Research On Cheng Hao's Mind

Philosophy of heart(a school of Confucianism)can be traced back to Mencius.Mencius believes that life has compassion,shame,respect and right.Benevolence,righteousness,propriety and wisdom are all expanded from the four ends of the heart.That's what it's called "Benevolence,righteousness,propriety,and wisdom,not from the outside,was I born with.I don't have to think about it." Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi in the Northern Song Dynasty inherited Mencius Confucianism's "Taoism" and established the theory of "heavenly principles".Among them,Cheng Hao inherited Mencius's thought of "compassion" and made a detailed discussion in the articles of Perception of Benevolence and Stabilization of Human Nature.He emphasized the importance of "heart" thinking that "only the heart is heaven","the heart is the principle,the principle is the heart."Cheng Hao's idea opened the school of philosophy of heart and had a profound influence on the development of Confucianism in later generations.The main task of this paper is to explain Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart in the articles of Perception of Benevolence and Stabilization of Human Nature and analyze its theoretical value and contemporary significance.The study is carried out from the following five aspects:Firstly,explain the difference between two-Cheng's thought.This paper mainly expounds the differences of Cheng Hao's and Cheng Yi's cognition of "heavenly principles" and the academic views on their academic thoughts,and explains the rationality of attributing Cheng Hao's thoughts to the school of mind-learning.Secondly,clarify all kinds of misunderstandings about "Philosophy of heart".This clarification is mainly divided into three aspects:first,explain why it is wrong to regard "Philosophy of heart" as a kind of subjective idealism;Secondly,make full use of the theory of modern moral psychology and moral emotionalism to re-explain its positive connotation;third,explain that Neo-Confucianism and Philosophy of heart are not absolutely opposite concepts,and Cheng Hao's Philosophy of Heart is closely related to his Neo-Confucianism.Thirdly,this paper expounds the core thought of Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart and its influence in the history of thought.Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart are mainly recorded in the articles of perception of benevolence and stabilization of human nature.In the articles of perception of benevolence,Cheng Hao said "the scholar must know benevolence first","principles and things are unified","If you know this principle,you can save it and don't have to think hard about it".These propositions clearly put forward his theory of innate moral knowledge,that is to say,the theory of benevolence(the knowledge of virtue,or moral knowledge)is congenital,which is different from the knowledge of seeing and hearing from experience.Cheng Hao advocates that the benevolent,that is those with the instinctive moral sense,compassion or empathy,can obtain benevolence.As long as it is benevolent,keep the instinctive moral sense "not to lose",through the empathy of conscience,you can "regarding all in the universe as an organic part of my life",to gain benevolence,that is,to acquire innate moral knowledge.It is precisely because"understanding benevolence" requires the benevolent to maintain their sincerity,their benevolence,their conscience,their compassion,and their empathy.Therefore,in the artical of Stabilization of Human Nature,Cheng Hao proposes a whole set of work on how to maintain the instinctive moral sense and how to obtain benevolence by maintaining this kind of conscience,so as to reach the benevolent realm of "feeling obeys all things but mercilessly ".After Mencius,Cheng Hao's articles of Perception of benevolence and Stabilization of human nature further laid the foundation of Philosophy of heart,and exerted an important influence on Lu Jiuyuan,Wang Yangming and others.It has continued and formed the tradition of Confucianism which still has an impact on today.Fourthly,this paper expounds the theoretical advantage of Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart relative to Neo-Confucianism.Compared with Neo-Confucianism,Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart is simpler,easier to understand and easier to execute,more consistent with modern moral psychology,and avoids the metaphysical hypothesis with some mysterious color.Fifthly,this paper expound the contemporary value of Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart.The important value of Cheng Hao's philosophy of heart in contemporary times is mainly reflected in two aspects.First,the theoretical value is mainly reflected in:it lays a foundation for the contemporary interpretation of Confucian moral emotionalism theory.Second,the application value is mainly reflected in:it has important enlightenment to effective moral education.The necessary condition of obtaining moral knowledge is to keep instinctive moral sense,compassion and empathy.As long as a member of the human race,no matter at home and abroad,there should also be compassion,empathy,which is the psychological basis for obtaining universal moral cognition,but also the psychological basis for the establishment of the values of the human community.Therefore,the most effective means of moral education is to cultivate people's benevolence and empathy.