Priliminary Study On Mecius' "Nourishing Righteousness"

Mencius, as the successor of Confucius, is the outstanding representative figure of the Confucian school. He advocates that the moral spirit and ideology should be nourished by the principle of Zhiyan and one's righteousness. The quality of righteousness is the supreme pursuit of human beings'cultivation of moral spirit and moral purpose. As for it, a high-profile number of philosophers both home and abroad in ancient and modern time, have done enormous researches on it. Their goal is to find out the approach to self-cultivation and dig out the theoretical value of Mencius'righteousness. This paper generalizes the development and effect of Mencius'righteousness theory and detailedly illustrates it in such aspects as its content, approach of cultivation, and its historical value, based on which the characteristics of the theory is concluded.Applying this theory to the social practice can not only improve one's morality, but also build up the socialist harmonious and stable social circumstances. Moreover, Mencius'people-based thought is the typical embodiment of the requirements of the scientific development concept. Increasingly exploring of the contemporary implication of Mencius'righteousness theory can settle conflicts among people, strengthen the ego-identity and confidence and boost individuals'comprehensive qualities and development, thus promoting the moral rectitude and harmonious advancement of the entire society.