On Confucius’ Thought Of Correcting Names

In the Spring and Autumn Period which Confucius lived in， there are variousunhealthy social phenomenon, such as the decline of morality, the increase of heresy andatrocity, the killing of monarchs by their courtiers and fathers by their sons, especially inWei State. Under this circumstances, Confucius precisely put forward the idea of theRectification of Names for the first time when he was an officer in Wei State.The understanding of this idea has been discussed controversially for a long time.However, the understanding of rectificating a person’s status occupies the main position.First of all, the idea of the rectification of names is put forward by Confucius when he wasan officer in Wei State, which ensured the political significance. That is to say that it is nota common idea but a political view, whose concrete content is the way how a courtier getsalong with his monarch and a son gets along with his father（"Let the ruler be a ruler, thesubject a subject, the father a father and the son a son."）. They should behave according towhat they are supposed to do. The purpose of this idea is to regain the protocol of ZhouDynasty and make people behave according to the protocol. So the whole society will bein a good order. Confucius established the final foothold in the monarch’s words andactions hoping that the monarch could start from themselves and do what they should doaccording to their role.However, this seemed an utopian idea in that time. The old protocol cannot adapt tothe new social relations and cannot be adopted by the governor. But this idea has animportant impact on the history of Chinese culture and also has important significance forthe contemporary human to solve the problem of moral value dilemma.