Chapter 12 6. Confucian moderately prosperous society
If Zhuangzi's ideal is "tops are like sticks, people are like wild deer", Mohism and Legalism's design is "tops are like queen bees, people are like worker bees", then Confucianism's proposition is "tops are like parents, people are like children ".
This is feudal society.
A feudal society is also a patriarchal society, at least in the Western Zhou Dynasty.According to the feudal system of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the king of Zhou was the son of heaven, the Son of Heaven.The princes are the sons and princes of Zhou Wang.The doctor is the son of the princes, the son.A retainer is the son of a doctor, a scholar.Hehe, they were originally father and son.
What's more, it doesn't matter if they are not father and son, it can be regarded as one, because there is also a system of ritual and music to support it.The ritual and music system talks about "kissing" and "respecting".Kiss means loving relatives; Zun Zun means respecting the venerable.How do people who have no father-son relationship respect their relatives?Treat the king as the father and the ministers as the sons.
Father and son, monarch and minister, are the most important interpersonal relationship.
The monarch is benevolent and the minister is loyal, the father is kind and the son is filial, men farm and women weave, and the four generations live together. This is the ideal feudal society. Confucianism calls it "Xiaokang".
Well-off is relative to Datong.
Datong and Xiaokang are two kinds of societies and two eras.In the world of Great Harmony, people are honest and peace-loving, men have jobs, women have homes, disadvantaged groups are taken care of, they don't pick up lost things on the road, and they don't close their doors at night.
Of course the Mohists also like this kind of society.Because "people don't only kiss their relatives, not only their sons and their sons", it is in line with the principle of universal love; "selecting the virtuous and capable, emphasizing trust and repairing harmony" is also in line with the proposition of appreciating the virtuous and non-aggressive.As for "conspiracy without success (no one engages in conspiracies), stealing and messing with thieves without doing", it means "governing by doing nothing", so Taoism also likes it.
If you like Confucianism, Mohism, and Taoism, isn't Datong a great society?
It looks like it is.
It's a pity that the good times didn't last long.After Xia, China entered into a moderately prosperous society.From then on, everyone only loves their own parents, only loves their own children, everyone is for himself, property is privately owned, and positions are hereditary.Therefore, people build cities, determine etiquette, divide territories, and keep minions, because otherwise it is not enough to protect property and regulate relationships.What is the result?
There are conspiracies, and there are wars.
Looking at it this way, isn't a well-off life inferior to Datong?
not necessarily.
What is Datong?What is Xiaokang?According to Confucianism, the former "the world is the public" and the latter "the world is the family".If the world is public, it is public ownership; if the world is home, it is home ownership.Contrary to public, it should be private (personally owned).But in China, there has always been only "jiayou" (family or family ownership).This is the crux of Chinese-style ownership.
So, what changed from public ownership to household ownership?
property and power.
Therefore, a well-off life has two major characteristics. One is that the property is owned by the family, and the other is that the position is hereditary. In fact, the property and position are passed down from generation to generation within the family.This is called "family world".This resulted in the system of "unity of family and country".As for building the city and making rituals, they are just supporting measures.
However, this supporting measure reveals a secret——
A well-off world is an age of civilization.
Yes, the symbol of civilization is the country, and the symbol of the country is the city.In the moderately prosperous era, "the city is considered solid", does it not prove that the common world has become the domestic world, and that barbarism has actually entered civilization?
This is an improvement.
Progress comes at a price.As Engels said, the curtain of civilization can only be lifted by the most despicable interests and the most despicable means.Therefore, for the sake of civilization, human beings have to pay the price of moral degradation.
But Taoism doesn’t see it that way.Lao Tzu said——
If you lose morality, you will be virtuous; if you lose virtue, you will be benevolent; if you lose benevolence, you will be righteous;
The meaning is clear: Once morality slips, you can't stop the car.In fact, Confucianism also recognizes that "the journey of the Dao also makes the world a public".The world is home, because "the great way is hidden".Therefore, the former is called Datong, and the latter is called Xiaokang.One big and one small, don't they stand upright?
What's more, history has completely proved what Lao Tzu said is true.
Yes, Datong is "the era of Tao", and Xiaokang is "the era of virtue".Lose morality and then be virtuous, so the Duke of Zhou preached morality.Benevolence comes after losing virtue, so Confucius talked about benevolence.Lose benevolence and then follow righteousness, so Mencius gave lectures.Propriety comes after injustice, so Xunzi talked about propriety.By the time of Xunzi, wouldn't it have been a mess long ago?
Ruling the country with virtue and saving the world with benevolence have all gone bankrupt one after another. It seems that the only way out is to retreat to the era of Tao.But, is the world of Great Harmony really that good?Didn't Yao, Shun and Yu fight openly and secretly, and Huangdi, Yandi and Chiyou fought to the death?
That's right, at the time of Nuwa or Fuxi, there was indeed no class struggle, no conspiracy, no weapons of mass destruction, but there was no food, no clothing, no use.In the world of Great Harmony, why don't you pick up lost things on the road, and don't close your doors at night?Because of material scarcity, there is no way to steal.
Do you want to go back to such an era?
Even if you want to, can you go back?
The Legalists believed that there was no way to go back.In their view, not to mention Datong, even Xiaokang is gone forever.It is not bad to be able to win the ruling of the world.Since it is to govern the world, it must be governed.Who will rule?king.How to cure?by law.Anyway, if the Dao is gone, don't talk about the Tao, just talk about the art.
Confucianism does not think so.They believe that if the great way is gone, there can still be a middle way.The middle way is well-off, benevolent government, and kingly way.This is the way of the middle, and the way of the mean, while the other three schools always take a slant.For example, Mozi Shangtong and Han Feishijun, the result is that there is monarchy but no civil rights.Zhuangzi has no ruler, and Laozi has no ruler. The result is that there is neither monarchy nor civil rights.
So, what society can take into account the monarchy and civil rights?well-off.Confucius did not say much about this issue.The one who talked a lot was Mencius.
Then come and listen to Mencius.
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