Humanism:RenaissanceFormedideological system, world outlook or ideological weapons are also the progressive literature of this periodThe central idea。It advocates putting people first, opposes the authority of God, and liberates people from the shackles of medieval theology.Advocate personality liberation and pursue real lifehappiness；Pursue freedom and equality and oppose the concept of hierarchy;Advocate rationality and oppose ignorance.
Humanism, the legend of Zhou Yi Ben Gua: "Humanity is the essence of the world." As the soul of all things, people should be committed to the progress of civilization, carry forward human nature, give play to human resources, support human rights, and cultivate personality.China's humanism should be based on the theory of Confucius“ConfuciusFirst of all, affirm the noblest thing in the universe.I am a human being, and only people have the consciousness of "I"Its essence lies in the fact that the word "benevolence" is specially put forward to lay the foundation of human relations and moral norms, so it is called "benevolent people also" and "benevolent people love others".Humanism is the saying that everything can make people more perfect;Humanistic thought is what makes people become more perfect through discussion. ""Confucius' personality lies in his cleverness and generosity. Confucius' sincere compassion is as noble as the sky on the one hand, and as generous as the earth on the other. 'No intention, no need, no firmness, no self', all selfless spirit without self, how can it be done without thinking? 'How can it be done without knowing', 'How can it be said in four seasons, how can everything be born, how can it be said in heaven!' How can all the spirit of the unity of heaven and man be done without thinking?'The old should be at ease, the friends should believe it, and the young should bear it.' 'Birds and animals should not be in the same group, and who should be the disciples of our Feisi people?'How can the spirit of benevolence, which regards itself as its own responsibility, be allowed to follow‘Since King Wen is absent, is Wen not here?The heaven will lose his civil life, and the deceased will not be allowed to join him;At the end of the day, I lost my gentleness. What would Kuang people do? 'How can we go beyond this sense of mission and responsibility for history and culture? "——This is to quote the "Humanism" collected by Wang Aijun of the International Junyou Association.
artistic characteristics
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RealismAndromanticismFactor combination;Show the passion of the characters, focusing on moral psychological portrayal;Using national language to write, national literature of all countries was born;Create a new genre, tramp novels.
brief introduction
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The word humanism actually appeared very late. It comes from humanism in Latin, an ancient Roman writerCiceroI have already used this word.Germanyenlightenment campaignPhilosophers of the era collectively called mankind, and humanists at that time called themselves humanista.The word Humanism didn't appear until 1808.
Humanism isThe RenaissanceThe core idea isEmerging assetsClass anti feudalSocial ideological trend, alsohumanitarianismThe original form of.It affirms human nature and human value, requires people to enjoy the joy of the world, requires individual liberation, freedom and equality, and advocates human perceptual experience and rational thinking.AsHistorical concept"Humanism" refers to the more advanced ideas in the 14th and 16th centuries than in the Middle Ages, which are mainly used to describe in the history of European history and philosophy.Generally speaking, today's historians refer to the changes in culture and society during this period as the Renaissance, and the change movement in education as humanism.
On the other hand, there is no unified definition of humanism.Because many different people call themselves or humanists, their world views and their ideas about people may be very different.Some humanistic ideas are very contradictory to each other.In the liberal democratic andprotestantismorCatholicismThere are humanistic schools in all schools of thought.even to the extent thatAncient RomeAt that time, there was a flow of ideas that can be called humanism today.Of course, humanism at that time was very different from that of the Renaissance or the Enlightenment.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe andFriedrich Schiller Humanism is often calledHistoricism, andWilhelm von Humboldt The humanism of the Enlightenment is completely different from that of the Enlightenment.The RenaissancePhilosophy of the period is regarded as the root of thought, andHumboldtScience was regarded as the root of thought during the period of.
Humanism is a philosophical theory and a world view.Humanism takes the interests, values and dignity of people, especially individuals, as its starting point.For humanism, tolerance, non violence and freedom of thought among people are the most important principles for people to get along with each other.
Western humanism
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connotation
According to the previous explanation, there are differences in the characteristics and effects of humanism at different stages of development in western culture, but the chances for its establishment are surprisingly consistent, which isTang JunyiWhat is said is "arising from the desire to govern or to resist some cultural bias", but never from the awareness of people themselves.In these two approaches, the former takes the external anti explicit concept into humanism, and the latter takes the internal subjective enlightenment into humanism.The former cannot open the door of "moral subject";The latter can open the door of "moral subject".However, only by opening the door of "moral subject" can true humanism reach a comprehensive enveloping form and become the highest principle of leading cultural life.Therefore, the failure to open the door of "moral subject" is the biggest characteristic of western humanism at all stages, and also the fundamental reason for its limitation.
Humanistic Jurisprudence
The reason why western humanism cannot open the door of moral subject is closely related to the way of thinking in western culture.As mentioned earlier, Western culture is dominated by "God based" or "material based".As far as "God based" is concerned, this is to empty or even revoke the subjectivity of human beings, and deliver everything to the supreme God.Therefore, the more religious you are, the more you want to eliminate your subjectivity and "throw yourself in front of God and completely convert to God".Here, of course, there is no problem of opening the subject;In terms of "material essence", the mind of western culture is all about grasping the principle of external objects. In this way, if the object is the main object and wants to grasp its principle, the most appropriate function of the subject is "reason", and reason turns from holding external objects to activities.If the subject is limited to holding something outside and turning intellectually, he can only do his best to observe, analyze and reason.It cannot open the door of the subject and analyze and criticize the various abilities of the subject beyond.Therefore, the door of the subject is still locked here.But as far as western humanism is concerned, although it believes in clamoring to return to "humanism", from the final practical results, as mentioned above, it has not really returned to "humanism", or really opened up the "humanism".In terms of the form of humanism it presents, in fact, it still stays on the "material basis", which is at most a special "material basis".In other words, they just regard "people first" as a special "material first", which of course cannot open the door of "people" as the subject.In this way, whether "God based", "material based", or the so-called "human based", they are all achieved by standing on the "object" side, and cannot be closed back to stand on the "subject" side, and knock on the door of the subject to see what they have achieved.In Western culture, what really touches the door of the subject is actionEnlightenment thoughtOfKant 。Kant drew back from the object and revealed the subject's ability to achieve knowledge, morality and aesthetics with three major criticisms.HisCopernicusThe change of form not only made him further reveal the intellectual subject on the basis of the "abstract understanding" proposed by the enlightenment thought.In this sense, he is the completer of the enlightenment thought.Moreover, it further tests the limits of the intellectual subject, thus further revealing the moral subject and aesthetic subject.In this sense, he is the conqueror of enlightenment thought.However, Kant is a pure philosopher after all. His revelation of various subjects is through transcendental criticism. He wants to eliminate the sense of existence inherent in life, which is a pure and abstract philosophical thinking.This is suitable for critical philosophy, but not for humanism, because humanism, as mentioned before, must be intrinsic to life and open a "qualitative" intermediary field.However, Kant's subject revealed by transcendental criticism cannot avoid its abstraction. The various subjects revealed by him are just logical perfection of knowledge.In other words, he just put all kinds of subjects as knowledge in his justice system to analyze, test the limits and clarify the boundaries.In this way, all kinds of subjects are conceptualized and formalized in Kant, so we say that Kant just "touches" the door of the subject.
Bojiaqiu, a humanist writer
But if humanism is to become the highest principle of leading cultural lifeKant The door of the conceptual subject enters.Because all concepts have certain connotations and extensions, it means that any concept has certain limitations.However, humanism, as the leading principle of cultural life, cannot have such restrictions. It should be the "foundation of all constructions and achievements", which is modernNew ConfucianismBasic views on humanism.Therefore, Tang Junyi said: "Humanism will not be hostile to all" isms "containing truth, and he (it) rightly affirms the relative values of various" isms "in various fields of human culture".That is to say, true humanism is to construct human's own culture based on human beings, rather than one of philosophical theories, so it should integrate and melt all valuable thoughts and cultures.The question is: where is the starting point of humanism?In order to find this starting point, we can neither take the external way of reflection and interpretation taken by western humanism in various stages, because, as mentioned earlier, they have not really returned to the subject of "human";It is also impossible to take Kant's transcendental criticism to reveal the path of various subjects, because, as previously mentioned, these various subjects, due to their formal and conceptual limitations, cannot complete the integration and melting of all valuable ideas and cultures in the ideal form of humanism.In this way, if we want to find the starting point of humanism, we can only take the path of introspection and internal proof that Chinese culture is embedded in life and life.MenciusSaid: "The reason why human beings are different from animals is that they are many Xi" ("Mencius Lilouxia").Chinese culture is to highlight this "multi hope" in the specific life of people, so as to open up its inner life and lifeHumanistic world。This "multi hope" not only ensures the meaning of being human, but also opens up the real human life.But this "Jixi" is different from German humanists in the 18th century, such asGoetheThe concept of "personality", put forward by Plato with the help of "reason type", is one of inner life, life and reverse consciousness, and enlightenmentSpiritual entity。This spiritual entity can be referred to as "human body" in terms of Mencius' "theory of good human nature", or "mind body" in terms of Wang Yangming's "theory of conscience". In fact, it is a "moral subject".Chinese culture always affirms that there is a moral subject who can make decisions by himself in human life. As long as he works hard to cultivate himself, this subject will naturally appear in the realm of life.So Confucius said, "Is benevolence far away? I want to be benevolent, and I will be benevolent."（《The Analects of Confucius·Shuer), "For benevolence, it is up to oneself, but it is up to people" (The Analects of Confucius Yan Yuan);Mencius also said: "Compassion means benevolence; shame means righteousness; respect means propriety; right and wrong means wisdom. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom are not derived from the outside, but from the inherent. So we can say that if we ask for something, we will gain it; if we give up, we will lose it" (Mencius, First Message).In Chinese culture, the moral subject (mind body or nature body) presented through the cultivation of personality is the real "human essence", and the humanistic world is opened by this "essence".Just because the humanistic world is opened by the moral subject, it is not a moral system, but a spiritual realm, and even a "strong" attitude to life ("strong" takes“As Heaven keeps vigor through movement, a gentleman should unremittingly practice self-improvement.”This is not what Western humanism can do.Therefore, Tang Junyi said, "When translating Chinese humanism into Humanism, he was wronged in connotation." Chinese humanism is the spirit initiated by moral subjectsstateIt integrates all truth and dissolves all values, that is, all truth and values will not be paranoid and corrupt in this spiritual realm.If we borrow Chuang Tzu's words, it is: "It is based on the original, grand and pioneering, deep and vigorous, and it is also based on the patriarchal clan, which can be said to be thick and suitable, and then it is successful" (Chuang Tzu · Tianxia).
Humanism in various stages of the West, in order to cure cultural bigotry and malpractice, has constructed a system of justice externally and explicitly. The result is that although it has overcome this bigotry and malpractice, it has unconsciously spawned another kind of bigotry and malpractice. The key is that they have never found the seed of culture.In terms of Chinese culture, if the subject of morality is not opened, culture can not rely on people's own awareness to achieve perfection.The result is that "more than one observation is enough to make you feel good", instead of "being prepared for the beauty of heaven and earth, and being called the capacity of gods" (Zhuangzi · Tianxia).The key reason why Chinese humanism can adapt everything is that it has opened a moral subject of "grand and pioneering, deep and vigorous", so everything here can be "prepared for the beauty of heaven and earth, called the capacity of gods".How can this be so?It is because all the cultural achievements of human beings are gradually developed by the moral subject of "grand and pioneering, deep and vigorous" according to his own consciousness.In this way, the cultural achievements of human beings are not the subjective construction of "self satisfaction", but the outflow of this moral subject as the cultural basis.Here,Mou ZongsanThere was a wonderful solution.He believes that the Chinese culture lies in the moral subject realized by life and life itself. It is a round wheel, also a central point, or the "pivot of Tao". If people can't hold on to it here and get the whole, then the round wheel can also be opened up and down, inside and outside, positive and negative. This opening up and down, inside and outside, positive and negative is the various cultural systems and philosophies in the world:
1. Open up and down.Once the subject of morality becomes the master of life, God can also be internalized. If people can't improve their lives with this internalization, they will rest under the authority of God's omniscience, omnipotence and goodness from the perspective of human's negativity (such as evil) and finiteness. This is the form of Christianity.
2. Open inside and outside.The moral subject is originally "grand and pioneering, deep and vigorous", which shows that culture is developed from the inside out by this subject.But if people only stand at a certain point outside, they will see their relative objectivity and independence, and thus develop into culture or philosophy.For example, in terms of cosmology, "leave the center of subjectivism and go to objectivism to establish the objectively constructed cosmology";As far as ontology is concerned, "leave the center of subjectivism and go back to the body of objective and independent existence itself, and establish the ontology of objective self nature... stand up in the face of reality and empty yourself, without nature or essence, but completely serving reality is human nature and human essence".In Western culture, all kinds of cosmology and ontology (or ontology) are about the same. In the words of the Book of Changes, this is the beginning of "the day after tomorrow and the time after tomorrow".However, if these kinds of cosmology and ontology (or ontology) want to seek their final basis, they must restrict the moral subject to the agreement of "congenital but heavenly" before they can finally stand on their feet.
3. Positive and negative open.From the moral subject's practice of benevolence to maturity, everything will be flat and all will be fulfilled, that is, the Confucian realm of "Xing in poetry, Li in ceremony, Cheng in music".However, if one sees only the shape of the device and sticks to the reality here, it is easy to observe the universe and life from the negative perspective and from the two aspects of "emptiness" and "nothingness".From the aspect of "nothing": "nothing" has the attachment to the relative situation, the artificial unnatural, and shows the superNatural inactionThis is the realm of Taoism;From the aspect of "emptiness", it is said that "emptiness" originates from the flowing self nature and proves emptiness as a body. This is Buddhism.
Finally, if the moral subject practices benevolence to the point of maturity and smoothness, then "raising his head and raising his eyes are all just knowing and seeing", then“The world belongs to benevolence”。However, if people can't help themselves here, they don't know whether it is "knowing the body and seeing", but only see the physiological activity of "raising the head and raising the eyes". If so, they only study the physiological activity itself, which is also science.
As mentioned above, including religion, philosophy and science, are all developed by the moral subject, which truly fulfills the whole connotation of "humanism is the foundation of all achievements", which truly makes humanism a comprehensive system, not against all cultures containing truth and value, and can make it adapt and become the leading principle of leading cultural life.Because of this, it can be said that the only way to complete the whole connotation of humanism is to open the door of "moral subject".
However, the above separation of Mou Zongsan is completely a theoretical explanation, which is a theoretical analysis of the "moral subject" as the foundation of culture.Humanism, as mentioned earlier, must be intrinsic to life and life itself to open a qualitative intermediary field.The intermediate field of human's inner life and the quality of life mainly includes: the satisfaction of desire (happiness), religious praying and aesthetic pleasure (aesthetics).Real humanism must mean these three aspects, so as to internalize "God based" and "material based", and truly return to the "human based".This is the real "extremely smart and mean".This article will mainly discuss how China's humanism, initiated by the "moral subject", has manifested and profound connotation on the issue of "happiness".
Development and deficiency
Although the word "humanism" is inherent in Chinese culture (Yi Zhuan: "Look at the astronomy, observe the changes of time, look at the humanities, and become the world."), humanism is the translation of the word Humanism in Western culture, and some people have translated it intoHumanism。The so-called "humanism" in Western culture is relative to "material" and "God".However, Western culture is dominated by "material based" and "God based", the former achieving science andmetaphysics(philosophy);The latter contributes to religious belief.Humanism only makes up the gap between "material" and "god".It is in this sense that Tang Junyi said: "Humanism in the West is almost all due to the desire to rule or resist some cultural bias." It is also because of this that Mou Zongsan said: "Humanism is not the mainstream in the western academic thought tradition.And it also lurks there, appearing and disappearing from time to time, so it has never been exposed, completing its own system, as the backbone leading its cultural life forward. "That is to say, although humanism is a concept put forward in western culture, because the "essence" of "human" is covered by the "essence" of "material" and "essence", from the perspective of the development of humanism in western culture, it does not cover all the implications of humanism.In the view of modern Neo Confucianism, what are the limitations and shortcomings of humanism in the development of western culture?
The development of humanism in western culture can be divided intoCiceroHumanism of the timesThe RenaissanceHumanism in the 18th century and Germany in the 18th century.There may be differences in the specific contents of humanism in these three stages. However, as far as their basic characters are concerned, they are unable to assume the mission of leading the life of western culturegenerality。Because they have their insurmountable limitations and shortcomings.Mou Zongsan has a detailed explanation and comment on the limitations and shortcomings of western humanism in his article "The Completion of Humanism".
first,Look at the humanism in Cicero's period: the concept of humanism was not established in Greece, but was established in Rome during Cicero's period, so Cicero was the first person in the history of western culture to realize the content and value of humanism.The reason why he has such consciousness is that Mou Zongsan believes that "Rome was originally a barbaric nation", so Cicero's humanistic consciousness "just means that the barbaric and illiterate nation began to realize its barbarism and its purityPrimitive lifeI want to live a cultural life because of my weaknessCicero's humanism is doing its duty. "However, because this responsibility is only implemented on the basis of "freedom, respect for reason, and beauty are the most important things in real life, which is a broad sense of life", at this time, humanism only pays attention to the etiquette norms in terms of breadth, and does not further develop inward and deeper, so as to highlight the final basis of cultural life for the establishment of humanism.Here, we can see that the humanistic consciousness at this time, as Tang Junyi said, is based on the remedy of flaws from the external perspective, not directly from the person himself to demand self-reliance.In fact, this is not conscious, but he felt, according to him.In this way, humanism at this time has its achievements as well as its limitations.Its achievements are as follows: this kind of humanism can promote educated and standard social and political life;The limitation is that this kind of educated and standardized social and political life is just an external emphasis on order and harmony, which cannot be absorbed into human life to achieve final chastity.Therefore, it can be said that what the humanism achieved at this time was only the external, formal and beautiful view of the world environment, and this beautiful view of the world environment was loose and empty because it was external and formal, and could fall at any time.This is because if humanism is only implemented on the basis of the real life style, that is, it is loose and has no "root", and without "root", it cannot stand on its own.
The Renaissance
secondly,Then let's look at the humanism in the Renaissance: it was in this period that humanism gained the significance of the world.However, humanism in this period still inherited the development tradition of humanism in western culture, and it was the governance and transcendence of the shackles of medieval Christian theology.Therefore, the humanism at that time still remained the remedy after external comparison, rather than the self conscious self-reliance of human beings.The original meaning of Renaissance is "the rebirth of people", that is, to rescue people from the dormancy of God.The so-called "rebirth", according to Mou Zongsan's understanding, is: "there is a sense of joy in the feeling of spring for the real life, the real self, and the individual self, and there is a kind of real human love".In this way, due to the emphasis on individual self, the general rational side of people is ignored, and the temperament side of people is particularly emphasized.Therefore, it can be said that the humanism at this time advocated the rebirth of human beings for the treatment of Christian theology, which is actually the affirmation of human talents and other qualities.Therefore, there were many scientists and artists who showed their creativity in talent and emotion during the Renaissance.The affirmation of the nature of human's special temperament, like Cicero's humanism, still stays on the beauty of external harmonious social and political life, which can be said to be further absorbed into human itself. This is a great progress in the development of humanism and the greatest achievement of humanism in the Renaissance, because for humanism,This is a gradual return to the "people", the "root".However, it must be pointed out that if humanism only reflects on life to this extent, and the "foundation" of the establishment of humanism is based on the nature of human temperament, it still has its insurmountable limitations.This limitation - according to Mou Zongsan's view - is mainly manifested in that at this time, humanism cannot further reveal a universal self connected with "God" from the self of personality.Therefore, humanism in the Renaissance was always the same asChristian theologyThe key to the establishment of overtness is that at this time, the "person", that is, the individual self is just a degenerate integrity, which still lacks the internal time for introspection, rupture, and decomposition of transcendence, and sees a transcending universal self as the leadership principle of the individual self.In this way, "although humanism in the Renaissance represents the awakening of human nature and the awakening of individual self, its so-called human nature is still just about falling from the God itself, and falling from its own view, which is just a confused pan theory, and the individual self is also just a confused integrity, so it is only about talent and emotion".As a result, the splendor of the Renaissance came out of it, and so did its abuses.Its highlights lie in the following: the individual creation that can make the best of human talents and feelings produces great science and art;On the other hand, as Tang Junyi said, "all human natural instincts, barbaric will to power, and desire to conquer, have a chance to show as much as possible; and form another kind of entanglement between human deity and animal nature in modern culture".This is where its abuses lie.
last,Then look at the German humanism in the 18th century: the humanism in this period was founded against the "abstract intellectuality" of the enlightenment thought.The enlightenment thought is the condensation, collection and precipitation of the reflection on humanism in the Renaissance.As mentioned earlier, humanism in the Renaissance achieved great science and art because of its attachment to the joy of life personality, but this achievement was based on the love and pursuit of individual life for nature, and it did not shrink back to make a transcendental reflection and decomposition within the subject.Therefore, most of the scientific achievements in this period are still at the empirical level, and the science of knowledge that makes science a science has not been established.The enlightenment thought is the spirit of understanding that is drawn back from the pursuit of individual life of humanism in the Renaissance.The so-called intellectuality is the "subject of thought" specified by logic mathematics (note that this "subject of thought" is not subjective, but objective, because it - if speaking according to Kant's philosophy - is just some innate forms, such as space and time or categories, such as the category of quality, quantity, relationship, mode, etc., so it is universal, objective, and abstract.Descartes"I think, therefore I am" is said in this sense).In this way, once "intellectuality" appeared - according to Mou Zongsan's view - "the concrete and comprehensive activities of the human mind would be broken down into various forms. Intellectuality and intuition were separated. Therefore, understanding of human nature was also regarded as" abstract reason ".The subject is pure intellectuality, the object is pure nature, and the intellectuality is the condition for the possibility of knowledge. This kind of retrenchment based on the transcendence of the subject reflects and decomposes, making the "learning for learning" of knowledge tenable.This is the greatest contribution of enlightenment thought.But on the other hand, as Mou Zongsan said, the enlightenment thought broke away from the mother body of humanism and became "non humanistic".Because if only "abstract intellectuality" is regarded as the essence of human beings, then it is bound to empty the rich and substantial content of human beings. Humanism must view human beings from the perspective of integrity, richness and substantial content.This is the fundamental reason why German humanists in the 18th century rebelled against the Enlightenment.In the 18th century, German humanism was initially initiated by a group of writers, known as the "wild wind movement".They set out from a new life emotion and opposed the rigidity and emptiness of the "abstract intellectuality" of the enlightenment thought.Although the "Crazy Wind Movement", like the humanism in the Renaissance, entered from a feeling of life, the progress of the "Crazy Wind Movement" in the humanism in the Renaissance lies in: the humanism in the Renaissance is opposed to the spirit of the Middle Ages, and incompatible with religion;The "wild wind movement" has forged the infinity and pervasiveness of the great life of the universe through the deep experience of life, which has a tendency of pantheism.Although this is far from the true religious spirit, it can be seen that humanism at this time is not absolutely incompatible with God.However, as Mou Zongsan said, it is the romantic spirit of subjectivism based on literary sentiment, which is an absolute subjectivism, and humanism must evolve from subjectivism to objectivism, the objectivism of subject.Later, Lessing and Goethe timely put forward the concept of "personality", which is to lead humanism from subjectivism to objectivism.
They borrowedPlatonic philosophyThe concept of "Idea" in, internalizes "personality" into life as the rationale of life, and introduces it into humanism, so that humanism can overcome the romantic spirit of subjectivism and move towards objectivism.In this way, people have their own internal formation rules in themselves, and each person has reached his or her strictly regulated personality from the internal unlimited development.Mou Zongsan believes that "with the concept of personality, we should first objectify our own life internally, then we can affirm all human activities in the world, and see that it can complete the role of personality cultivation. This is moving to objectivism".
Therefore, in Goethe's personality based humanism, the development of personality is both personality and integrity.The complete personality can not be said to be not "all people", but not omniscient, but all human abilities have been fully and soundly developed.This overcame the disadvantage of humanism in the Renaissance, which made human ability fully developed but entangled with animalism due to the joy of simple personality.This can be said to be the greatest contribution of humanism in this period.However, Goethe and others put forward the concept of "personality" according to Plato's "rational type" to enter humanism, and its disadvantages are also extremely obvious.It is true that life should be objectified, so as to reveal its meaning and value.However, it is not enough for Goethe and others to follow Plato's "rational type", because Plato's "rational type" is from the aspect of object, with an aesthetic sentiment, and then assisted by logical thinking, and grasp the "ontological existence", a pure "formal existence".This is a kind of speculative philosophy, and thus entering into humanism can not do its full meaning, because humanism must rely on life's own awareness to open a qualitative intermediary field.That is to say, the concept of "personality" based on Plato's "reason type" can not do the whole meaning of human subject, can not establish the "moral subjectivity" of human being, and can really open up the source of value and ideal.
The above has discussed the development of humanism in western culture. Although under the oppression of "God based" or "material based" western culture, humanism as a "human based" is not the mainstream, it has more or less done its role in nurturing the soul and life.However, as mentioned above, its limitations make it unable to become a form of comprehensive coverage, but the highest principle leading the cultural life forward.So, where is the key point to form the restrictive western humanism?Where is the foundation of humanism to become the highest principle leading cultural life?
Brief history
The ancient Greek philosophers set out from reality, put people first, insight into the universe, and explore life. Their ideas are the origin of western humanism.
Ancient Greece,Ancient Roman CivilizationAfter that, the feudal theology ruled the West for nearly a thousand years, and the personal consciousness was suppressed. People became the lambs of God, and the humanistic thought was almost annihilated.
The thought giants in the Renaissance, with their works, criticized the hypocrisy and corruption of the feudal church, affirmed the value and dignity of human beings, advocated the pursuit of freedom and happiness, liberated people's minds, and the banner of "humanism" was flying high.
"Justification by Faith" in the Religious Reform“predestination ”, deniedthe pontiffThe absolute authority of human beings is the autonomy of human beings to obtain spiritual freedom and salvation of their souls. Humanism has been further promoted.
The enlightenment thinkers held high the banner of rationality, criticized religious superstition, feudal system and all unreasonable phenomena, emphasized human dignity, pursued freedom and equality, and advocated the inviolability of human rights. Humanism reached a new height.
Dialectical evaluation
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Modern humanism beganenlightenment campaignIn the Enlightenment, humanism was regarded as the answer to moral questions without relying on religion.In the humanism of the Enlightenment, the supernatural explanation is generally ignored, and people also call this humanism "secular humanism".
SecularismIt is also divided into many branches, such as atheism, skepticismRationalism, and various schools of theories produced after the Enlightenment.The basic belief of secularism is atheism, so the study of morality and learning, whether in ethics, education, science, etc., is based on atheism.This trend of thought prevailed at the end of the 18th century, when the United States was foundedSouthern EuropeThe Belt, especially France, has brought great impact on contemporary literature, art, drama, education, etc.Among secularists, there are also deists who claim to believe in God. However, in their eyes, God is created and then left behind, regardless of the world, so their theory is the same as that of atheists.Secularism can be said to be in complete opposition to Christianity.Christians believe that the Bible is God's revelation and that there is absolutemoral standardsHuman freedom must be responsible to God and others;Secularists do not believe in God and the Bible is God's inspiration. They advocate "freedom, happiness and freedom".
Humanists in the Renaissance strongly advocated respecting the basic rights of individuals, while humanism in the Enlightenment always held the hope that "people can be improved".Man is the highest ideal in the world, so everything else in nature is just a tool to realize this ideal.
Characteristics of humanism
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First feature
First, theology views man as a part of the order of God, and science views man as a part of the natural order. Neither of them is people-centered. On the contrary, humanism focuses on "man", starting from the experience of "man".It is confirmed that this is the only thing that all people can rely onMontaigneThe only answer to the question "Who am I?".However, this does not preclude religious belief in the order of God, nor does it preclude scientific research on human beings as part of the natural order.But this shows that, like any other belief - including the values we follow, as well as even all our knowledge - it is the thought of "people" and derived from "people's" experience.
Second feature
The second characteristic of humanistic belief is that everyone is valuable to him or herself - we still call it human dignity in Renaissance words - and the root of all other values and human rights is respect for it.This respect is based on the potential ability of people, and only people have this potential ability: the ability to create and communicate (language, art, science, system), observe themselves, speculate, imagine and argue.Once these abilities are released, people can have a certain degree of freedom of choice and will, and can change direction and innovate, thus opening up the possibility of improving their own and human destiny - I emphasize the possibility, not more than this, not certainty, but a kind of capital.
In order to liberate these abilities and enable men and women to develop their potential, two things are necessary.The first is education. The purpose of education is not specific tasks or technical training, but to awaken the understanding of the possible prospects of human life, trigger or cultivate the human consciousness of young men and women.Some people are born with this awareness, and their potential will naturally be brought into play.But most people need to awaken their awareness.Therefore, humanists not only attach importance to the core position of education, but also generally advocate laying the foundation for comprehensive education, with the purpose of comprehensively developing personality and giving full play to individual talents.
The second prerequisite for liberating human capacity is individual freedom.Philosophers in the 18th century used reason as a weapon to dispel restrictions and taboos imposed by secular and religious customs, outdated laws and authoritarian systems, and dispel the church and the wholeRevelational Religions The machine of fear and superstition.They want to replace it with a reformed legal system and a secular country.This legal system is based on equality before the law, freedom of thought and freedom of opinion;This country is governed by the representative system, and there should be as little interference and legislation in individual freedom and entrepreneurship as possible.
To what extent is the difference between the early nineteenth century and the twentieth century? This shows the importance of looking at the humanistic tradition from a historical perspective and seeing it as a continuous debate.If we can expect the tradition of humanism and liberalism to agree at some stage of its developmentlaissez-faireWe can also expect this tradition to oppose this policy at a later stage, and to expand freedom by advocating social reform, limiting economic power, providing basic living needs for people who cannot make a living on their own and other means, as an excuse for state intervention.This divergence of views on the extent to which state intervention should be achieved - and the extent to which it can be achieved without counterproductive effects - remains a feature of the humanistic tradition.This is far from weakness. On the contrary, this ability to adapt to social and environmental changes is an advantage to me compared with the rigid orthodoxy.
Third feature
The third characteristic of the humanistic tradition is that it always attaches great importance to thought. On the one hand, it believes that thought cannot be formed and understood in isolation from their social and historical background, and on the other hand, it cannot be simply summed up as an excuse for personal economic interests or class interests, or instinctive impulses in sexual or other aspects.Max·weberThe concept of the mutual penetration of ideas, environment and interests is the closest to summing up the views of humanism on ideas, that is, they are neither completely independent nor spontaneously derived.
From the 14th centuryPetrarchcry against Scholastic philosophyAt the beginning, humanism showed that it did not trust the philosophical system, whether it was the theological system, the metaphysical system, orMaterialismSystem - the careful consideration of abstract ideas in.It attaches importance to reason, not because of its ability to establish a system, but for the critical and practical application of the problems that reason encounters in concrete life experience - moral, psychological, social, political problems.For the same reason, humanism prefers the historical interpretation method rather than the philosophical analysis method, or, at least, as Max Weber said, it is the combination of the two, connecting the universal life experience with the performance of these experiences in the special historical and cultural background.It does not want to impose its own value and symbolism on others, such as Catholic orCalvinSectarian, IslamicMarxismOn the contrary, it believes that there is more than one way to truth, whether it is ancient Greek or Chinese, Roman, French or Indian civilizations, the way they form should be taken seriously, and efforts should be made to understand them according to their own conditions.Even when we cannot accept them as our own civilization, or when we are forced to defend our own values because of their intolerance, we should do so.
At the beginning of humanism in Italy in the 14th and 15th centuries, it was with such a goal to deepen and restore the ancient world in Greece and Rome.Four centuries later, Goethe repeated this experience, drew inspiration from it, and reshaped his life and art.Ancient GreeceThe vitality of thought, literature and art is far from exhausted, which can be seen from the myth of Oedipus to Freud andStravinskyIt still has charm.We may regret that becauseClassical civilizationIt is no longer familiar or accessible to many educated people.But more importantly, by learning the language, history, art and beliefs of people in other countries, we can put ourselves into the thoughts and feelings of people in other countries, whether they are ancient Greeks, Chinese, Spanish, or American Indians, or into the early stages of our own society,Such efforts should not make it disappear.This art of empathy,DiltheyIt is called verstehen (understanding), which is extremely important for humanistic education, and has great value in breaking the ignorance of other times and cultures except our own.Language and the power of communication through conversation, literature, drama, speeches and songs are the core of the humanistic tradition.Humor is also one of the most characteristic forms of communication, from the Greek bottle and urn painter to Charlie Chaplin. It is the ability of only human beings to laugh at themselves and others, and it is also the ability to see the tragedy of life's predicament - as well as its comedy side.
There is a special kinship between art and humanism, which is not only applicable to literature and drama, but also to music, dance and other non-verbal arts such as painting, sculpture and ceramics, because they have the power to communicate beyond the barriers of different languages.In the seventeenth century, Vico once pointed out that symbols and myths express the beliefs and values of a society, which can be seen from the customs and habits of the universal experience of birth, marriage and death, as well as from the laws and systems of a society concerning property and family.Here is also an extremely rich spring,HumanitiesThe research of anthropology and sociology can provide a way for this, and the humanistic tradition can also draw nutrition from it.In addition, humanism can also be an idea.
One of the oldest topics in the discussion of humanism was already familiar to the ancients.In Renaissance Italy, the discussion resumed again, that is, which is better, active life or contemplative life.In times of adversity, such as living under the dictatorship of the Communist Party of China, there are few opportunities for public activities. Of course, we will think that it is a natural manifestation of the humanistic tradition to seek a refuge and a static point in our private life.This is Montaigne in the sixteenth centuryReligious warThe attitude of the Chinese is the repeated behavior of many dissidents who live under the dictatorship, no matter whether the dictatorship is right-wing orleftOf.However, the opinion of humanists is still biased towards an active life, striving to master the destiny and resist in the face of evil, rather than resigned to fate.
Humanistic religion
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If we can use the concepts of religion and humanism to analyze Chinese thought, it is not difficult to find that,Religion in ChinaThe religion and humanism of Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties are the ideological background of Confucianism.meseems,ConfuciusTheir choice has basically determined the nature of Confucianism.Therefore, to judge whether Confucianism is a religion, or a humanism, or a humanistic religion, we must first explore the traditional religion and humanism in China.
Mention of Chinese traditional religion, people will naturally associate Taoism and Buddhism.However,Mou ZhongjianThe professor found that in addition, in Chinese history, "a big religion has been widely accepted by the whole society as an authentic belief for thousands of years", which isChinese patriarchal clan systemSexual traditional religion or primary religion.Professor Mou pointed out that:"China's patriarchal traditional religion takes the worship of gods and ancestors as its core, the worship of nature such as land, sun, moon, mountains and rivers as its wings, and the worship of other ghosts and gods as its complement to form a relatively stable suburban community system, temple system, and other sacrificial systems, which has become an important part of China's patriarchal hierarchical society and customs, and is the spiritual force to maintain social order and family systemQuantity is the spiritual source to comfort the Chinese people. "In my opinion, the discovery and proposal of Chinese patriarchal traditional religion is an important contribution to the study of the history of Chinese thought.
As early as China entered the era of civilization, that is, the period of the Three Emperors and Five Emperors, the patriarchal traditional religion of China had been formed and became the later religion of Xia, Shang and Zhou DynastiesNational religion。First Emperor of QinAfter the unification of China, although some changes have taken place in the form of this religion, its basic characteristics and the nature of its national religion have not changed.It can be said that before the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, it was the mainstream religion of the Chinese people.
Relatively speaking, the formation of Chinese traditional humanism was much later, when the Yin and Zhou dynasties came.
Wang GuoweiMr. Liu took the lead in proposing that there was a great change in Chinese culture at the time of Yin and Zhou, and later scholars generally believed that it was aReformationExercise.I think it is a religious critical movement, a humanistic movement, and then aReformation Movement。
King YiwenDuke ZhouThe representative cultural elites in the early Zhou Dynasty made a profound and thorough reflection on the traditional religion from the history of Yin's generation of Xia and Zhou's generation of Yin, and finally found that it was not "the destiny of heaven is not arrogant", but "the destiny of heaven is extraordinary", "only the destiny is not normal", or even "the heaven is not credible".As for the abolishment of Xia and Yan, it was all due to the fact that "people who do not respect people's morality will die early",social developmentThe ultimate basis of change is not mysterious destiny, but human virtue.Abandoning the destiny of heaven and paying attention to personnel is obviously the fundamental negation and thorough criticism of traditional religion, which marks the formation of Chinese humanism.
However, at the same time, the cultural elites skillfully incorporated these humanistic achievements into the religious system.Duke Zhou proposed“The emperor has no relatives, but virtue is auxiliary”, advocating "matching the sky with virtue".Here, heaven is still a god of personality, but it can promote good and punish evil according to human virtue.In addition, the Duke of Zhou also formulated a set of sacrificial rites, and strengthened the patriarchal traditional religion with the achievements of humanism.All this means religious reform.
The reason why Zhou Gong and other cultural elites, on the one hand, criticized religion and initiated humanism, and on the other hand, incorporated humanism into religion and carried out religious reform, is probably because the patriarchal traditional religion has always had great influence and enlightenment functions as a national religion, that is, they are out of social, political, belief and other considerations.
SoformationIt is a strange phenomenon that after the beginning of the Zhou Dynasty, the ideological circle, religion and humanism were integrated and formedMainstream ideology；In other words, religion and humanism play different roles.As for this feature, it is said that the Book of Changes written by King Wen of Zhou is the most obvious.fromMawangdui Silk BookAccording to Yao, Confucius had already found that the content of Zhouyi contains three levels, namely, praise, number and virtue.Among them, praise and number belong to religion and virtue belong to humanism.
In my opinion, metaphysics is philosophicallifebloodIn other words, metaphysics can be called philosophy, and the metaphysics of the pre-qin period isZi GongThe so-called "nature and the way of heaven".Therefore, the core of humanism in the Western Zhou Dynasty is a word of "virtue".The word "virtue" is not the later "virtue", but "virtue", which is a metaphysical concept.Therefore, humanism at that time was not metaphysics, but not philosophy.
It is worth noting that from《The Book of Songs》、《Master Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals》According to other documents, during the Western Zhou Dynasty and the Spring and Autumn Period, there was substantial progress in humanism, which was the proposition of the question of nature and the way of heaven, orTheory of human natureAnd the formation of the corresponding heaven of righteousness.The reason why people have "virtue" is because they have "virtue", and "virtue" is given by heaven. This "heaven" is the heaven of justice, which was the highest concept of humanism at that time.The heaven of humanism and the heaven of religion gradually opened the distance between humanism and religion, and the integration of the two gradually evolved into two bodies, and finally they were relatively independent.
althoughThus, due to historical origins and other reasonsideologyThere are still countless links between humanism and religion.Both of them support, complement, influence and penetrate each other, and lead to the existence of each other.In other words, this kind of humanism contains the factors and nature of religion, and this religion also contains the factors and nature of humanism.In this sense, this religion can be called "humanistic religion", and this humanism can also be called "religious humanism".howeverIf we regard this kind of humanism as a religion, and label it "humanistic religion", or regard this kind of religion as a humanism, and label it "religious humanism", it is not appropriate, because religious factors to humanism, and humanistic factors to religion, are in a rather secondary position, not the mainstream, so we cannot name it qualitatively.
The two traditions of religion and humanism mentioned above are the historical background of Confucianism.So, does Confucianism belong to the tradition of religion or the tradition of humanism?The emergence of Confucianism certainly marks a new stage of the development of humanism in the pre-qin period, which has been clearly seen from Confucius' choices of the three levels of the content of the Book of Changes.He said, "The Book of Changes is my wish for divination, and I believe in virtue and righteousness.... I only seek virtue, and I have come from the same path as Shi Wu." If we further observe the development history of Confucianism, it is not difficult to find that Confucianism has undoubtedly been the mainstream of China's humanistic trend for more than 2000 years.
In short, Confucianism is humanism, not religion.It has religious factors, or religious nature, so it can be called religious humanism, but not humanistic religion.It is not only a theory of philosophy, ethics, society, politics and other aspects, but also a theory of life and a set of belief system, so it can replace religion in daily life.
Italian poets。He was born in Arezzo on July 20, 1304 and died in Alqua on July 19, 1374.Father isFlorenceA distinguished family and lawyer.He was exiled to France with his father when he was young, and later studied law.After his father died, he devoted himself to literary activities and traveled around Europe.He also served as a priest. He had the opportunity to go to church and court, observe life and pursue knowledge. He was the first to propose "human studies" against "theology". He was the first humanist in the Western Renaissance and was known as the "father of humanism".
