.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Ruan Ji and Ji Kang practiced personal disobedience in politics, which was significantly different from Gandhi’s non-violent non-cooperation movement in India and Martin Luther’s non-violent mass direct action movement in the United States. As for the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was just a fig leaf for the rulers to muddle along with their extortionate expropriations, leaving behind the saying that empty talk harmed the country.
Let’s talk about the Legalists:
The Legalists were the group that paid the most attention to law among the pre-Qin scholars. They are famous for advocating the "rule of law" of "ruling the country by law" and have put forward a whole set of theories and methods. This provided an effective theoretical basis for the centralized Qin Dynasty that was later established. The later Han Dynasty inherited the Qin Dynasty's centralized system and legal system, which were the political and legal subjects of ancient my country's feudal society.
Legalists have made contributions to jurisprudence, including the origin, essence, and role of law, as well as the relationship between law and social economy, the requirements of the times, state power, ethics, customs, natural environment, population, and human nature. Basic issues such as the relationship between the two have been discussed with great results. But Legalism also has its shortcomings. For example, they strongly exaggerate the role of the law, emphasize the use of heavy punishment to govern the country, "use punishment to eliminate punishment", and implement heavy punishment for misdemeanors, superstitiously believing in the role of the law. They believe that human nature is to pursue interests, and there are no moral standards at all. Therefore, interests and honor must be used to induce people to do things. For example, in war, high rewards, including official positions, will be given to those who have achieved military exploits to encourage soldiers and generals to fight bravely. This may be one of the reasons for the strong combat effectiveness of the Qin army. To destroy the six countries and unify China, the role of Legalism should be affirmed, although it has some shortcomings.
A brief introduction to the thoughts of Legalism is as follows:
Opposition to etiquette
Legalism attaches great importance to law and opposes Confucian "rituals". They believed that the emerging landowner class at that time opposed the hereditary privileges of the aristocracy to monopolize economic and political interests, and demanded private ownership of land and the award of official positions based on merit and talent. This was a fair and correct proposition. The etiquette system that maintained the privileges of the nobility was backward and unfair.
The role of law
The first role is to "determine the division and end disputes", that is, to clarify the ownership of things. One of the Legalists carefully made a very simple metaphor: "When a rabbit runs away, a hundred people chase it. Accumulate rabbits in the market and ignore them. Unless you don't want the rabbit, you can't fight over it." It means that a rabbit can't be fought over. Many people chased the rabbits, but they didn't even look at the many rabbits in the market.
This does not mean that you don’t want the rabbit, but that the ownership has been determined and can no longer be fought for. Otherwise, it will be against the law and will be punished.
The second function is to "encourage people to perform military exploits and fear violence", that is, to encourage people to perform military exploits and make those lawless people feel fear. The ultimate goal of success is to enrich the country and strengthen the army and win the annexation war.
The theory of human nature of "loving benefits and hating harms"
Legalists believe that people have the nature of "loving benefits and hating harms" or "taking advantage and avoiding harm". As Guan Zi once said, a businessman travels day and night, even if he travels thousands of miles, he does not feel it is far, because the interests are attracting him ahead. Fishermen are not afraid of danger and sail against the current, not caring about hundreds of miles away. They are also pursuing the benefits of fishing. With this same thought, Shang Yang came to the conclusion: "There are likes and dislikes in life, so the people can be governed." The historical view of "not following the past, not following the present".
Legalism opposed conservative retro-thinking and advocated reform. They believe that history develops forward, and all laws and systems must develop with the development of history. They cannot retrogress or follow the old ways. Shang Yang clearly put forward the proposition of "not following the past and not following the present". Han Fei further developed Shang Yang's ideas and proposed that "time changes and governance is difficult, chaos will occur." He caricatured the conservative Confucianism as stupid people who wait and wait.
A state-governing strategy that combines "law", "technique" and "power". Shang Yang, Shen Dao and Shen Buhai respectively advocated emphasizing law, power and power, each with its own characteristics. When it came to Han Fei, the master of Legalist thought, Han Fei put forward the idea of ??closely integrating the three. Law refers to the sound legal system, power refers to the power of the monarch, who must control military and political power alone, and technique refers to the strategies and means to control ministers, control political power, and implement laws. The main purpose is to detect and prevent rebellion and maintain the status of the monarch. There are fundamental differences between Legalist thought and the democratic form of rule of law we advocate now. The biggest difference is that Legalists strongly advocate centralization of monarchy, and it is absolute. This should be noted. We can selectively learn from and use other ideas of Legalism.
The above is a general summary of Legalist thought. The ideological system is to rule the country by law!
Then let’s talk about Taoism:
Taoism regards Tao as the origin and universal law of the world. It believes that the way of heaven is inaction and the way of Tao is natural. Based on this, it proposes to rule by inaction and respect the gentle and the female. , using softness to overcome strength and other political and military strategies.
The political thought of ancient Taoism was even more complex than that of Confucianism. Laozi's main thoughts are "governing by doing nothing" and "a small country with few people"; Zhuangzi avoids politics and is the master of the theory of no king; Yang Zhu is "everyone does not lose anything, everyone is detrimental to the world, and the world is governed." While inheriting Laozi's "governing by inaction", Huanglao Taoism also mixed ideas from other schools, such as the political power of Legalism; Ruan Ji and Ji Kang in the Wei and Jin Dynasties practiced personal disobedience in politics. Since then, Taoism The political views are transformed into Taoist political thoughts. I am not familiar with this, so I will omit it.
There is a view in Western political science: "The government plays the role of a night watchman" and "the government with the least control is the best government." Lao Tzu's "governing by inaction" has many similarities with this. At the same time, Lao Tzu's "I do nothing and the people transform themselves" also has many similarities with Hayek's "spontaneous order", but Lao Tzu's inaction is a response to the authoritarian government. Warning, and those Western ideas all come from the concept of liberal democracy. Lao Tzu's "small country and few people" refers to the state of natural villages in ancient society, but it has many similarities with the ideal of autonomy in modern society.
Zhuangzi’s thought of escaping politics makes people think that the entire Taoism advocates escapism. In fact, Zhuangzi's critical spirit on social politics is unparalleled, and he can be said to be the master of the ancient theory of no king. This kind of thought was widely used by Ruan Ji, Bao Jingyan, "The Incompetent Son", Deng Mu, etc., and became a valuable resource for Huang Zongxi to criticize the monarchy.
Yang Zhu is regarded as a typical example of selfishness without spending any money, but their selfishness is based on not harming the interests of others, which is bold for China's collective thinking. rebel. They have a bit of the image of modern "economic man". If their political ideals become reality, it will be the pre-Qin version of "Pareto optimality".
People also have a misunderstanding about Taoism, that is, it is the representative of Machiavellianism. In fact, although Machiavellianism is related to Taoist thought, it was originally a patent of Legalism. Later, Huang Lao Taoist blended Taoist thought and Legalist thought together, forming the so-called technique of the south facing the person. However, Huang-Lao Taoism carried forward the idea of ??governing by doing nothing and advocated tranquility and self-determination. The prosperity of the Han, Tang and Song dynasties was closely related to Huang-Lao Taoism.
During the Wei and Jin Dynasties, Ruan Ji and Ji Kang practiced personal disobedience in politics, which was significantly different from Gandhi’s non-violent non-cooperation movement in India and Martin Luther’s non-violent mass direct action movement in the United States. As for the metaphysics of the Wei and Jin Dynasties, it was just a fig leaf for the rulers to muddle along with their extortionate expropriations, leaving behind the saying that empty talk harmed the country.
The next one should be the military strategists:
The management thoughts of ancient Chinese military strategists are an important part of the splendid ancient literature of the Chinese nation. The sum total of rational understanding in all aspects.
The management thought of ancient Chinese military strategists includes a number of scientific management viewpoints. It not only regards various objective factors such as politics, economy, military, astronomy, geography, and international relations as conditions for determining victory or defeat, but also regards them as the conditions for determining victory or defeat. It is a unified whole of interrelated management decisions and at the same time takes the subjective guidance of war, that is, the subject's decision-making, command, organization, operations and other military theoretical qualities (the so-called "general ability" and "general talent") as a basic factor. And this led to a series of tactics to win the war.
The discussion of tactics (strategy) can be said to be the richest aspect of the management thoughts of ancient Chinese military strategists. It reveals many regular principles that must still be observed today. Many famous sayings have become popular management maxims, such as: "Know your enemy and yourself, and you can fight a hundred battles without danger, knowing the heaven and the earth, and victory is possible." "Unprepared and unexpected", "Avoiding the real and attacking the weak", "Using numbers to defeat the weak", "Soldiers are more valuable than victory, not long", "Soldiers are more valuable than speed"; "Soldiers are valued for their harmony, and harmony is of one mind", "Three armies and one person" , win", "The three armies can seize the spirit, the general can seize the heart", "Secretly observe the enemy's opportunities, quickly take advantage of them, and attack them unexpectedly with repeated attacks" and so on. Some of the basic principles used in these famous military management maxims are not only consistent in basic spirit but also have obvious origins in language with modern scientific theories.
The main idea of ??a military strategist should be sophistry!