On The People-rooted Thought Of The Confucianists In The View Of Democracy And Its Transformation

By applying the two-level analysis method, this thesis generalizes and summarizes the people-rooted thought of Confucianism systematically in the view of western ideology of democracy. In the first section the author contends, after investigating the source of the people-rooted thought, that this thought is most feasible implementation of the Confucianist thought taking the whole world as one community under the rule of feudal autocracy, which is not only the logic conclusion of "people are born kind" but also a summarization of the practical experience of the violent warfare. The second section generalizes the major connotation of the people-rooted thought and makes an analysis of it from the perspective of "legitimacy". In the third section the author points out, though the exploration of the relationship between the people root and feudal politics, that the people-rooted thought plays an important role in integrating the political system of feudalism, mediating social class contradictions, restricting the despotic rule of a self-indulgent ruler, improving the living standards, objectively, it results in a relatively lasting political stability and deep root of the despotic rule of feudalism, which is one of the reasons why the development of democracy in China can not catch up with that around the world. Therefore, the people-rooted thought has twofold functions which combine the blessing with the misfortune. The last section makes a comparison between the people root and democracy, claiming that although it has no such substance as procedure democracy, the people-rooted thought strikes the same cord with democracy in the level of spirit. After advancing a new understanding, namely that the people-rooted thought is a kind of "simulated democracy", the author attempts to restructure the people-rooted thought theoretically so as to push it forward towards the evolution of the democracy. Finally, this thesis argues that the success of modernization in East Asia provided a practical route for realizing this evolution, that is, the"three points and one line" model: people-rooted thought-market-oriented economy-politics of democracy.