On Wang Chuanshan's Educational Ethics Thought

Wang Chuanshan was an outstanding ethical thinker and educator during the late Ming Dynasty and the early Qing Dynasty. He discussed ethical problems from the perspective of education, and used ethical thought to guide the study of education, then formed rather profound and plentiful educational ethics thought. The "sky-collapsing and earth-shaking" dramatic changes of the times, getting rid of the stale and taking in the fresh of traditional culture and education, gave birth to Wang Chuanshan's unique educational ethics thought, which was collecting all ideas of ancient thinkers. Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought was based on the theory of human nature with inheriting goodness and coming into human nature, the view of moral value with denouncing the old and hailing the new, and the view of knowledge and practice with combining knowledge and practice into one and emphasizing practice. The content involves a series of important theoretical and practical problems on educational ethics, such as the ethical value of education, the ethical objective of education, the human relationship of education, the principle of educational human relation, the humanity idea of education and the virtue system of education. Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought not only summarizes all of our traditional educational ethics thought, but also creates the new from the old. What is more important is that he had always adopted a positive attitude to face the ethical problems in the practice of education, regarded the cultivation of new man as the hope of social development, and raised a lot of correct propositions and perspectives, such as the harmonious development of education objectives, the people-centered education methods, the teacher's morality with teaching by personal example, the virtue-based educational content with the combination of virtue and wisdom, the Tao-based teacher-student relationship with promoting teaching and learning, and the educational principle of putting education into practice. The research of Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought has the theoretical value of expanding a new area for the study of his ethical thought, has the historical significance of mastering basic meaning and essential characteristics of traditional educational ethics thought comprehensively, and has the practical significance and value of establishing the educational ethics ideology of socialism with Chinese characteristics.Educational ethics is a science of studying educational ethical value and teachers' professional morality. Different educational ethics thinkers form different educational ethics thoughts, starting with different views of ethical value. This article attempts to combine education with ethics, discusses Wang Chuanshan's educational thought from the ethical perspective, and reveals its ethical spirit contained in his educational thought, for the purpose of providing contemporary educational reform and the construction of educational ethics with a referable thinking mirror. This article is divided into four chapters. Chapter One: The social historic and cultural background of Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought. This paper reflects the characteristics of the times of Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought, from two aspects, the social historic condition and the cultural background. Chapter Two: The theoretical basis of Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought. It mainly includes three aspects, his theory of human nature, view of moral value and theory of knowledge and practice. Chapter Three: The main content of Wang Chuanshan's educational ethical thought. Wang Chuanshan's educational ethical thought is plentiful. This paper mainly analyzes his educational ethics thought from four aspects, educational meaning, educational objective, educational method and teachers' morality, and then briefly elaborates the ethical spirit in his thought on educational content, teacher-student relationship and educational principle. Chapter Four: The essential features and the appraisal of Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought. Through analyzing Wang Chuanshan's educational ethics thought, this paper sums up its essential features and carries on the objective evaluation to its historic influence and the contemporary value.