Two outstanding philosophies of ancient China

        下面为大家整理一篇优秀的essay代写范文 -- Two outstanding philosophies of ancient China，文章讲述孔子和孟子是古代中国的两个杰出的哲学家（大约是春秋战国时期），他们的思想思考在他们所经历的混乱时期早已不复存在。当涉及到对人本主义的理解以及他们对政治观点的理想主义时。本文将全面地概述其主要思想的差异，以及孟子在某种程度上实际上遵循孔子的观点。

        Confucius and Mencius are two preeminent philosophers of Ancient China(roughly the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period), whose thoughtful reflections have long outlived that chaotic period they lived.Though their thoughts are on the whole similar in some points, they are different when it comes to the understanding of humanism and their idealistic of political views.This paper will give a overall bird’s eye view of the differences of their main thoughts and how in fact Mencius followed the views of Confucius in some extent.

        Confucius lived to the east in the State of Lu(today’s Shandong Province), his native place is not far from that of Mencius, though they were not people of the same time.Confucius is the founder of Confucianism while Mencius is the follower of this school of thought.Mencius inherited Confucius’ thought of ‘Ren’ and developed it into the policy of benevolence, this is the most famous and recognized similarity between the two thinkers and politicians.Apart from this, the two both have a positive attitude towards participating in society and seeking to become an official and a strong sense of social responsibility. And they value moral integrity and despise fame and wealth. For the differences in their thoughts, they are mainly shown in the following several aspects.In the aspect of political views, Confucius holds that ‘Ren’ is the basic but in Mencius’ view ‘righteousness’ is the fundamental. Because Confucius had a higher social position than Mencius and lived a relatively easy life, and he held high office once, so he advocated to abide by the ‘Ritual’ of Zhou that there is a strict social hierarchies and ethics existed in a society. The nature of his thoughts is Emperor is supreme, and even when an emperor didn’t perform his duty, the people or subjects have no way to find a solution except to make counsels(Most of the time they are useless).While Mencius advocated the people are more important than a ruler of a country, the interests of the masses are supreme, thus the power of an emperor should be limited to some extent. This is much related with Mencius’ life experiences and background. He lived a poor life with his father dead in his childhood, so he had a chance to wander from state to state and came to gain a profound understanding of poor people’s life situations.This experience was the basis of his political thoughts, which is the most shinning parts of his ideals, is the overview of Chinese ancient humanism. Another idea of his is that in success one should try to let others be benefited, while in poverty one should at least try to be immune from outside bad influences, while in Confucius’ eyes a person who excels in his learning can be an official, is the positive ideal for most of the people in the very beginning of dynasty when the economy and culture is on the rise. Mencius’ thoughts are more closely linked to the people at the middle or end of a newly built dynasty whose economy and culture is on the decrease and literati and officials are disappointed with an official career.As a result, the political thoughts of Confucius and Mencius have played a crucial role in maintaining and bettering the long history of ancient Chinese rule of feudalism, and they two are labeled by emperors as the ‘Sage’ and ‘Second Sage’ of Chinese feudal society.Another difference lies in their thoughts on education.For example, Confucius advocates that with education there is no distinction between classes or races of men, and those who are good scholars will be encouraged to make an official, which is rather active toward the society and the road of climbing the social ladder by being an official. Besides, he thinks a teacher should teach students in accordance with their natural aptitude instead of using the same method with all students.What about Mencius who is the representative of the ordinary masses? In his opinion, based on his theory that people are born good in nature, everyone should pay attention to self study and self cultivation in order to improve oneself.What’s more, the importance of study environment is highly emphasized by Mencius, though one is born good in nature, if he is put among people with bad habits, after a long time, this person may end up becoming a person infected with that bad habit, just like the old folk concept that he who stays near ink would get stained black. One can get some implications from the story of moving three evictions in order to select a good neighbor by Mencius’ mother. People often label the thoughts of Mencius and Confucius as one is reasonable because Mencius developed those of Confucius in his own way. For example, Confucius only put forward the general concept of ‘Ren’ aiming at the tangled warfare in his time, but he did not specify the connotation of ‘Ren’. When it comes to Mencius, he put forward the theory of all people are born good to visualize this concept, and on this basis he developed the concept of benevolent government. From the general concept of ‘Ren’ to the ideal of benevolent government is actually a leap from a social moral ethic to a kind of social politics. This can help the ruler to better enforce benevolent government toward the people.One can also see this inheritance of Confucianism by Mencius in the specific policies. Confucius’ government guidelines are simple in two aspects of Ritual and Music, in simple words means humanity, and he agreed on slight punishment towards the criminals.For Mencius,people are the most important and can kill a dictator if necessary.He thought music can be used to educate the people, and the ruler should develop economy properly, because an abundant economy is the foundation of a civilized state.

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