Philosophical Annotation And Political And Cultural Significance Of Confucius' Theory Of Customs

Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States were the first great turning point of the society, having transitioned ancient China from slave-owning system to feudal autocracy. In the meanwhile, it was a period that all kinds of social thoughts rose rapidly. People used the word "the customs and music collapse " described the change and development of society and thought in this period habitually.On the one hand, parts of the backward relations of production and ideas against the development of history were queried and abandoned; on the other hand, rising relations of production and the following new creations led people to deep consideration. Under this circumstance, social and political thoughts developed vigorously."Customs of Zhou"was the central manifestation of backward relations of production and the superstructure. It contains the norm to handle relations among people and the guiding principle to govern the country in slave-owning society. In the course of the development of advanced relations of production, the content was separated from the form ---rites as a result of great changes happening to outdated"customs". In such social circumstances,"accomplish customs"and"overstep customs"became to live in coexistence. Therefore, the introspection of"customs"were stimulated. By probing into previous research achievements, Confucius initially made systematic analysis, gave deliberate annotation about the content of"customs"and offered precise penetration into its social value, through which its humane spirit, namely,"benrvolence"was later defined. Confucius made great contribution to the construction of"theory of customs". Moreover, he analyzed the relevance among"customs""virture""law"and unfolded the political significance. On the one hand, as people's behavioral norm,"customs"possessed mandatory force to a certain degree; on the other hand, its function was dependent on people's agreement and implementation of"virture", one inner part of"virture"spirit. Due to this, the importance of"governing properly by virture"and"benevolence by oneself"was imposed. Under his guidance, new policies of governing growing from the combination of"ruling country by law"and"ruling country bu virture"took its place, and the spirit of"ruling country by customs"evolved deeper and deeper.The policy of governing a country which focused on"customs"have made profound and far-reaching effect during china's history of more than 2000 years. And it has formed china's distinctive political and cultural circumstance. However, because of the shock of contemporary western democracy, this thought had suffered from the subsisting crisis. Therefore, it has become a challenging topic that how to recognize the modern value of traditional the theory of customs and how to transform it into modern value, moreover, needing more people's attention and effort. In this situation , the modern value of Confucius'throught of customs requires renewed understanding and interpretation.