A Study Of Moral Education Thought Of Xunzi

Xunzi is one of the most representative Confucian ideologists of Pre-Qin Dynasty, who inherits the Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius, assimilates the essence of various ideologies and creates his unique ideological system of Xunzi. The moral education thought is the most excellent wonder in his ideologies. This paper carries out relatively systematic arrangement and conclusion on the moral education thought of Xunzi. It mainly discusses the background, theoretical origin, metaphysical foundation, objective, content and method of Xunzi's moral education thought, as well as evaluation of his thought and its value to moral education in modern middle and primary schools. In the section of background and theoretical origin of Xunzi's moral education thought, this article first elaborates the origin of moral education thought and relevant knowledge, and then briefly introduces it, followed by the discussion of social background and relevant theoretical origin of the moral education thought. Thus, it straightens out development threads of Xunzi's moral education thought both vertically and horizontally, paving the way for the good start of the following text. The second section concerning the discussion of Xunzi's moral education thought is the key point of this paper. This section has its independent content, carrying out the discussion according to certain rules of threads. Firstly, it involves the metaphysical foundation of Xunzi's moral education thought, which cannot be separated from content of two parts, namely On Heaven and The Theory of Human Nature. The decipherment of "heaven" and "human nature" has been the beginning of human thought since antiquity, and the thought of Xunzi's moral education was also started from "heaven" and "human nature". The objective of Xunzi's of moral education is divided into four parts. Cultivating talent is the objective of moral education. However, the main task of moral education is to accomplish the ideal of ruling by virtue. "Begin as a scholar and finally become a saint". Xunzi divides the objective of cultivating talent into several levels, making the objective of moral education practical. The intension of Xunzi's moral education is elaborated according to the three aspects of modern moral education theory, namely knowledge, emotion and meaning. Differentiating "nature" from "fake" is the beginning of moral cognition, bringing moral emotions like "single-mindedness" and "cultivating desires". In the meantime, being tempered by the spirit of "working with perseverance" is also needed for becoming a "saint" or a "gentleman". The method of Xunzi's moral education is the most valuable and the most distinctive part of his thought, which is full of realistic meaning and the nature of modernism. There are many methods of moral cultivation, including the "deeds accumulating" method, the environmental edification method that "behaviour comes from acquired habit", the moral infiltration method attaching importance to "ritual and music" from outside to inside and the moral self-improvement method of being "honest" and "independent". As for the method of moral model, this paper lists such methods as "monarch setting himself an example to people", "respecting for teachers and being friendly to others", etc. Besides, learning classics is also a moral education method advocated by Xunzi. Some of these moral education methods lay particular emphasis on social moralization, yet some focus on individual moral cultivation. The third part is the evaluation of Xunzi's moral education thought, mainly involving similarities and differences between Xunzi's moral education thought and that of Confucius and Mencius, as well as some outstanding features of Xunzi's moral education thought. In lateral comparison, features of Xunzi's thought are more prominent, of which the greatest one is the strong practicality. It is precisely because the practicality of Xunzi's thought that this paper starts the discussion in the fourth section, which involves the value and enlightenment of his thought for moral education in middle and primary schools. The intension and methods of Xunzi's moral education has a profound significance of enlightenment to moral education of current schools. From his thought, we can find the strategically advantageous position of Xunzi and absorb valuable parts to serve moral education work of modern middle and primary schools.