What are the so called four realms of life by literary champion Feng Youlan?

The first realm is the natural realm, in the natural realm, Feng Youlan believes that everything should go with the flow, don't deliberately force it because of your own thoughts, that is likely to be counterproductive, contrary to the original goal, only by following the natural development law of everything and everything, you can get unexpected gains.

The second realm is the realm of merit, in the realm of utilitarianism, human beings have a preliminary awakening, know what they want, their ultimate goal, then everything he has revolves around this goal. If this goal is lost, it may be that another goal has emerged, and at this level, human beings have a utilitarian mind.

The third realm is the moral realm, in the moral realm, it plays a restraining role in the second realm, although there is a utilitarian heart, but in his consciousness, there is still a distinction between right and wrong, there is still a difference between what can be done and what cannot be done, it is based on such a moral scale, people will find the goal within the scope of morality, and carry out ethical behavior to achieve the goal.

The fourth realm is the realm of heaven and earth, which is the last realm and the largest realm, in addition to the understanding of oneself, society, and morality, human beings will have a broader vision, and in this realm, human beings will carry out development behaviors that conform to the universe around this universe.

Mr. Feng Youlan's four realms are interlocking layer by layer, layer by layer, layer by layer, only after the completion of the previous realm, in order to carry out the next realm, if all four realms can be reached, then can be called a sage person. <>

Throughout all of Feng Youlan's literary works, most of his literary works expound a central idea, philosophy is the study of seeking good. How to parse this sentence? Mr. Feng Youlan's sentence actually illustrates the role of philosophy, and the development of philosophy revolves around how to determine the values of life and determine the ideal of life.

In Mr. Feng Youlan's famous "Four Realms of Life", his philosophical thoughts are described in more detail and more specifically, and Mr. Feng divides his life into four realms around the philosophy of life, namely the natural realm, the utilitarian realm, the moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth. It can be said that philosophy can not go against the principles of heaven, it should be in the general environment, and must not go against the current, which can be said to be material philosophy, when the whole is put into a large environment, and heaven and earth can be integrated, so that there can be a spiritual level, in order to rise to Feng Youlan's spiritual philosophy, to complete the transformation from material philosophy to spiritual philosophy, this is Feng Youlan's philosophical way, matter is the foundation of spirit, but spirit must not be separated from matter.

If the philosophy proposed by people in the past was always critical, then Feng Youlan's philosophical thought must have broken these conventional schools, created a new Chinese philosophy, affirmed the utilitarianism in philosophy, and also put forward the highest realm in philosophy, the realm of heaven and earth. <>

Feng Youlan's youth, when he had just graduated from Southwest Associated University, founded a magazine with a good friend and held a position in the magazine. From this time period, Feng Youlan began to officially enter the vast ocean of life philosophy and began to engage in the creation of his philosophy-related works. In 1924, Feng Youlan's first more famous work finally came out, that is, "The Comparison of Life Ideals", also known as "The Theory of Heaven and Man Profit and Loss" by the British.

In this book, the prototype of Master Feng Youlan's philosophical thought is basically established, and in this book, Master Feng Youlan first proposed that the ideal of life is also a kind of philosophy, and finally made philosophy is a kind of learning that makes people better. <>

In Feng Youlan's article "The Realm of Life", he divides the realm into four levels:

1.Nature.

A person may only do things according to instinct and social customs, and he is unconscious or unaware of it, such as children, such as primitive people, and what they do may have no meaning or little significance to him", to put it bluntly, he acts for no reason.

2.Utilitarian realm.

People will consciously do things for themselves, and the results of what they do may be beneficial to others, but their original intentions and principles are still in the stage of self-interest, and the utilitarian meaning is clear. For example, a colleague went downstairs to pick up the courier and brought your lunch box by the way, although it helped you, but the original intention was to go downstairs to pick up his own courier. He won't go downstairs for your lunch, unless... He might have a crush on you.

But even if you have a crush on you, the result is inclined to him personally, after all, dedication is also a plus!

3.Moral realm.

When something rises to the level of "morality," it's somewhat ironic. At this stage, a person may be aware of the existence of the society, and know that he is a member of the society, and has the obligation or consciousness to do something for the society. As Confucianism says:

righteousness does not seek its own interests". Most of the actions of such people are strictly ethical. But morality is too subjective, and like beauty and ugliness, it is a subjective judgment of will, and it is relative, so it is not praised.

4.Heaven and earth realm.

At this stage, people understand that there is a greater whole beyond the whole of society, the universe! (People who care about the universe...) Superman? He was well aware that he was not only a member of society, but also what Mencius called a "heavenly citizen."

Mr. Feng Youlan said: "This kind of realization, he does things for the benefit of the universe, constitutes the highest state of life. ”

Among these four realms, the natural realm and the utilitarian realm are the people who are now; The moral realm and the realm of heaven and earth are the people that people should become. The first two are products of nature, and the latter two are creations of the spirit. The task spirit of Chinese philosophy helps people to reach the latter two realms, the realm of heaven and earth, also known as the philosophical realm, and it is only through understanding philosophy that it is possible to reach this realm.

The full text consists of 12 natural paragraphs and is divided into four parts.

a) (1 natural paragraph) - The task of philosophy is to raise the spiritual state of man.

2) (2-6) The four spiritual realms of life - nature, merit, authority, morality, and heaven and earth.

3) (7-11) An analysis of the four realms of life.

4) (12) Prospects for the future philosophy and the contribution of Chinese philosophy to satisfying the spiritual realm of life.