A Study On Mind Of Confucius And Mencius

The theory of "mind" is a very important philosophical category in China's philosophy. The topic has important significance in epistemology, ethics and ontology. Mind means thinking, thinking organ, the thoughts and cognitions in terms of epistemology. It refers to moral consciousness and free will in ethics. Of the universe mind is the original substance which is opposite to things in ontology sometimes. The culture is very prosperous in pre Qin. The theory of "mind" is also been accepted and developing in this period.This article describes the main meanings of "Mind" in pre Qin at first. Confucius and Mencius are the most important philosophers of the pre-Confucian. The project is the centre in this thesis and I try to describe the meaning and conception of the "Mind" by Confucius and Mencius, and the differences and inferences of their theories.Confucius is the greatest philosopher in Chinese history. He connected the virtue to "Mind" firstly. The "Mind" of Confucius contains wishing, thinking and heart which belongs to the God in my opinion.Mencius connected the Mind and human nature together. He regarded human nature as intrinsically good. He said human nature means "four beginnings". His theory affected the classical Chinese culture deeply and been considered the most important theory of his thought.The theories of Mind by Confucius and Mencius have important status in epistemology, ethics and ontology. It was developed by Confucian, and also affected the Dao xue and Mo xue in pre Qin. Zhang Zai, Cheng Hao and Zhu xi are all been influenced, especially Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming. "Mind" of Confucius and Mencius like an endless river, many generations can earn strong power when study it.