"Huainanzi" Political Philosophical Thought Research

Huainanzi,a comprehensive book,Gaoyou in “Hainanzi·xumu” said: “If the scholar do not research the book of Huainanzi,it is hard for him know abstruse the Chinese Tao is.” In 1931,HuShi with "Huainanwang book" is the earliest study of Huainanzi monograph and praised: “Taoism is the great achievement of ancient thought,Huainanzi is the great achievement of Taoism thought.” After 1970 s,The scholars have made great achievements in the study to the theme of Huainanzi,which covers all aspects of it.Until today,the masterpiece still has many excellent thoughts to be excavated.Huainanzi as a new Taoist book formed in the social structure of the political situation from split to unity and the history of the cultural activities of the scholars and led to the integration of various ideological historical conditions,In the early Han Dynasty HuangLao academic atmosphere,through the inheritance of pre-Qin Taoism and learn from other outstanding ideas of the ideological system has a unique academic personality.On the basis of Tao,Huainanzi regards nature,human and society as a whole and on the basis of its cosmology and theory of human nature,grope for the harmony between universe,everything,man,society and politics.“Yaolue” summarize the main content of this book is: “Operation of the Emperor”,main purpose is “Prepare for the Emperor”.It can be said that political philosophy is the focus of this book.In this paper,on the basis of previous research on its political philosophy in-depth and systematic carding,from the perspective of Huainanzi examining the theoretical basis of his political thought from the perspective of philosophy,not only give answers to it political norms,political rights,political rules and political behavior,also the answer to the question of how to develop political norms,where the political rights come from,what does the political rules follow,what is the basis for political principles,etc.This paper discusses the political philosophy thought of Huainanzi mainly from the theoretical basis,practical principle,rule pattern,ideological core and practical guarantee.The first chapter,Tao theory is the theoretical basis of political philosophy in Huainanzi.We have to study Tao first when we make a research on political philosophy.The theory of Huainanzi is different from the theory of Pre-Qin LaoZhuang and HuangLao’s Tao,especially practical of Tao with new creation.This chapter according to the order of exploring the “theory of heaven and earth” to “the matters of human world”,from the perspective of Tao,we use “unity of heaven and man” to connect metaphysical Tao with Metaphysical person and under this basis to constitute human nature theory,finally we turned the theory into politics level.Its governance cannot away from Tao and also for governance.That’s it,all the measures that have been centered on Tao-oriented and for governance as the center have become reasonable and authoritative.The second chapter,inaction is the practical principles of political philosophy in Huainanzi.The requirement and expression of inaction is not only a moral cultivation but also a statecraft.It is not only the highest desire but also the basic principle of governance.Huainanzi use “Yin” as the concrete method of inaction.It advocates a concrete way to achieve inaction,which has provided a concrete way of letting their things to take their own way.In fact is positive inaction with follow Tao,obeying the Tao,respecting rules,taking advantage of rules,smoothness of forgetting to make,which is a positive way of inaction.Finally,the idea of Huainanzi that is inaction is different from traditional Taoism and HuangLao’s inaction in the early Han Dynasty.So it is worth exploring.The third chapter,the relationship between monarch and courtiers is the rule pattern of political philosophy in Huainanzi.Taking Tao as governance must reflect on dictatorship.The monarch is the core of the whole country.Under the guidance of the Tao,the ideal monarch has the code of conduct and norms to follow.The monarch has their own way of ruling country: the first is the ways of cultivation of ruler,and they must obey Tao to rule country.If we want to rule a country,we must elevate ourselves.Because ruling the country and elevating ourselves are the same principles.The following is the relationship between monarch and courtiers,using different methods to insist that monarch does nothing but courtiers do the things what they need to do.The relationship between includes division of responsibilities and the selection and appointment of ruler for subject,and the assistance and voice behavior of the subject for rulers.The relationship between the monarch and courtiers is mutual dependence but mutual restraint,which is a theory full of wisdom.From the perspective of politics,people who has gained Tao will win and people who has lost Tao will perish.The physical and country should build at the same time.We should combine the physical with country through Tao,making the self-cultivation with political meaning.The forth chapter,people-oriented is the ideological core of political philosophy in Huainanzi.People-oriented is one of the key contents in Chinese traditional political philosophy.The thought of the people-oriented in Huainanzi is based on the absorption of the outstanding elements of the people’s thoughts.We should insist on peopleoriented,and balance the relationship between monarch-oriented and people-oriented.We should insist on the idea of “govern the people with inaction and advocating people self-management.And then we make a systematical analysis of the ideas “what is the basis of people,how to govern country for people and concrete manage country for people”.Finally,it is necessary to look into the ancient people-based thoughts correctly.Although it is different from modern democracy and cannot be a modern democracy,but there are still a lot of progressive ideas from the perspective of democracy,and the development of democracy has laid a solid theoretical foundation for democracy in China.The fifth chapter,legal thought is the practice guarantee of political philosophy in Huainanzi.After the Qin Dynasty,the legalism came back to the background.Huainanzi is a rational book and the view of it for law is objective and it also reconstructed the old law after reviewing the drawbacks of the old law.The first is to admit the rationality and necessity of law,to guarantee the rationality of its existence through Taoism governing law,to put forward the legislative principle of “law was born in righteousness” and enforcement claims of “law enforcement advocates fairness”.Second,In order to better protect the rule of law,we have put forward " Laws change over time”,“law assisting benevolence and righteousness” to make up for the shortcomings of the law,and actively played values of legal philosophy of “Be thoughtful,Favorable to the people” values.The author of Huainanzi had rich management experience and governance wisdom.The thought of the unified thought,inaction,the relationship between the monarch and the minister,people-oriented and legal aid and morality represent the essence of cultural thought in the early Han dynasty,Especially the reflection of historical facts,the reflection on the practical problems,the construction of political ideals in the future have reached a considerable height.For its academic value,His political philosophy thought tries to fusion and transcendence other schools is worth us to continue to explore and mining.