A Study On Ecological Thought Of Xunzi From Multi-dimensional Perspective

Xunzi,as one of the representatives of the pre-Qin Confucianism,contains rich ecological thoughts in his work.At present,most of the studies on Xunzi’s ecological thought are based on Xunzi’s idea of "separation of heaven and man",or on the ethical dimension of his ecological thought.Although this research approach can show the content of Xunzi’s ecological thought to a certain extent,it is not enough to explain the whole picture of Xunzi’s ecological thought.Because this approach forgets the connotation of Confucian ecological thought.On the basis of clearly defining the connotation and basic dimensions of Confucian ecological thought,this paper discusses Xunzi’s ecological thought from three dimensions:ecological ontology theory,ecological virtue theory and ecological practice theory.As far as the level of ecological ontology theory is concerned,Xunzi gives two levels of ontological interpretation of ecological environment: one is to regard the Confucian core concept "Qi" as the basis of existence of all things;the other is to regard the Confucian core concept "sincerity" as the basis of value of all things.According to this,Xunzi has ontological basis for the whole ecological environment.As far as the level of ecological virtue theory is concerned,Xunzi gives two levels of virtue interpretation to the ecological environment: one is that heaven and earth produce all things with sincerity;the other is that birds and mammals also have benevolence.According to this,the whole ecological environment is endowed with moral connotation,and the ecological environment is no longer an objective object,but a kind of existence that is emotionally connected with people and can be felt.As far as the level of ecological practice theory is concerned,Xunzi put forward two basic principles of treating the ecological environment: one is to realize sustainable development according to the time restriction;the other is to avoid excessive demand by living a frugal life and controlling the greed.The former emphasizes respect for the objective laws of the ecological environment,while the latter emphasizes the restraint of human greed when facing nature.According to this,how to realize sustainable development has a basic rudiment.To be sure,as far as ecological thought is concerned,it has many dimensions,which can not be summarized by ontology theory,virtue theory and practice theory.But as far as Xunzi’s ecological thought is concerned,these three dimensions can basically summarize the whole picture of Xunzi’s ecological thought.The main reasons are as follows: firstly,in many dimensions of ecological thought,this construction can cover all the problems raised by Xunzi;secondly,as far as Xunzi’s own thought is concerned,this way of entry is more in line with Xunzi’s own ideological characteristics;thirdly,this construction can achieve the expected research goal of this paper---that is,to comprehensively show Xunzi’s ecological thought.