The debate between heaven and man in Chinese philosophy has multiple meanings: it involves both the Taoist view of heaven and values. In the latter sense, heaven is nature and nature in a broad sense, while man first refers to the creative activity of the subject (the process of humanization of nature) and its results (manifested in different forms of civilization). Should the object world and man himself transcend the state of nature? What are the basic principles of the humanistic world? How to position the humanization of nature and the naturalization of man? And so on, these questions are more directed to the value area. When Confucius consciously reflected on the value connotation of the relationship between heaven and man, human beings had already entered civilized society from the state of nature, and the division between nature (heaven) and society (man) had also undergone a long historical process. Confucius undoubtedly had a deep feeling for the historical progress of civilization. He once pointed out this point from the aspect of the social connection between people: "Birds and beasts shall not be with the flock, but with whom are the disciples of the Uphist?" The "disciples" are those who have transcended the state of nature and become civilized. As the subject of the civilization era, human beings cannot regress to the state of nature, but can only form a social connection with each other on the basis of humanization. Here, Confucius affirmed the value of humanities in an unquestionable tone.
Of course, the fruits of civilization are not only reflected in humanized social relations, but also have broader historical connotations. In a sense, Yin Zhou's etiquette system can be regarded as a symptom of the progress of civilization, and Confucius's investigation of etiquette is more or less focused on this meaning. He once said quite emotionally: "Depressed! I congratulated Zhou. Although there is a certain conservative mentality of nostalgia for the old system, behind it lies a deeper value orientation: the Zhou Li here is not only a relic of the past, but also a symbol of civilization in a broad sense, so that "Cong Zhou" correspondingly means to confirm the historical significance of human cultural creation. Confucius's emphasis on "the distinction between Yixia and Xia" also shows a similar trend of value: the superiority of Xia is higher than Yi, mainly because its degree of civilization is better than the latter. It is precisely from the same premise that Confucius praised Guan Zhong: "Microtubule Zhong, I was sent to the left." Here, Guan Zhong's merits are first manifested in avoiding the regression of civilization ("being sent to the left").
As a human being above nature, what should civilized society be built on? Confucius put forward the principle of benevolence. It is a common view that Confucius thought has benevolence at its core. As early as the pre-Qin dynasty, there was already Confucius "guiren". Of course, the introduction of the category of "ren" did not begin with Confucius. The word "ren" has been seen in the "Book of Poetry, Qi Feng, Lu Ling": "Lu Lingling, his person is beautiful and benevolent." "Shangshu Jinjiao" also begins to mention Ren: "Yuren Ruokao, can be multi-talented, can do ghosts and gods." However, the ren mentioned in the above literature seems to be only the meaning of Yiwen and Meibi, and does not manifest itself as a consistent ideal or concept in the field of value. For the first time with Confucius, benevolence was elevated to a universal principle of value.
The Analects of Yan Yuan records that Confucius said to the realm of ren: "Fan Chi asked Ren. Zi Yu: 'Lover. This can be seen as the most general provision of the connotation of benevolence. Defining benevolence by loving one's neighbor embodies a simple humanistic concept, which means, first of all, affirming man's supremacy in all things in heaven and earth. In the Analects of the Township Party, we can see such an intriguing record: Once, when the stable was destroyed by fire, Confucius returned from retreat, and when he heard about it, he immediately asked eagerly: "Hurt people? And did not ask if the fire hurt the horse ("don't ask the horse"). What is expressed here is a humane concern. It means that people are more valuable than cows and horses, so the focus should be on people. Of course, this does not mean that cows and horses are useless things, but it shows that cows and horses, as natural beings relative to people, only have external value (manifested as tools or means); Only human beings have intrinsic value (which is an end in itself). Behind asking people and "not asking horses", there is more or less the above concept.
The basic requirement of treating people as objects of concern is respect for them. Confucius said:
Today's filial piety is said to be able to raise. As for dogs and horses, they can be raised. Disrespectful, why not?
Respect is respect for personality. If there is only concern in life (being able to raise) and no respect for personality, it means reducing people to things (dogs and horses). Man, as an object different from things, is not merely a sensual being. It has a supernatural social essence (humanized nature), and this essence is first manifested in mutual respect between people. Respect for man is the affirmation of man's intrinsic value, or the affirmation of man's supernatural essential characteristics. Confucius's call for a distinction between the relationship between people and things through "respect" is undoubtedly seen here. Although he mainly deals with parent-child relationships here, the significance of using respect for personality to highlight the human nature of people as different from tools has obviously gone far beyond the realm of parent-child.
It is expressed in the benevolent principle of loving and respecting others, based on filial piety: "Filial piety is the foundation of benevolence!" "Filial piety is mainly embodied in the parent-child relationship, and the younger brother (悌) unfolds in the brotherly relationship. Generally speaking, parent-child and brotherly relationships are first and foremost bound by blood and thus have a natural nature. However, once this relationship is manifested in the form of filial piety, it begins to transcend the realm of nature and has a humanistic meaning: filial piety is essentially a social ethical relationship. Confucius took filial piety as the foundation of benevolence, and its intrinsic meaning is to demand that nature be related to human culture, and at the same time, it emphasizes the nature of the principle of benevolence beyond nature. According to Confucius, once man can be elevated (brought to the humanistic level) from the initial natural relationship (parent-child brother relationship bound by blood), then the racial nature of man can be established, and the realization of benevolence is correspondingly intrinsically guaranteed.
There is a common view that Confucius advocated that "love has difference and so on," and that love has difference and so on constitutes a restriction on the principle of benevolence. This view is not unfounded, because when Confucius took filial piety as the foundation of benevolence, he did highlight the brotherly love of parents and children. However, the consequent denial of the universality of Confucius' principles seems to be unfounded. As mentioned earlier, Confucius emphasized filial piety as the foundation of benevolence, and its real purpose was not to limit the principle of benevolence by narrow kinship, but to humanize the primitive (original) natural relationship. By its very nature, human culture always means universalization, which embodies the universal ethnographic nature of man. In fact, in Confucius, there is no inherent tension between the universality of filial piety and the affirmation of the principle of benevolence, and the former is the logical premise of the latter. It is not difficult to see this from the following exposition of Confucius:
When a disciple enters, he is filial piety, and when he goes out, he is faithful and loves all.
Here, filial piety, as a humanized form of primitive natural relations, constitutes the starting point of universal human interaction; The transition from brotherly love to group love (pan-love) is a logical progression, and the principle of benevolence itself is further sublimated into a universal norm in the process. Later, Mencius's so-called "old and old, young and young" embodies roughly the same line of thought.
As far as its requirement to transcend nature is concerned, the principle of benevolence undoubtedly shows a tendency to separate nature (nature) and man (human). However, the separation of heaven and man does not mean separation of heaven and man. For Confucius, the humane principle of universal love for all, although it broke through the realm of nature, never severed the connection with nature. This can be seen from Confucius's interpretation of the three-year funeral:
The husband's dwelling is mourned, the food is unwilling, the smell is unhappy, and the dwelling is restless. ...... The death of the husband for three years, the mourning of the world.
After the death of parents, children often eat and drink without feeling delicious, and smell pleasure without feeling pleasant, which is the natural expression of missing their parents, and the three-year bereavement is based on this natural psychological emotion. Confucius thought that the three-year mourning was justified, which is certainly a bit trivial, but his connection between mourning and human natural emotions is noteworthy. According to Confucius, mourning as a form of filial piety is itself a manifestation of benevolence, and since the three-year mourning is based on people's natural emotions, then the principle of benevolence based on filial piety is correspondingly in line with the natural requirements of human psychology and emotions, and does not manifest itself as an artificial coercion. Here, Confucius actually communicates the principles of benevolence and nature from the level of psychological and emotional aspects. Of course, the psychological emotions expressed in the form of "unwilling to eat, unhappy to hear" and so on cannot be completely equated with the nature of nature, because it has been more or less "humanized" in a certain sense, however, it cannot be denied that it does contain some kind of unnatural (natural) component. In fact, even the human element of emotion often manifests itself in a natural (second natural) way.
In connection with the above views, Confucius, while emphasizing the transcendence of nature, also put forward the proposition of "Zetian": "Only heaven is great, and only Yao is great." "The so-called heaven is to go with nature. Of course, this does not mean a return to the state of nature from a civilized society, but rather that humanistic norms should not be turned into repressive decrees. In Confucius's view, transcending nature must not be understood as anti-nature, and the humanization of nature should also be regarded as the guidance and sublimation of nature. The Analects of Advanced are recorded as follows:
Zilu, Zeng Chen, Ran You, and Gong Xihua attended. Zi Yu: "I will live long for a day, and I will not be able to do it." Ju Ze said: 'I don't know! 'If you know, what is it?' Zilu led the way to say: "The country of a thousand multiplications, between the great powers, plus the division and brigade, so that it is hungry, and because of it, compared with three years, can make courage, and know the way." "Master." Beg! What is it? Counterpoint: "Sixty or seventy, such as fifty or sixty, ask for it, and compare it with three years, so that the people can be enough." As it is polite, to be a gentleman. "Chi! What is it? Answer: "If you are not capable, you are willing to learn." In the affairs of the sect temple, if they are the same, Duan Zhangfu, I am willing to be a small minister. "Point! What is it? "Drums, sons, sheser. Answer: "It is different from the author of the three sons." Zi Yu: "Why hurt?" They also have their own aspirations. "Mo Chun, spring clothes are ready." Five or six champions, six or seven children, bathing in Yi, the wind dancing, and returning home. The master sighed: "I and Dian Ye!" ”
Compared with the social ambitions of Zilu, Ran You, and Gongxihua, what Zeng Dian yearned for was a natural realm. Of course, this realm is not the same group as birds and beasts, but through "bathing in Yi, wind and dancing" to cultivate and promote emotions, after all, it reflects more the connection between man and nature. It means that while humanizing nature, man himself should also naturalize (Zetian); The principles of a civilized society should not be isolated from nature. The exclamation of "I and the point" is exactly what it means.
From the perspective of values, Confucius's affirmation of natural principles has its significance that cannot be ignored. As the subject of value, on the one hand, man always has to go through a process from nature to humanization (socialization), and only by transcending nature can man obtain intrinsic value (making himself an end); On the other hand, the social norm that is the result of humanization, especially the ethical principles therein, should not be hostile to nature, but on the contrary, it needs to be gradually internalized in the subject, becoming the second nature of the subject, which is the so-called naturalization process of man. Social norms (including the principle of benevolence) can easily degenerate into hypocritical pretenses or external coercion if they are divorced from the principles of nature. Confucius, while putting forward the principle of benevolence and affirming the principle of nature, undoubtedly noted that the humanization of nature and the naturalization of man should not be mutually exclusive.
Of course, on the whole, in the debate between heaven and man, Confucius's basic value orientation is to highlight humanities (the principle of benevolence): for Confucius, the ultimate meaning of the principle of nature is to more fully realize the principle of benevolence (so that it does not degenerate into artificial coercion). It can be said that it is the principle of benevolence that sets the tone of the Confucian value system from the general trend upwards and gives Confucianism characteristics that are different from other schools. In contrast to the Confucian principle of benevolence, the later Taoism highlighted mainly the principle of nature. They take the natural state of man as the ideal state, advocate "no man destroys the sky", and demand the return of civilization (humanized state) to nature. This view notes some of the negative aspects of the progress of civilization and is seen that the norms and norms of civilized society should not be contrary to nature, while at the same time ignoring the humanization of nature and the dignity of human beings. Unlike Taoism, which reinforces the principle of nature, Legalism puts the principle of violence above all else, emphasizing "the struggle for strength today" (Han Feizi), and using violent means such as criminal law as the only norm for regulating interpersonal relations. If the Taoist principles of nature exhibit inhumane characteristics, then the Legalist principles of violence are of an anti-human nature. In contrast, the principles of benevolence laid down by Confucius, although still in abstract form, embody more of the humane spirit of primitive humanism.