The Study Of "Propriety" In Chun-Qiu

This thesis will bring the propriety ideology in Chun-Qiu into focus and explore it by analyzing the articles in that book with the guidance of Chun-Qiu-Gu-Liang-Zhuan. During the late spring and autumn period, the society was trapped in anomie with serious crisis, for "propriety" as the value criteria was widely abandoned, leading to the lack of restraints in both collective and individual behaviors. In this regard, Confucius upheld "rule the country by propriety" with the inheritance of Zhouli, for he considered as his responsibility changing the world and rebuilding an ordered society like the one built by King Wen of Zhou and King Wu of Zhou. However, his advocate was always abandoned by the feudal vassals, so in his later years, he resigned and lived in Lu (an ancient Chinese state in today’s Shandong Province) to write Chun-Qiu. Confucius took "propriety" as a guideline in his selection of annals, historical events as well as writing styles, so we can say that Chun-Qiu abides by "propriety" in all aspects. The three explanatory works are closely related to Chun-Qiu; though they differ in the approaches of interpretation, they all focus on "propriety" in their argumentative philosophy. The manifestation of the disintegrate of "propriety" featured the collapse of the patriarchal clan system and the chaos of the political order; while its causes stemmed from the sway of people’s belief in Heaven’s mandate (which previously justified propriety), and from the withering forces to maintain it. To provide a rationale for "propriety", Confucius resorted to Heaven, the universe or the cosmos, as its metaphysical origin. Meanwhile, considering that "propriety" was indispensable from human beings, and that inclination and emotion were the decisive factors in the application of "propriety", Confucius proposed emotion and humanity as the internal foundations of "propriety". Consequently, by re-interpreting "propriety", he rebuilt its authority, and meanwhile provided a value basis for the re-establishment of social order. Besides, as for the overall collapse of the patriarchal clan system and the chaos of the political order at his times, Confucius advocated "propriety" as the foundation stone to combat them. More specifically, he proposed restoring the patriarchal clan system by treating kith and kin with "propriety", and rebuilding the political order by governing with "propriety"...