Research On The Contemporary Meaning Of Traditional Chinese Thought On "Righteousness And Interest"

Traditional Chinese thoughts about righteousness and interests have undergone three periods of development: the Qin Dynasty, the Han Dynasty to the Song Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty to the Qing Dynasty. There forms different types of views such as righteousness outweighs interests, interests outweighs righteousness, righteousness coordinates with interests, etc. Generally, the unification of righteousness and interests as well as the view that righteousness outweighs interests are the mainstream."The unification of reason and desire as well as that of righteousness and interests"put forward by thinkers in the Ming Dynasty and the Qing Dynasty is the marrow."The unification of reason and desire as well as that of righteousness and interests"suggests that righteousness and interests are interdependent, that righteousness originates from interests, and that interests are justifiable and legitimate. Righteousness not only originates from interests, but also transcends them. The highest level of righteousness is"public interests"and"world as public". It takes Introspective self-cultivation and external education to establish the correct view on righteousness and interests.Traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests are still of great importance in modern society. Seen from its connotation, traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests form a kind of Holism, which guides people to harmonize the relationship between oneself and others, between individual and group. In terms of the system of socialist core values, its basic contents includes the guiding principle of Marxism, patriotism-centered national spirit and the spirit of the times centering on reform and innovation. It is the synthesis of Marxism, Chinese characteristics and elements of the present age. Traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests enrich the system of socialist core values with abundant cultural resources and intellectual tradition. They are closely related to the socialist maxims of honor and disgrace. As regards the idea of governing and rejuvenating the country advocated by the Communist Party of China, traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests are also related to the people-centered governing method, the socialist market economy, and the establishment of harmonious socialist society.However, we should also realize that traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests are, after all, ancient thoughts, containing the historical limitation of being embellished and utilized by the ruling class. We must analyze these thoughts and transform them creatively. ?Under the condition of socialist market economy, the study of traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests as well as the promotion of their cultural connotation help to understand the mentality of youths and to enhance the effectiveness of the moral education of youths. We should adopt the basic thoughts about righteousness and interests to teach youths to treat correctly the relationship between material life and spiritual life, to insist that"righteousness outweighs interests", to foster a noble spiritual pursuit, and to insist"the unification of righteousness and interest"for reasonable material interests. We should teach youths to treat correctly the relationship between person interests and public interests, to establish a guiding principle of"value righteousness and pursue interests", to follow the implementing principle of"gain interests righteously as well as unify righteousness and interests". We should also teach youths to treat correctly the relationship between ambition and outcome, to cherish lofty ideals and yet to be pragmatic. Meanwhile, we can attract the attention of youths with the unique discourse of righteousness and interests. We can also move youths by historical stories related to righteousness and interests. The adoption of various educational methods helps students gain profound knowledge concerning traditional thoughts about righteousness and interests.