Research On The Origin And Evolution Of "DE" Concept In Pre-Qin Period

Taking “De” concept of pre-Qin period as the research object, the paper probesinto the origin and literal sense of “De” and clarifies the historical evolution of “De”concept, by means of systematically observing and studying the main connotation of“De” concept in different periods of history. The paper is divided into six chapters.The first chapter is concerned with the origin of “De” concept. Based on theliterature review, the author proposes that “De” concept formed between thephenomenon of “De” and the emergence of character “De”, which has a very longhistory and tradition. The research starts from the premise that “De” was defined as apolitical concept in the early times. A comprehensive research is made on theformation of “De” concept and the emergence of Chinese Early State according to theresearch results of other related disciplines and literature on legendary time traced bylater generations. The research results show that “De” concept originates and evolvesfrom the era of Yao, Shun and Yu.The second chapter is the quest of original meaning of “De”. In this part, the research results of former scholars are classified and summed up. On the basis ofreflection, the author approves of the viewpoint, that is, the original meaning of “De”is “behavior”. Furthermore, the author makes an attempted complement to the pointby means of mining the literature handed down from ancient times on the originalmeaning of “De”, and considering the characteristics of social and political life in theera of Yao, Shun and Yu. Therefore, the original meaning of “De” can be summarizedas “behavior”, which mainly refers to a series of political acts of governors aimed atbenefiting the people.The third chapter focuses on “De” concept of Shang dynasty. Many scholars holdthat there is no “De” concept in the Yin and Shang period. The author disproves theviewpoint by reference to predecessors’ research results of the Oracle inscriptions andthe reliable documents in the “Shang Shu”. In addition, the author classifies andinterprets the connotation of “De”, which appears ten times in “Pan Geng”, taking intoaccount the religious views and merchants’ political thinking modes of Shang dynasty.“De” of Shang dynasty, having its concrete substance, refers to the political acts of theKing and his people.“De” concept of the Shang period, with strong religious color,has no ethical and moral implication and not reached the depth of inner characters.The fourth chapter is concerned with “De” concept of the Western Zhou period.“De” is a broad concept in the Western Zhou period. The paper firstly divides thethought of “De” in “Zhou Shu” into four representative components, and then makes a systematic analysis. It maintains that “De” at the beginning of Zhou period retains itsoriginal meaning “behavior” to a certain extent. Although “De” has its moralsignificance, however it is still in the initial developing state. This is far different fromthe individual morality of future generations. The concept of “De”, which rulersrepeatedly emphasized at the beginning of Zhou Period, refers to the specific politicalact rather than vague moral theory. Secondly, the author elaborates the relationshipsbetween “De” and the patriarchal clan system, feudal system and etiquette. It aims toillustrate that the intention of creating each political system at the beginning of ZhouPeriod is to show and carry out the concept of “De”. In the Western Zhou period,“De” which people understand is not an individual inherent disposition nor is it thesynonym of the word “morality”. Finally, the author makes a preliminary summary of“De” in the middle and late periods of Western Zhou Dynasty. Compared with “De”of the earlier Western Zhou Dynasty, the scope and the fields involved are moreextensive in the middle and late periods. It begins to have the connotation ofphilosophy, and gradually presents a trend of internalization and abstraction.The fifth chapter is the study of “De” concept in the Spring and Autumn period.By reference to the records of “De” in two classics,“Zuo Zhuan” and “Guo Yu”, theauthor systematically sorts out and summarizes the political functions of “De”, as wellas various items of virtue, which aims to expound and prove that “De” was mainlyused as a political concept at least before the late Spring and Autumn. At that time, it was argued as political means to meet practical political demands, which has strongpolitical utilitarianism. Meanwhile, during the Spring and Autumn period, themushrooming emergence of items of virtue indicates that people’s recognition of “De”develops gradually from the objective description of “good governance and act” to theabstract concept of “De”. Moreover, based on the elaboration on the influences of“propriety disintegration”, the author proposes that the establishment of the newconcept,“Li”, and the following trend of propriety-government thought spur “Li” toplay an increasing important role in the areas of political life, which weakens thepolitical functions of “De” virtually. Gradually,“De” surpasses the specific politicallevel and develops inwardly to the spiritual level attached with more and more ethicaland moral factors. Following the trend of internalization and abstraction of “De” andfrom the standpoint of general public, Confucius accomplishes the transcendence ofthe traditional concept of “De” and transforms it into an ethical and moral conceptionin real sense by means of the initiation and abstraction of “Benevolence”.The sixth chapter mainly focuses on the Confucian concept of “De” in WarringStates Period. Mencius inherits and develops Confucian doctrine of “Ren” andproposes the theory of good nature which implants “De” deeply into human’s mindcompletely, emphasizing the inner self-disciplinary of moral subjects and advocatingbenevolence in politics. Furthermore, Xuncius mainly inherits and develops theconcept of “Li” and comes up with the theory of evil nature, which applies “Li” to governing all the moralities, attaching great importance to external heteronomy ofmoral norms and asserting the propriety management in politics. Although theconcepts of “De” held by Mencius and Xuncius differ from each other in terms of thedisparities in the theories of human nature, however the concept of “De”, which theypropose, is mainly related to the universal individual ethics. Their policy ofbenevolence and propriety management are never separated from the stance ofself-cultivating moral standards advocated by Confucius.