The Comparison Of Mean Between Confucianism And Aristotle

From the angle of probing into original,the dissertation unfolds the major thinkers' theoretical character from Confucius to Zisi,Menzi and Xunzi before readers' eyes by reviewing the process of development of Confucian mean prior to Qin-dynasty.It reveals that the real difference between them is in answer to the issue of "what is the standard of mean". In Confucius' eyes,mean was either a philosophical category or the core of his doctrine.Its distinctive character was to observe,analyze, deliberate and solve problems for the whole.Be care for the two or more sides of contradictory,especially pay attention to their either opposed or united relationship to avoid on the extremes.So,we can conclude that: "the whole is the standard of Confucius' mean." Menzi's view was that "virtue was the standard of mean".Nevertheless,the mean's status was lowed form law to virtue.Xunzi rose that "Li and law was the standard of mean" to balance Zisi and Menzi's theory,and its real goal was to restore Confucius' view that "the whole is the standard of mean".Aristotle's view of mean in《ethics》was not only a copy of predecessors,it was a new recreation basing on his《Biology》,《Psychology》and《Metaphysics》.The support,such as human being was a special species between god and animal from his biology,or all continuous and divisible things had the middle one from his philosophy. The view of mean was naturally reflected on his《politics》and became the main clue of his practical science especially made them unity which implicated the profound mean spirit,and they were:ration was correspond to appetite;virtue and norm were unity;politics needed democracy.Relying on an age-old traditional of science and theoretical thinking, undeniably,comparing with Confucianism,Aristotle's theoretical frame is more systematic and logic,so the comparison between them should be on the way naturally according with Aristotle's frame.For example,he divided virtue into two kinds:ethical virtue and intellectual virtue,the former one came from life habit and the latter one from thought practice. They had so many commons,such as the identical virtues with more common than difference,or the resembled virtues with half common and half difference.We can also find their specificities,such as opposite virtue with more differences than common and their respective unique ethical virtues.However,all above ethical virtues,no matter how different they were,Aristotle and Confucian saw them virtues of mean. They thought the virtues were important but must be moderate to avoid extremes,and the norm was "should" for Aristotle but "going too far is as bad as not going far enough" for Confucius.Different views of mean emerged inside Confucianism about these virtues of social life,many of them—such as "Xiao","Ren","Yi" and "tolerance",etc.—were separated from mean in thinkers after Confucius prior to Qin-dynasty.All above virtues were exaggerated or weakened and became virtues of non-mean,then moralism and thinking dictatorialness of theories in Chinese traditional culture were born.On intellectual virtues which so-called by Aristotle,both sides had either gains or loss.Aristotle's intellectual virtue—wisdom——which essence was contemplation went out the limit of mean and dominated all else to sustain the Greece tradition of intellectualism.Consequently,one side,scientific spirit of seeking truth for truth in western traditional culture was found;and another side,environmental and ecological crisis rooted in scienceism in western modern society broke out.But the intellectual virtue has never been in Confucianism,and it had brought heavy loss although made China to avoid above crises.First,backward productive power came from developing slowly gradually of science and technique had delayed progress of Chinese whole society;second, perfection of human nature had always having blind area.The main cause of above phenomenon was that the humane Confucians persisted moralism in Chinese society prior to Qin-dynasty.The differences should be reflected on politics,such as Mengzi ignored the importance of law which was much valued in Confucius,and founded the foreshadow of thinking highly of virtue but looking down on regular in Chinese thinking history which had been affecting Chinese society until now.The mean which emphasized the virtue under the theory about good nature of human being should inevitably reduce the end—the "sage is the standard of mean".This was either the cause of why Confucianism had been advocated by government in Chinese feudal society or alternative which these Confucians acted against their will in the country with big and united tradition.