What are Mencius s thoughts on education, and what are Mencius s expositions on the role of educatio

Mencius's thought is mainly permeated with a strong idea of "benevolence". But Mencius's thinking differed from Confucius's. A large part of Mencius's writings is devoted to the "people's livelihood" and "benevolent government". And in the definition of human nature, Mencius advocated the concept of "human nature is inherently good".

Many chapters in Mencius are used as metaphors to illustrate his political views. They usually use history or real things as the basis for their own citations. So when you look at Mencius today, it seems that there is always a sense that the leaders of the country have received him.

As for Mencius's educational thoughts. In fact, what permeates the book "Mencius" is full of optimism and idealism. The starting point for optimism stems from Mencius's own summary of the "inherent goodness of human nature."

However, idealism is different from Lao Zhuang's nihilistic thought, and Mencius expounds it on the basis of respecting reality.

In fact, in the book "Mencius", there is not a lot of content that focuses on Mencius's thoughts on education. But we can summarize it by a few other aspects. I think that from the "inherent goodness of human nature", it can be interpreted that Mencius's educational thought has a tacit understanding with Confucius to a certain extent.

The so-called "teaching without class" is probably Confucius's summary of what he told students. But Mencius believed that human nature was all good at the beginning, and it could be better (ideal)! But it can also be seen that Mencius actually developed and elaborated Confucius's educational thoughts.

The highest category of Mencius's philosophical thought is heaven. Mencius inherited Confucius's idea of the Mandate of Heaven, eliminated the residual meaning of personality and deity, and imagined Heaven as a spiritual entity with moral attributes. He said:

Sincerity, the way of heaven also. Mencius defined the moral concept of sincerity as the essential attribute of heaven, and believed that heaven is the origin of the inherent moral concept of human nature. Mencius's system of thought, including his political and ethical thoughts, was based on the category of heaven.

Mencius's educational thought is also the inheritance and play of Confucius's educational thought of "education without class" ("Analects of Wei Linggong"). They all see EFA as both a means and an end in their benevolent governance. On the one hand, it advocates "setting up a school to teach it" (Teng Wen official seal sentence) to strengthen school education; On the other hand, those in power are required to take the lead in setting an example.

Junren, Mo Buren; Righteousness, righteousness; Junzheng, Mo Zheng. With the power of example, educate the people. The purpose of education is to make the people "understand people's morality" in order to establish a harmonious and harmonious ideal society with human order in which "people are clear at the top, and the small people are close to the bottom" (Teng Wen Gongzhang I).

"Rest assured". That is, to bring back to the heart the indulgent conscience and kindness, Mencius believed that education plays a very important role in the development of human nature. "If you can support it, nothing will grow; If you lose your nourishment, you will lose nothing. ”

Education distinguishes people from beasts, and distinguishes virtuous from unscrupulous. "Mencius believed that the presence or absence of an innate good nature is an important sign of the difference between man and beast."

Education is the foundation and cornerstone of the establishment of a social ethical order. Only by establishing a stable "social ethical order" can we "govern the country" and "level the world." The establishment of "social ethics order" depends on education, including family education, school education, social education, and so on.

Education is an important way to bring the hearts and minds of the people to justice. Mencius believed that there are two ways to unify the world and win the hearts of the people, one is to convince people with force, and the other is to convince people with virtue. It is overbearing to convince people by force, and Mencius thought it was undesirable; Convincing people with virtue is the royal way, and Mencius agreed very much.

The so-called convincing people with virtue is to win the hearts of the people and make the people submit.

Education is an important means to achieve the goal of "making the country rich and strengthening the army."

Summary of Thoughts:

Mencius's main ideas are: benevolence, righteousness, and goodness. The "Historical Records" says that Mencius wrote seven articles that have been passed down for several generations, and the "Hanshu Art and Literature Chronicles" says that there are eleven articles.

At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Zhao Qi said that Mencius had four foreign books, "Sexual Good Debate", "Wenshuo", "Filial Piety Classic" and "Wei Zheng", so the eleven articles should be added to the seven articles and four foreign books. Zhao Qi believes that the content of the four outer books is superficial and inconsistent with the inner chapters, and they should be written by later generations. The "Mencius" that has been handed down to this day, that is, the inner chapter that Zhao Qi said.

I think that people are born with the four virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courtesy, and wisdom. One can maintain and expand it through introspection, otherwise one would lose these good qualities. Thus he called for attention to the role of introspection.

In terms of social and political views, Mencius emphasized the theories of benevolence and kingship. Benevolent government is to "punish the people and collect taxes thinly." He summed up from historical experience that "if the people are violent, they will kill the country and perish," and said that three generations of people have won the world because of benevolence, and they have lost the world because of unkindness.

Emphasizing the development of agriculture, sympathy for the people, and concern for the people's livelihood, he said in "The Widow to the Country": "The seventy people eat meat, and the people are neither hungry nor cold, but those who are not kings are not there." ”

The main content of Mencius's educational thought is "Ming Ren Lun", the basis of this core idea is "human nature good", Mencius believes that human kindness is an instinct, that human nature is good, innate. Human evil is caused by the acquired environment.

In order to illustrate this truth, Mencius once compared it to "Therefore, everyone has a heart that cannot bear others, and now when people see that their children are about to enter the well, they all have a heart of compassion." Otherwise, it is not to be friends with the parents of the children, not to be known to the friends of the township party, and it is not to be evil. From the view, there is no compassion, and it is not human; No shame, no human being; The heart of resignation is not human; There is no heart of right and wrong, and there is no human being.

The heart of compassion is also the end of benevolence; The heart of shame is also the end of righteousness; The heart of resignation, the end of courtesy; The heart of right and wrong, the end of wisdom. There are four ends of human beings, and there are four bodies. There are those who are four-ended and claim that they can't, and those who are thieves; Those who say that their kings can't, thieves and their kings are also. ”

Comparing the similarities and differences between Mencius's and Xunzi's educational thoughts, they are as follows:Common denominator: The two inherited Confucius's idea of "benevolence", Mencius advocated "benevolent government", Xunzi advocated "benevolence and righteousness" and "royal road", and both emphasized the role of the common people.

Differences: (1) Theory of human nature: Mencius affirmed the "theory of goodness", believing that everyone is born with the four "good qualities" of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Xunzi affirmed the "theory of sexual evil", he believed that human nature is an innate natural attribute of human beings, and it completely excludes any acquired human factors.

2) Teaching ideas: Mencius advocated "internal development", while Xunzi preferred "external development".

3) Secondly, due to the difference between the philosophical outlook and the theory of human nature, there are also great differences between Mencius and Xunzi in terms of teaching ideas, Mencius advocates "internal development", while Xunzi prefers "external development". In terms of the relationship between learning and selfishness, Mencius emphasized "thinking", advocating self-satisfaction and concentration; And Xunzi advocates "learning" even more. Mencius's view was influenced by his idealistic thinking, exaggerating the role of "thinking" and ignoring "hearing", and placing too much emphasis on rational understanding.

1. Mencius advocated that human nature is inherently good, and believed that the four ends of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom all exist in my heart.

2. Mencius believed that education must have certain standards, just like archery, and that scholars must be able to shoot the bull's-eye. The standards are established, and everyone must consciously abide by them, and they cannot be lowered at will. The highest standard of Mencius's education is to cultivate a "laborer" who is a wise man and a gentleman.

3. Mencius's thought of "benevolent government" has three main aspects:

First, the monarch is benevolent and righteous first, and then utilitarian. A country, from the king to the common people, must abide by the rules of benevolence and righteousness. The monarch must not compromise benevolence and righteousness because of his own selfishness, so that he can win the support of the people.

Second, rulers must learn to "push grace". Human nature is good, everyone has the "unbearable heart" (i.e., the heart of compassion) that cannot bear to see the hardships of others.

The third is to develop production, so that the people can take advantage of the time and take the people's ownership. Only by allowing the people to live a life of abundant food and clothing can we carry forward the idea of filial piety and loyalty.