Confucius thought that there are no consequences for not learning

"Confucius can't make a decision" shows that Confucius sought truth from facts and was cautious about knowledge. This means that after hearing this, Confucius could not judge which of the two of them was right and which was wrong. From the pre-Qin Liezi's "Two Children's Debate Day", the full text takes Confucius's indecisiveness as a continuous clue, and describes the process of the two children's debate in an orderly manner.

Original text: Confucius traveled eastward, saw two children arguing, and asked why.

A son said: "I go near at the beginning of the sunrise, and I am far away in the middle of the day." ”

A son said: "I am far away at the beginning of the day, and the middle of the day is near." ”

A son said: "The beginning of the day is as big as a car cover, and the middle of the day is like a plate, this is not for the far small and the near is big?" ”

A son said: "The beginning of the day is cool, and the middle of the day is like a soup, this is not hot for the near and cold for the far?" ”

Confucius couldn't decide.

The two children smiled and said, "Who knows more about you?" ”

By describing two children arguing about how far the sun is from people in the morning and noon, this essay reflects the ancient Chinese people's search for natural phenomena and the precious spirit of independent thinking, bold questioning, and pursuit of truth.

Confucius believed that the three realms of knowledge, goodness, and pleasure are learning.

From the Analects: "Those who know are not as good as those who are good, and those who are good are not as good as those who are happy." Meaning: "For any learning, knowledge, or skill, he who knows it is better than he who loves it; Those who love it are not as good as those who enjoy it. ”

The realm of "knowledge", that is, for knowledge, learning is only out of a rational knowledge and understanding. The realm of "goodness" is that the study of knowledge and learning is a kind of interest and love. At this time, learning is no longer an external requirement, but becomes an intrinsic requirement; It used to be "I want to learn", but now it is "I want to learn".

The realm of "happiness", that is, entering this realm of learning, people have completely entered a state of "unity" with knowledge and learning, learning brings endless happiness, and people indulge in it and get carried away, and enjoy themselves. At this time, the learner forgets to sleep and eat, and it may seem very hard to others, but they are unaware of it and enjoy it.

Confucius believed that knowledge, goodness, and pleasure are the three levels of learning, emphasizing the vital role of hobbies and interests in people's learning. He believes that for learning, whether it is knowledge or skill, those who understand it are not as good as those who love it, and those who love it are not as good as those who enjoy learning.

Initially, a book requires a hundred points of energy to read, and later, it is just.

Eight. Ten or ninety points of energy is enough, then only sixty or seventy points are enough, and finally, to.

Four. Ten or fifty points of energy is enough. Reading and thinking as two complementary things in the process of seeking knowledge are the basic educational methods of Confucianism.

Due to the rotation and revolution of the earth, the distance between the sun and people in the morning and at noon does change somewhat, but it is so small that it is difficult to detect with the naked eye. The impact of this situation on the temperature is also negligible.

This article describes Confucius's encounter with two children arguing about the distance of the sun, and Confucius could not make a decision. It also praised Confucius's spirit of seeking truth from facts, daring to admit that he was lacking in knowledge, and the ancient people's courage to explore objective truth.

Confucius's period was in the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, and the princes at that time cared about how to annex other princes, how to annex other countries by means and how to survive in the vassal states, not Confucius's set of governing the country and gentlemen only said, after all, what they cared about at that time was how to strengthen their own strength. After the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, the unification of the times, the vassal states were unified, and the rulers at this time needed to use Confucius's ideas to control the people, and it can even be said that they distorted Confucius's thoughts, so that the ruling class was enough to fool the people.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, a period of great social change, wars and chaos, decay and turmoil, and the emerging landlord class urgently needed powerful means to consolidate the nascent political power.

Confucianism advocates benevolence, rule by virtue, and maintenance of Zhou etiquette, but these ideas and propositions are not conducive to unification, cannot meet the ruling needs of the emerging landlord class, and will inevitably be ignored.

Such questions should be considered from the perspective of whether they conform to the development of the times and the needs of the rulers to consolidate their rule).

The essence of Confucius's proposition was to maintain the rule of the declining slave-owning aristocracy, and the trend of the times at that time was that the landlord class replaced the slave-owning class and the feudal system replaced slavery.

However, in the entire feudal society after the death of Confucius, Confucianism occupied an orthodox position for a long time, because Confucianism has been transformed by later generations and has constantly adapted to the needs of various rulers.

The teachings of Confucius were not universally accepted, let alone implemented, during his lifetime. But they eventually became popular and became the official doctrine of the state. One reason for this is that his views are fundamentally conservative and his acceptance of the status quo, which is naturally welcomed by the upper echelons of rulers, and the other reason is that he emphasizes moral principles and insists that they are a prerequisite for the exercise of power.

Finally, two and a half centuries after his death, Confucius became an indispensable officialdom philosophy with the establishment of the empire.

Reasons for not being accepted]:

Confucius's ideas did not meet the requirements of social development and the needs of rulers during the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period.

Reason for acceptance]:

Welcomed by the upper echelons of rulers; emphasizing ethical principles; Offering a philosophy of officialdom.