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Confucian limitations of heaven and politics
Author: Wu Xiaofan (PhD., Associate Professor of Philosophy in Shanghai Financial Major)
Source: “Ji Lu Journal”, 2019 No. 6
Abstract
In modern times, the Confucian traditional political thinking system based on the way of heaven has been criticized by destruction. The combination of heaven and politics is often regarded as the most fundamental reason for the royalist doctrine or even the collective doctrine. Confucianism in modern politics replicates the concept of the way of heaven, and regards it as the basis for politics to conform to the legal principles or to call confidants. Both of these paths essentially transform the Confucian concept of heavenly way without regard to its common relationship with traditional knowledge systems and value concepts, and neglect the infinity of Confucian political thinking based on the way of heaven. It is understood that there is a double confusion of contemplative and historical concepts about the nature of Confucian nature and political concepts, and it is of no benefit to the modern transformation of Confucian nature concepts. The way of heaven and politics should not be regarded as static concept structure but as verbal words. The way of heaven and politics should be preserved and constructed by mutually conserving and constructing each other, so that it can be deeply rooted in political reality. In recognition of the justice foundation of current social reality and social concepts, through social imagination, Confucian heavenly way can still become the main reason for the modern political thinking system.
Keywords: The way of heaven; Confucianism; politics; restrictions; words
1. The rise of problems
The political Confucianism of traditional Confucianism takes the concept of heaven as its condition. “The purpose of the thinking about the modern Confucian political thinking in China can be broadly different, such as Confucius’s political ethics, honor education, etc. However, purely from the purpose of political philosophy, heaven or the way of heaven is the most unavoidable or may be said to be the most direct reflection, or may be said to be the problem of assessing the Chinese political philosophy. The field of heaven must be the heaven. Taoism is based on the foundation and the relationship between heaven and man is the middle way, and the sudden outbreak of thinking on traditional philosophy in modern times is also based on her standing up and walking down the stage. This is a warning, and this is also proved from the back. “[1][P17] From a modern perspective, the Tao of Heaven often has a disputed issue for the classical Chinese political management theory. On the one hand, it is both a guarantee of domineering politics, and on the other hand, it can help the monarchs to make things easy to understand, and are often associated with the centralization and specialization of the state of governance. After modern times, the interpretation of the traditional world has led modern scholars to criticize the political and political management of the Heavenly Way similar to the Shinto teachings. Most of the scholars who govern the history of modern political thinking in China have criticized the political and management of the Heavenly Way, such as the establishment of the “History of Modern Political Thinking in China” [2] and the “Four-in-One” by Liu Zehua. Even those who hold a certain degree of protection for the politics of heaven, such as Xu Xie’s development of Dong Zhongshu’s philosophy of heaven in “History of Two Hans Thoughts”, in which the way of heaven is to classical Baojia.com dcardThe meaning of politics is very respectful, but it cannot be unacceptable to its limitations in real politics, and believes that it cannot enter into political reality and open up a new foreign king, but can only be a mysterious discussion of “political philosophy” (political way).
In comparison, the atmosphere has changed dramatically. On the one hand, the unearth of underground texts has given Confucian texts discussions on the problem of the way of heaven. The unearthed text shows that Confucianism also pays attention to the problem of the way of heaven [5]; on the other hand, modern political management discussions are reviewed and theoretical diagrams that conform to the Chinese approach form have brought the problem of the way of heaven to the surface. Many scholars have been exploring the value of traditional political management discussions in building social structures and integrating social worship from the perspective of theory. On the one hand, this new atmosphere is a sudden emergence from the perspective of the orientalism in the past, highlighting the fairness of classical theory. “In the Chinese classical Confucian Song Wei turned around, saw the towels coming from the other party, and then said thank you. In the argument of political philosophy, the way of heaven is a saying about the problem of ‘rightness’ Compared with the ‘compliance with the legality’ argument, it provides the value source and value protection problem of political arguments, and it is in the first place”; on the other hand, it is a correction to the bias of the new Confucianism in concealing the way of heaven from the perspective of life and neglecting the connection between the way of heaven and politics.
Why do we need Confucian political wisdom tomorrow? It is naturally because the Eastern-oriented political management theory has limitations in its interpretation of the modern world. For example, Zhao Tingyang’s reflection on the modern world system pointed out: “The political problems encountered by human society are similar or the same, but there are differences in the perspective of differences. Chinese political philosophy emerges from the most perspective and understands political problems from the scale of the country. However, Eastern political philosophy (based on modern political philosophy) starts from the smallest perspective and is based on the rights of the smallest political entity. This Short-term maintenance philosophy can only explain how to maintain personal rights and national benefits, but it cannot explain how to maintain human value and world benefits. “[7](P16) In a certain meaning, it accurately hits the disadvantage of modern politics establishing a political order based on the nationality of the nation. The second is related to the theoretical right request after China’s sudden outbreak. There is no doubt that the rise of China’s economy in the past 40 years has greatly comforted the minds of intellectuals. How to tell the Chinese story or how to explain the Chinese path has become the cause of some intellectuals’ thoughts. The Chinese state’s strength has strengthened the Chinese nature with global meaning, and Confucianism is the most prominent among the many resource projects. The third one is caused by the logic of the development of Confucian theory. Since the May Fourth Movement,The development of Neo-Confucianism is very popular, but the interesting fact is: “Contemporary Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism, from Xiong Shili, Liang Shuming, Zhang Junxing, Rong Youlan, Tang Junyi, Mou Zongsan, Xu Yao, to Jiumu and Yu Ying, we could not see their emphasis on the ancient tribute of “Five Books”.” 1 The philosophical interpretation of Confucianism has made Confucianism more and more confucianism. The historical phenomenon of “there is also a description of Zhu, and this is also a description of Zhu” appears from the beginning. At the same time, the interpretation and model influence of reality are getting weaker and weaker. As a result, it seems that Mo Mu’s comment on the development of Song and Ming dynasties was just like the development of Song and Ming dynasties. “The more he goes, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he is, the more he has to turn out to find a new Liuhe again. This is the path in academics” [8](P2). Therefore, with the direction of consciousness and form, Confucianism gradually transformed from the study of mind and nature to political Confucianism, and strived to restore the essential concern of Confucianism, that is, to take part in and reform the real world, and Confucian management discussions are increasingly becoming a hot topic in the academic world.
So, can traditional view of heavenly way become a constitutive element of modern political thinking? This not only requires the review of the existing Confucian political management theory based on the way of heaven, but also pay attention to the meaning that it can connect with modern political careers. Starting from this article, we will discuss the current discussions and problems of the politics of heaven and the way of heaven in the academic community, then discuss the limitations of Confucian heaven and political concepts, and finally explore why the Confucian heaven and heaven can become the constitutive element of modern political thinking. The topic of this article is “Confucian heavenly way and politics”. It is important to discuss the relationship between the Confucian heavenly way and political management concept. Its main purpose is to discuss the limitations of Confucian political concepts, and it is
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