Research On Gu Yanwu's Thought Of Political Ethics

Gu Yanwu,one of the three great Confucians at the end of Ming Dynasty and the beginning of Qing Dynasty,is known as the founder of "pure learning in Qing Dynasty".Many of his political and ethical thoughts had an important impact on the social reform and ideological emancipation in the late Qing Dynasty.At present,although there are many researches on Gu Yanwu's political and philosophical thoughts in the academic circle,there are few special studies on Gu Yanwu from the perspective of political ethics.Therefore,the in-depth study of it can not only enrich the theoretical achievements of the academic community,but also fully tap the contemporary value of it,making the past serve the present.Gu Yanwu's era is a critical period with turning significance in Chinese history.Under the special background of the Ming and Qing Dynasties,Gu Yanwu formed the political and ethical thought which originated from reality and implemented in practice on the basis of the philosophy of natural gas and realistic human nature.Through the investigation of history and the analysis of reality,he profoundly exposed and criticized the political malpractice of "the power of the world does not depend on the people and officials,but on the petty officials" under the feudal monarchy,and expounded the people-oriented political idea of advocating the equality of the personality of the monarch,the officialsand the civil administration,and advocating "combining the private with the public".Moreover,he demonstrated the ethics based political view through the debate between "the state" and "the world",and based on this,he put forward a series of political ethics norms and ways of dealing with the world.While advocating the rule of virtue and the conduct of his own shame,he advocated that the world "take fame as profit".In order to realize the ideal political blueprint of "mass governance",Gu Yanwu also proposed a whole set of decentralization system ethics from top to bottom,from central to local,which constituted the core of his political ethics.He advocated the restoration of the system of feudalism and refutation to protect the power of all officials to supervise the monarch;he proposed the strategy of local decentralization with the theory of "feudalism in counties" as the core,which restricted the central government by expanding the local autonomy,and realized the "separation of the monarch and the minister and the ruling together";at the same time,in order to prevent the excessive centralization of local power,he also proposed further decentralization to the grass-roots and clans in the countryside to contain the local.Finally,aiming at the common people,he put forward a series of measures and plans to reform and perfect the system of selecting scholars and the system of Qing Dynasty,aiming to make more people participate in the political governance,and to put the moral education in the same importantposition as the system construction,so as to pursue the political ideal of "governance by name" of "strengthening the people's mind and enriching the customs".Due to the limitations of the times,the political ethical thoughts of Gu Yanwu still have many shortcomings and defects,but his rational reflection based on the reality and the development,abandonment and transcendence of traditional humanism not only enlightened the people's personal subject consciousness in the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty to a certain extent,but also caused a strong impact on the traditional political and ethical mode of "the same structure of family and country",which not only stimulated the courage of people to break the shackles of traditional political ethics and the spirit of responsibility taking the world as their own responsibility also had an important impact on the social reform of the late Qing Dynasty.Moreover,even in the new era,it can still provide important reference and enlightenment for the construction of spiritual civilization and the improvement of political system.