A Study on the Ideology ‘Ren’ of the Si-Meng School

• Main Authors: Chia-Ching Lin, 林家慶
• Other Authors: Bing Zhuang
• Format: Others
• Language: zh-TW
• Published: 2010
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/86048526179264816548

碩士 === 華梵大學 === 東方人文思想研究所 === 98 === Confucius proposed ‘Ren’ as the core value of his philosophy. It is also the core theory of Confucianism for more than two thousand years in China. The study adopts the ideology ‘Ren’ of the Si-Meng School as the study theme, attempting to discover the development process of ‘Ren’ in Classical Confucianism so as to re-evaluate the ideology ‘Ren’ of the Si-Meng School with the latest literature discovered in the 20th century, such as the Silk Scroll Texts of Mawangdui Han Tomb found in 1973 and the Guodian Bamboo Strip Books of Chu found in 1993. Among these unearthed literature, some are related to Confucianism. They are widely recognized as the complement to the philosophical study of ‘Confucius, Mencius, Laozi, and Zhuangzi.’ Observing from the study results in these years, most scholars focus on the scholiastic practice of the characters, correction of the texts, and interpretations of the thinking on the silk scroll and bamboo strips. There are a great number of books and essays providing new arguments and thinking concerning the philosophy of Confucianism and Taoism. This is, undoubtedly, beneficial to the study greatly. When researching the ideology ‘Ren’ of ‘Si-Meng School’ in the past, the philosophical change from Confucius to Mencius was unlikely to be known since the data used to be insufficient. However, newly-unearthed literature like Guodian Bamboo Strip Books of Chu provides the possibility of complementing the gap. The study is aiming at presenting a clearer development trace of the ideology ‘Ren’ of ‘Si-Meng School’ in Classical Confucianism by compiling all relevant studies of ‘Si-Meng School.’ The study is divided into five chapters which are briefly introduced as follows: Chapter One, Introduction: this chapter explains the study motivation, goal, study scope and methods. After conducting literature review, the study will analyze and compile to describe the position of ‘Si-Meng School’ and some existing controversial issues. Chapter Two, the Origin of ‘Ren’ of ‘Si-Meng School’: this chapter firstly describes how people comprehend the connotation of morality from the religious viewpoints of ‘Tian (Heaven)’ and ‘Ming (Fate)’ under the patriarchal clan system and social background so as to understand how the ideology ‘Ren’ comes into being. The chapter then focuses on Confucian ideology of ‘Ren,’ depicting how its moral connotation works in ‘people-focused’ self-cultivation and virtue to understand the legacy of ‘Ren’ in Confucianism. Chapter Three, ‘Ren’ of Zisi: this chapter firstly conducts literature review, explaining the connotation of ‘Ming’ and ‘Sing’ in Sing Zih Ming Chu, the implementation of character in Wu Xing, the value of ‘honesty’ in Doctrine of the Mean so as to clarify the theory of Zisi concerning the implementation of Confucian ideology of ‘Ren.’ The study then focuses on the remarks of Xun Zi on Zisi in terms of the ideology of ‘Ren’ along with the philosophy of Mencius concerning ‘Ren.’ Chapter Four, ‘Ren’ of Mencius: this chapter firstly reviews Mencius to identify ‘goodness of human nature’ as the foundation of Mencius ‘Ren.’ By comparing Mencius with ‘Sing’ of Sing Zih Ming Chu and explaining how ‘Ren Yi Nei Zai’ of Mencius affects the development of ‘Xing Yi Nei’ of Wu Xing, the study is hoping to clarify Mencius ‘Theory of Mind and Nature’ is the inheritance and further development of Confucian ideology of ‘Ren.’ Chapter Five, Conclusion: this chapter firstly describes how the ideology ‘Ren’ of ‘Si-Meng School’ affects the next generations and then gives a conclusion based on the texts of previous chapters.