Research On Educational Thoughts And Practice Of Liang Shuming,Ma Yifu And Xiong Shili

The representative figures of Contemporary New Confucianism are all engaged in humanistic education.They have a strong will to inherit the spirit of Chinese culture and renew the research methodology.Since they have different opinions about the modern reform of education,they also make great efforts to illustrate the goal of traditional education in Confucianism to prove its permanent value.These attempts reflect the agitation,conflict and integration between traditional and modern education,between Chinese education and Western education,and between elite education and civic education.This dissertation uses the research methods across several disciplines,including philosophy,intellectual history and education to study the educational thoughts and practice of the first generation of Contemporary New Confucianism,namely Liang Shuming,Ma Yifu and Xiong Shili.They focus on the inheritance,creation and influence of Confucian values,academic spirit and cultural spirit of the three gentlemen in their theory and practice.This dissertation regards Liang Shuming,Ma Yifu and Xiong Shili as a cultural community.By a research of their educational thoughts,it shows their common confidence about the value of Confucianism and reveals a profound impact to the next generation of scholars,especially the ones who were called Contemporary Neo-Confucianism overseas.Under the perspective of philosophy and culture,this thesis follows the thread from philosophy to education theories and then to practice.It focuses on the philosophical analysis of their educational thoughts,trying to highlight the main meanings of their educational ideas respectively through in-depth analysis of education-related philosophical concepts and propositions.Their education activities reflect the implementation of their thoughts at a social level.This thesis also expands their adherence to the spirit of Chinese culture and the achievements in academic research and social activities through education,which needs a profound concern for Chinese own culture and future,an open mind to inherit and create,and a strong will to communicate with Western culture.Liang Shuming's educational thought is based on his philosophy,especially his theory of human life(Xin means life instead of heart or mind).His core theory includes triple structure,namely instinct,the ability to reason and ration,and the selflessness feelings.His main contribution is revealing feelings of selflessness,which come from nature and the inner life,instead of mysterious experience or religious belief.Therefore,human beings should and could make their life joyful and great,just by not forgetting the inner motivation of practicing goodness,seeking truth and creating and enjoying beauty.The ability of reason and rationality can be a good tool of life,but it should not dominate life.For instance,a good life is not to be directed by"I should",but rather by "I desire to".This does not mean one should just follow rules or moral principles,but rather following "Li",which is inside your life.So,this"should" is always possible to any person.In education,Liang Shuming values the selflessness feelings more.For an individual,the goal of education is to evoke this will of striving and creating,to "make life a wise life".For the society,the goal of education should not only play a function of social services,but also the important role of leading the spirit of promoting the continuous improvement of society.Ma Yifu develops the Confucian theory of "Fu xing",which means the good human nature should be seen and protected by oneself,this process is called teaching.The restoration of the good nature needs cultivation(doing)as well as interpretation(knowing).He asserts "Ren is the source of virtue,Tao is to practice Ren,learning is to know Ren",regarding knowing and doing are united in the moral field.He puts the idea of respect in the core position of his cultivation theory.Ma Yifu inherits the spirit of Neo-Confucianism in Song-Ming dynasties and he has contributed valuable innovating ideas to the subject.Based on this understanding of human nature,Ma Yifu's education goal is to rediscover and recover the human nature through learning classics and practicing it in daily life.He chooses the traditional Chinese academic institution as the form of education.Ma Yifu emphasizes that traditional classics,which preserves the spirit of Chinese culture,are not only external texts,but a guide to people's inner life.He points out that Classic study should not be seen as an object of knowledge,but as a practice of virtue and wisdom of life.From here the meaning of Confucian education will then develop and make progress.Xiong Shili's ontology system is another remarkable work.The core idea of this system is the unity of substance and function.This cultivation is not a process of going back to a perfect nature,that has been inherited from university or heaven or by only removing the bad habits and thoughts,instead it needs continuous creative activities.In connection with this,the fundamental purpose of Xiong Shili's educational thought is to "express the ontology".Thus the main goal is to guide students to know the essence of life and evoke the creation and life power.Xiong Shili's motivation of educational activities is cohesive with the historical sense of responsibility to Chinese traditional culture.He always maintains a high degree of enthusiasm for education and tries to focus on university education.Through education,he hopes to achieve "independent thinking,research and spirit,all according to their own life instead of counting on others...for a new life of a world culture."There are several common parts in the educational thought of Liang,Ma,and Xiong,such as the same orientation and the pursuit in life education,education of humanity,moral education and public care,etc.However,because of the difference in their personality,their judgments of reality and so on,they take various directions in their educational practice.For example,Liang Shuming leads the rural construction movement as a social experiment.He can also be regarded as a pragmatic idealist.On the other hand,Ma Yifu chooses a very traditional institution for education.He inherits Confucianism as a spiritual civilization and keeps distance for discussing political request in reality.Xiong Shili consciously introduces methodology from Western philosophy and establishes a new system of Chinese philosophy.In addition,comparing their educational thoughts with Whitehead,who is a British philosopher and educational theorist,they have a similar core idea.Chinese and Western education ideas can be interlinked.In traditional Confucianism,having good relations with others is the pursuit of human nature and a good education,in order to to teach people to care for one's own life,their family,the community and the society.This new development in a new era also contributes to the reflection and reform of the modern education system.Education practice nowadays should have an attention to the comprehensive development of human beings and human dignity,and a guide for students to practice virtue.Education of humanity should also absorb nutrients from classics and make contribution to the inherence and creation of new culture.