S.
Edilbay Doctor of philosophy science, Professor of Al-Farabi Kazakh National
University
N.Zh Kudaibergenova PhD student of Al-Farabi Kazkh National University
|
Confucian ethics of virtue |
According to Confucius
high-morality Jun-zi is characterized by two things: a sense of humanity and
duty.
The concept of the word «Ren», Confucius has stated in his
work «Zhun Yun», explaining that it is of one
of the respective merits in the human life. Men-zi gave an explanation to the
word stating that it is consciousness (heart), so that a person who achieved
the level of «Ren» is able to love all the people. Men-zi chose as the
most effective governance principle a principle «Ren chen» - «a wise politics». According to Men-zi, in
order to achieve fair government, ideal characteristics must be developed in
every person. If the governor will serve for the sake of the people,
the «blue sky» will help him. The management
should match a human nature, and man must take justice and wisdom from the
nature. The ideal way - mercy, wisdom, humanity and courtesy of a human and the development of ethical and natural
advantages. Men-zi said: «The pursuit of wisdom by human nature, is like the
water pouring down». So, Men-zi equalized the sociality and nature,
ethical of human qualities - a natural necessity. Another thinker of
Confucian school Xun Zi had a different opinion on this matter. In his treatise «Xun Zi» in the twenty-third part «Ignorance in the human nature», it is says that a man came
into this world with a thirst of benefit. «Therefore, it is necessary to
influence the person through education and law, forcing them to obey their
duties, and the law, and only then they will have a submission, a person will
become cultural and there will be an order. «Xun Zi criticized the wisdom
of human nature of Men-zi: Why develop a sense of duty and responsibility? This
is not a natural quality of a man, and has appeared as a result of the works of
thinkers and law executers. Man by his nature is ignorant, so he moves to the wisdom. An ignorant person
can achieve the ideality, but he/she does not want to, it is necessary to do
moral works in order to get to ideality. Xun Zi is a bright
philosopher who spoke about humanity. Xun Zi also claimed
that events come from nature: "The forces of yin-yang can bring changes,
with the effect of these forces there are different phenomena that give
everything you need from the sky to the life and development. Man does not see
what happens inside of him, he sees only what goes on outwards, so it is said
that he evolved from the spirit...» [1, p. 384].
For the thinker Han Dong
Zhongshu Ren meant «love». Dong Zhongshu connected Confucianism with the theory
of yin-yang and the theory of a-syn - the first five elements. Feelings - is a
source of ignorance - it is one of the parts of human nature, through
education, it turns into wisdom and becomes complete. People need to
educate the governor, with this he will realize the will of the Sky (at this point Dong Zhongshu stands
against Men-zi) [2, p. 522.].
There is a question about what
is said about the «Ren» in his
treatise «Lun yui». This term is
repeated in a treatise more than 150 times. "The teacher said, "The
only humane can love people and hate them"." ["Lunyui" IV,
3]. Confucius has substantiated notion of humanity with:
"Win yourself in words and deeds, returning to the law - that is a truly
humanity. If one of the finest days you defeat yourself in words
and deeds, you will return to the law, in the Celestial State you will be
called humane"["Lunyui" XII, 1].
Confucius explaining the humanity has said that it is given by
nature to men in a latent form. Humanity is saved in each person and is taken by
itself. This outlook is explained as follows: "Can people
use all their strength during the day on humanity? I have never seen
people who have lacked the strength for it. Such people might
exist, but I have never seen them" ["Lunyui" IV, 6]. But also in
this explanation he gives a contradictory opinion: "I have not seen those
who love humanity and have not seen those who hate kindles"
["Lunyui" IV, 6]. However, contradictory to each other both views can be
compared to that it is a hidden goodness given to man by nature. In order to reach
the humanity, you need to do one very important thing: the same for all people
a sense of "duty and respect for elders", on the basis of "the
need to win yourself". Again, this action is not possible to be done by
everyone, because a person has to pull himself out of all the selfishness. So, to enter and
merge with sociality, it is required to achieve two things. It is to be able to
lose to himself and achieve inner peace.
A.S. Martynov complementing
the words of F.Yulan, divided Ren category as follows: psychological: a) internal b) external, social: a)
internal b) external, political: a) internal b) external.
Ideal man (jun-zi) should be
an example for others and follow the principle of "Ren". So, he must be the
keeper of the foundations of humanity, compassion, honor, and justice.
Confucius draws the line
between those who have a "high" or "noble" intelligence,
and those who follow the "low", "less" way, who have
"lower intelligence". Often, they are a mirror reflection of each other:
"Noble man is different
from other, but lives in peace with them. A man with lower intelligence
is the same as the others, but he never lives with them in piece" [3, p.146].
In this passage, we see that
people with a noble mind are in totally different direction from others. Noble
intelligence people have more abilities in all their internal dimensions, which
allows them to exist and operate in this world radically different from any
other way. Confucius says: "Noble experiences fear facing
three things: the Divine commands, great people and the words of a sage. Small
people do not understand the Divine commands, so do not feel tremble facing
them. They despise the great people and laugh at the words
of sages" [4, 188-189].
"The noble man has nine
states of mind: for the eyes - bright, for ears - piercing, for face -
cordiality, for behavior - humility, for the words - reliability, for the
service - respect, for doubt - questioning, for anger - diligence, and for the
possibility of obtaining profit - morals" [4, p.189].
There is another principle of
the ideal human- de. This concept can be translated as "wisdom". According to Kong
Zi wisdom jun-zi and xiao Ren are different from each other and contradict. "The wisdom of
the noble man (jun-zi) as the wind, the wisdom of a common man (xiao Ren) as a
herb, where the wind blows, there the grass bows down" [5, 172b.].
China before the twentieth
century was called country "ceremonies and customs" because the
culture of this country has been linked to the concept of "Lee". The structure of
the Not-Confucian "Thirteen Canons" consisted of "Zhou Li"
(customs of the Zhou Dynasty", "And Lee" (courtesy and
ceremony)", "Li Ji"(Treatise on the politeness). Category Lee is
on par with the concepts of "humanity", "justice",
"wisdom", thereby expressing the universality of the social, ethical,
religious, ideological, and cultural settings. In the ancient
scriptures "Shu Ching" and "Shi Jing", the character lee
expressed ceremony about victories on political basis, the integrity of the
world, at the same time gave an example of the interaction of people and priests.
Kung-zi interpreted the word "lee" as it all leads to the relation to
social and human life [5].
"Ethics" and
"custom" in the category lee had different interpretations, which led
to the two contradicting Confucianism heirs Men-zi and Xun Zi, and affected the
two different interpretations of these concepts: internal moral quality of a
person and loaded external social phenomenon. Based on the wisdom
of human "nature" (syn), Men-zi described this factor as the
beginning of "Li", and "Li" itself for man is "wise
and sensitive heart" [5, p.278].
However, "lee"
covered people's lives at the same time affecting the spiritual and moral
character. In order to give a fundamental way to this stream Kung
Tzu created a whole set of customs and ceremonies. Kazakh philosopher
M.Z. Izotov about it says: "In terms of categories of Confucian Lee, the
moral compound and the natural law are exposed as a single system. The most
important thing is to serve Heaven, and follow the way of Tao. Follow the way -
for people is not the structure of the world, it is how to correctly live in
this world. Tao gives meaning and introduces order into life" [6, 162].
According to Confucius,
customs show a link between heaven and earth, leading to the order between
people, it is not an artificial form, and corresponds to human nature. About customs and
leading, in his treatise Lun-yu, there are the following lines: "Yan Yuan
asked about the philanthropy. The Master replied: - Defeat your disadvantage (in
words and actions), if you follow the rules - that is the foundation of
philanthropy here. If you win over yourself (in the words and actions),
you will return to the rules, the sky will make you the keeper of humanity.
Philanthropy depends on the man himself. How can it depend
on the others? Yan Yuan asked again: - Tell me how I can achieve it. Master
said: - Do not pay attention to the fact that does not fit the rules; Do not
listen to anything that is not in the rules; do not say anything that does not
conform to the rules, do not do anything that is not in the rules. Yan Yuan
said: - even if I am plain, I am willing to follow this advice".
"When we say customs, ceremony, does that mean that we have to carry
jasper or silk? Or when talking about music, do we mean the drums and
bells?" [6, 176].
Summing up the results of the
above, Confucius gave deeper meaning of such concepts as the spiritual and
moral development. In his treatise "Chung-yung", it was stated
the following: "The noble man directs himself to the development",
because "the people who can develop themselves, know how to control
others", "and a person who can control others, can manage people and
China" [7, 126-127b.].
The essence of all the
provisions in the Confucian belief that basically the human nature is naturally
kind. Confucius was not naive about people and their
tendency to evil. He could see it clearly. However, he stood
on his belief that a virtuous highly moral person can be educated through
deliberate, purposeful actions, as innate inner qualities of a person make him
obey such persuasion and education. Moreover, this
sensitivity means that human nature responds to displaying of moral example,
which in the fact reforms itself, even in the smallest details.
REFERENCES
1. Dong
Zhongshu. Chun
Qiu Fan Lu ("Heavy dew on the record "Chun Qiu"") /
Translation of A.S.Martynov / / Ancient Chinese Philosophy: The Age of Han. -
M, 1990. - 522p.
2. Confucian
"Four Books". (Si Shu) / Translation from Chinese with comments. Kobzev
A.I., Lukyanov A.E., Perelomov L.S., Popov P.S. - Moscow, Eastern Literature,
2004.-431p.
3. Confucius. The
Lunyui Translation of David Hinton. Washington,
DC: Counterpoint, 1998, p.146
4. L.S.
Vasilyev The genesis of Chinese thought. M.: Nauka, 1989.
5. P.S.
Popov The Chinese philosopher Men-zi./ Translation with comments: afterword. L.S.Perelomova.
- Reprinted edition.-M.: East Literature Sciences, 1998-278p.
6. Izotov
M.Z. Formation of a single world of science in the context of the dialogue
between East and West cultures / / Methodology of science in the context of the
interaction between the eastern and western cultures./ M.Z. Izotov - Almaty:
Akyl kitabi, 1998. - 162p.
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Yong" / Lukyanov - M.: "Eastern Literature", 2003-248p.