Study On The Political Ethical Thoughts In Potential Book

Tang Zhen was an important politician and thinker in the period of Ming and Qing Dynasty during which the feudal society disintegrated and the capitalism took shape.In later life,Tang Zhen wrote Potential Book,which carried on and developed previous thoughts,and stated his political views,with distinct progressive thoughts.In this book,the historical background and origin of thoughts of Tang Zhen were sorted out systematically,and the influence of the age on Tang Zhen's thoughts and theoretical origin of the thoughts in Potential Book was pointed out.Furthermore,materialism and dialectics of Tang Zhen's thoughts and philosophical foundation of the epistemology were illustrated with emphasis,and his philosophical thoughts were stated profoundly.The ontological thought of Tang Zhen could not be simply summarized as materialism or idealism,and instead,it experienced the transformation from materialism to idealism.Tang Zhen emphasized on the unification of cognition and practice,giving full play to the subjective initiative of human beings,adhering to people-oriented thoughts,and focusing on the important role of the masses,and insisted that emperors should attach great importance to people and stick to people orientation to gain long-term ruling.Besides,he insisted on the ideology of equality,and called us to respect women in social lives,oppose the principle of feudal moral conduct,and object to the oppression on women.Moreover,he saw the relation between strengthening a country and enriching its people,and proposed the theory that only by enriching its people,can a country be powerful.All these had a strong impact on Neo-Confucianism which had a dominant position in the feudal society,with a significant function on the continuity of feudal ruling and today's social development.