Chen Liang "adult" Thought Research

The traditional Confucianism pays more attention on the philosophical thinking of humanbeings while human nature and the values of human being are always the important subjects inthe area of Chinese philosophy discussion. Consequently the setting of The Ideal Personality anddeveloping of The Way to Sage have become the important research subjects and traditions ofChinese ancient philosophy. And the understandings of “The Way to Sage” are connected withThe Ideal Personality. Perfect personality is The Ideal Personality. In the Confucian’s mind theyhave set the perfect ideal“sage”, with which they pursues as the model of The Ideal Personality,and they also continuously improve it. In this sense, The Way to Sage refers to the way ormethod of comprehensively development of human nature and the improvement of personality.As the important part of the Confucian’s Ideal personality, The Way to Sage involves thecommon rule of person’s comprehensively development theory and the cultivation of idealpersonality, which are undoubtedly the two parts with the supreme values and exceptionallyfeatures in the area of Confucianism. In the traditional Confucian philosophy, differentphilosophers focus on different points to “The Way to Sage” which also have extensive andabundant contents. Although Chen Liang, the famous ideologist in the Southern Song Dynasty,has develops his theory of“The Way to Sage”on the basis of the predecessors’thoughts, ChenLiang researches the way to sage from the point of Utilitarian philosophy of life and pays moreattention on the propagation of the human’s social responsibility on the basis of inheriting theessences of the traditional Confucianism. Chen Liang fulfills his theory of “The Way to Sage”in the whole life and has original ideas to the improvement of the ideal personality. Firstly, thisthesis traces Chen Liang’s background and the resources of his thought (Chapter one); Secondly,this thesis discusses the configure of Chen Liang’s “The Way to Sage”,Which involved thephilosophical basement of forming the thought of Chen Liang’s “The Way to Sage”,personality characteristics of the Sage,cultivation of target of the Sage and ways of the Sage.(Chapter two); Lastly, this thesis demonstrates the brief discussion and introduction of thetheoretical values and realistic significance of Chen Liang’s “The Way to Sage”(ChapterFour). The Utilitarian philosophy of life that Cheng Liang advocates has not only enriched theConfucian system of thought, but also has the reference content for bringing up a new generationand developing spiritual cultivation.