A Study Of The Thoughts And Modern Significances Of The Book Of Filial Piety

Traditional filial piety is the foundation of Chinese traditional morality. As a classic of traditional filial piety, the Book of Filial Piety contains abundant ethical spirits, which affect the Chinese people's moral thinking and practice in the history. Undoubtedly, the ethical spirits are the important theoretical resources of reconstruction of new filial piety. Therefore, this paper will explore the thoughts and modern significances of the Book of Filial Piety. This paper consists of five chapters: the first chapter is the preface part .This part is to review and analyze the predecessors'study achievements. Then, this part elaborates the main contents and the meanings and the methods of the study.The second chapter mainly discusses the theoretical sources of the thoughts of the Book of Filial Piety, which are to better grasp the viewpoints of the book. The key is to analyze the theoretical origin of the book, namely the thoughts of filial piety of Confucius, zengzi, mencius, xunzi, etc.The third chapter discusses the basic contents of the Book of Filial Piety. The philosophical basis of filial piety, the tenet of filial piety and the norms of filial piety will be stated. Filial piety is the foundation of all morals. Filial piety is ethical norms which are taken for granted. And the aspects of human nature will be analyzed to study the philosophical basis of filial piety. "To rule the world by the filial piety" is the tenet of the book, which is the fundamental purpose. The norms of filial piety are divided into two parts: a basic norm of "to attend parents" and a generalized norm of "to serve monarchs" and "to get honors".The fourth chapter evaluates and analyses the thoughts of the Book of Filial Piety. Its historical roles should be stated three aspects. First, the pre-qin Confucian filial ideology was summarized and enriched by the book. Secondly, the governing strategy of "to rule the world by the filial piety" was provided for the feudal rulers. Lastly, the thoughts of the book made the traditional family and society more harmonious. Then, the rational components and feudal dross of the thoughts of the filial piety be analyzed. And some concepts of the filial piety be made a dialectical analysis.The fifth chapter discusses the modern meanings of the thoughts of the Book of Filial Piety. First, its rational cores tell us that we should respect the fountainhead of life, realize the social life and pursue the spirited life. In addition, its rational cores help us make our family and society more harmonious and stable.