Filial Piety And Its Modern Transformation

Filial piety is the foundation and core of the traditional ethics and morality system,and is the gene of traditional culture.It has a wide and far-reaching influence on ancient China,plays an active role in the development of personal morality,family harmony,social stability and cultural extension.Not only that,in China today,filial piety is still highly recognized,and has a very high social significance and practical value.However,the traditional filial piety inevitably has the dross of feudal culture,which has historical limitations and cannot be directly used in modern life.In other words,traditional filial piety should be transformed.This paper want to construct a modern filial piety which not only retains the essence of traditional filial piety,but also can be recognized and practiced by modern Chinese.So,the research topic is divided into three small problems.First,what is the essence of traditional filial piety? Second,what filial piety can modern people accept?Third,how to transform filial piety? To put it this way,the idea of this article is to clarify traditional filial piety’s core,and then explore the modern people’s cognition of filial piety,and then transform the traditional filial piety.This idea ensures the objectivity and scientificity of the transformation work,as well as the feasibility of the transformation results.According to the research,filial piety flourished in the西周Dynasty,and the royal family of西周continued the political organization form of the patriarchal clan system of殷商,established the country on the basis of blood,reformed the belief system of殷商,and realized the humanistic turn of culture through the separation of heaven and ancestors and the match of virtue with heaven.In this context,西周’s people constructed filial piety as a kind of clan ethics.Due to the national nature of"the unity of the clan and the state",filial piety has the political significance of respecting the ancestors and the clan,maintaining the clan and monarchy.During the春秋战国period,Confucius made filial piety a universal family ethic that everyone should abide by.At the same time,the connection between filial piety and仁,although not fully discussed the relationship between filial piety and仁,but this connection is undoubtedly the foreshadowing of the later Confucian moral filial piety,heart.Since then,Confucian scholars曾子,孟子and others have highly praised filial piety and constructed a filial piety ideological system with complete structure and rich content.During the秦and汉,Confucian scholars compiled the《孝经》on this basis,which transferred filial piety to the social and political fields to solve social,especially political problems.Therefore,filial piety breaks through the family and becomes a concept of governing the country.In the宋明,the establishment and spread of mind Confucianism made the cultivation of filial piety widely concerned.理学家linked the cultivation of filial piety with the way of heaven,and fully explained the relationship between filial piety and仁through天理,which made filial piety an important way to surpass the limited and pursue the infinite in theory.So far,the main content and structure of traditional filial piety have basically stabilized.By analyzing the content of filial piety in each development stage,it is found that filial piety has four core elements.They are the core of ethical spirit,the core of moral emotion,the core of loyalty and respect,and the core of content.The core of content is亲亲而仁民that is the core of the core of filial piety,the summary of the other three core elements,and the most vital part of filial piety,which reflects the moral development theme of Confucian filial piety theory.In addition,there are six basic norms of filial piety,which are to support their parents,to honor their parents,to admonish them with righteousness,to mourn them with rites,to carry on the family line,and继志述事.It is because of these basic contents and core elements of filial piety that it plays an important role in the traditional society,which makes the individual settle down,the family harmonious and orderly,and the society harmonious and stable.Due to the great changes of social environment and historical conditions,filial piety in modern society has encountered a series of difficulties from politics,economy,family structure,personal concept and so on.It seems that it is difficult to maintain.However,the survey of modern people shows that modern people have a positive attitude towards filial piety.By comparing the traditional filial piety,it is found that modern concept of filial piety retains part of the content of traditional filial piety,such as亲亲而仁民,报本返始,“Respect and Love”and“Loyalty and Courtesy”.Although these core elements are not completely consistent with traditional filial piety,they do not show essential differences.If they are transformed,they can be accepted by modern people.In the aspect of filial piety,modern people only recognize two kinds of behavior:supporting and accompanying,while other behaviors with equal dignity and one-way obligation are abandoned.In order to further confirm the transformation content of filial piety,this paper analyzes the social value of the components of filial piety.It is found that"亲亲而仁民"can not only be accepted by modern people,but also meet the three value standards,which is the most valuable content of filial piety.According to this,the study focuses on"亲亲而仁民"and regards it as the main transformation content.In addition,“Loyalty and Courtesy”also have transformational value.Some of the basic acts of filial piety meet the needs of society and have social value.Some of them can be transformed into beneficial elements for social development through reinterpretation.Some of them reflect the power essence of feudal society and are not helpful for the development of modern society.Based on the Philosophical Rethinking and reinterpretation of the core elements of filial piety centered on"亲亲而仁民".This paper proposes that the essence of filial piety is involved in the blood based parent-child relationship,based on the报本返始to parents.Filial piety requires that the behavior subject should extrapolate the moral emotion formed and consolidated in the parent-child interaction,and construct their own interpersonal mutual aid network centered on the parents.This network is the psychological field of the behavior subject,in which the subject develops moral subjectivity,is defined by this field,and obtains value and sense of existence.Therefore,filial piety is generative,procedural and not predetermined.Based on this understanding,this paper divides the transformation of filial piety into the transformation of theoretical level and the transformation of practical(behavior)level,and holds that the transformation of practical level can really generate filial piety.The transformation of theoretical level depends on philosophical interpretation,while the transformation of practical level can only be realized in practice.The subject of practice transformation is the subject of filial piety.Therefore,the modern transformation of filial piety is not a matter for one person or a group of people,but for the whole nation and all Chinese people.This paper puts forward four principles of practice transformation,and puts forward the transformation path of cultivating transformation subject and creating transformation environment.