| Xunzi, approximately born in 335 BC, was from the State of Zhao at the end of the Warring States Period. He was a renowned thinker, politician and educator in Chinese history. For most of his life, he traveled to different kingdoms to advocate his political thought and moral education ideology. He was appointed "Jijiu", the head of the Jixia Academy established by the State of Qi for three times. He was so respectable and considered to be the most qualified teacher. In academic research area, Xunzi did not rigidly adhere to the Confucianism, but with combining the thoughts of different philosophers and authors, he firstly put forward the concept of "moralize". Then the Confucian moral thoughts were developed into a more practical and operable moral education system. So he played an important role in the development of Confucian culture and Chinese moral education.In the middle and late period of the Warring States, after the chaotic battles and annexing in the early Spring and Autumn and Warring States Period, all kingdoms have increasingly realized the importance of stopping wars and were eager to establish a centralized country. With the further development of agricultural production and increase of productivity level, the feudal production relations had been established and developed. In contrast, the academic ideology was very poor due to lack of morality and collapse of etiquette and music. The thinkers came up with new ideas and strategies, which led to a historic scene ---"All flowers bloom together and all schools of thought contend for attention", which laid the foundation for the generation of Xunzi's thought. "Theory of original evil of human nature" and "Thought of division between man and nature" are the philosophical foundation of Xunzi's moral education ideology. Based on the theory of "the evil of human nature", Xunzai believed that the people can change the humanity and form new behaviors, and put forward a series of methods and ways. From the angle of materialism, Xunzi put forward the concept of "Nature is the true law." and "Thought of division between man and nature." Meanwhile, he emphasized the people's subjective initiative, and thought people can know the nature and create the nature. The economic and social basis of moral ideology was based on the social stratification of different division of labor of people with interdependence, the thought of enriching all the national people, the concept of loving national people and the idea of sustainable development with protection and rational use of different resources.The moral education ideology of Xunzi is rich in content and forms a special system of moral education ideology. Xunzi's moral education ideology system is centered on moral education, targeted at loyalty and based on filial piety. He puts emphasis on faithfulness, reliance, uprightness and honesty. "Etiquette" is the core of his moral education, arising from desire and contention and established by the emperors and kings. In essence, "etiquette" is used to maintain the rules, regulation of feudalism and rituals and manners in daily life, "etiquette" is the determining factor for the rules to rule the country. The main part of his moral education is "grand etiquette and precious loyalty". Facing conflict between loyalty and benefit, Xunzi put forward "loyalty before benefit" and "thinking loyalty when facing benefit". Filial piety is the core of family moral education. So Xunzi put forward the theory of "Etiquette is the main part of filial piety", "Submit to moral principle not the father" and "The kindness from the governor is more important than that from father." Honesty and faithfulness is the nature of a benevolent man. From the different perspectives of self-cultivation, managing a family and ruling a country, Xunzi explains it elaborately and expresses valuable thoughts and views.Xunzi believes that the goal of moral education must be creating ideal character. According to a person's moral level and command of knowledge, Xunzi divides man into three classes:decent people, gentleman and sage. "Decent people" is the preliminary goal of self-cultivation, which is the basic requirement of being a human being. "Gentleman" is the high-level goal of self-cultivation, characterized by "say something reasonable and do something necessary". "Sage" is the ultimate goal of self-cultivation, the symbol of perfection, the incarnation of morality, the final objective of "converting nature by nurture". Education and accomplishment is the main method of Xunzi's moral education, which is embodied in the external moral education and the inner self-accomplishment. Self-awareness and "etiquette?music and law" are the two ways to realize the goal of moral education. Self-awareness is the prerequisite of internalization of moral rule, while the etiquette% music and law were the external guarantee of the moral education.To promote the excellent morality in ancient China, we have to understand it comprehensively. Only when we know Xunzi's moral education ideology completely, can we evaluate his historic feats correctly, figure out the unreasonable factors of his ideology and make use of its positive influence in social moral education today. On the one hand, because Xunzi's ideology was created in the later Warring States Period and he represented the benefit of new landlord class, his moral education ideology must have limitations of its time and class. It was evident that his ideology served the purpose of helping the ruling class to strengthen its reign and defending the feudal system. Therefore, we should analyze and inherit Xunzi's moral education ideology in a critical way. On the other hand, his moral education ideology has made indelible contribution to our society. He puts forward the concept of moralization explicitly and develops Confucian moral education. He also argues about the necessity of moral education, which lays the theoretical foundation for moral education. What's more, he discusses methods of moral education, which provides guarantee for the approaches to moral education. Besides, he generalizes the contents of moral education, which enriches the system of Confucian moral education. Studying the class nature and historical limitation of Xunzi's moral education and exploring it's historical contribution can provide the theoretical support for the inheritance of Confucian moral education concept and the construction and promotion of the socialist core values.Xunzi's moral education ideology carries profound and rich contents, reflecting the unique features of traditional Chinese moral education, which provides valuable reference significance and far-reaching enlightenment value to the promotion of core socialist values, strengthening the construction of social ethics and creating good social atmosphere. In theory, the theory of ideal personality can provide reference for the establishment of the socialist core value; the content of moral education provides an important ideological source of our moral construction; moral education method provides a theoretical reference for the subjectivity of moral education. In practice, Xunzi's concept of paying attention to the moral environment provides a deep influence for the current good social atmosphere; the concept of paying attention to the moral practice can provide help for the current school moral education.With the development of the times, the value of excellent traditional cultures could only be realized after the application in modern society. On the one hand, the transcendence of his ideology makes its modern transformation possible. Xunzi's moral education thought which was beyond the era is still an important part of today's socialist moral construction. The method and way of Xunzi's moral education thought has significant reference for today's moral construction. On the other hand, the development of contemporary society renders its modern transformation necessary. Over the past thirty years of reform and opening up, China has developed a new situation. Meanwhile, people's moral values have changed dramatically, a series of new social problems emerged, and the overall social morality has declined. Xunzi's concept of cultivating good personality, loyalty before benefit, restraining benefit with loyalty and grand etiquette and precious Royalty can provide significant influence on above negative effects. "Innovative transformation and development" is the fundamental principle of inheriting traditional Chinese culture and realizing the modern transformation of Xunzi's moral education ideology. We should adhere to the principle of "innovative transformation and development" in accordance with the development of the times, remove the dross and keep the essence, and give its new meaning. And we should meet the requirements of the times, refer to the rational internal concept and provide new content and the way of expression. Meanwhile, we should conform to the development of the time, innovate the transformation carrier and explore the rational and healthy transformation way.The long history of Chinese civilization has fostered the precious spiritual character of Chinese nation and cultivated the lofty pursuit of value of Chinese people. The spirit of self-discipline and social commitment keeps the Chinese nation flourishing for ever from generation to generation. Even today, it's still the strong spiritual power to promote the reform and opening policy and the socialist modernization. As one of the core contents of brilliant traditional Chinese cultures, the moral education ideology of Xunzi symbolizes the fundamental spirit of Chinese nation. With contents transcending times, the methods and approaches of Xunzi's ideology offers very important reference significance to the moral construction today. During the process of carrying forward his ideology, we must adapt it from ancient times for present-day use according to the need of social development of contemporary society. We must make the past serve our present-day use, tell the good from the bad, sift the true from the false and absorb the essence and discard the dross. |
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