Chen Jihong: The Turn of "Four People" Theory and the Subject Construction of Social Responsibility

Author: Chen Jihong, director of the key project of the National Social Science Fund "Research on Chinese Traditional Virtue", professor of the College of Marxism and Research Center for Chinese Traditional Culture of Nanjing University

The hierarchical structure of the "four people" of ancient scholars, agriculture, industry and commerce endows scholars with social advantages over ordinary people. The Confucian theory of "four people" has proved the rationality of this phenomenon from the concept, and attributed its basis to the moral superiority of scholars, thus the unitary structure of social responsibility subject can be constructed. With the two major turns of the traditional "four people" theory, the subject structure of social responsibility has gradually shifted from the single nature of difference to the multidimensional nature of equality.

Traditional "Four People" Theory: The Confirmation of the Single Subject Structure of Social Responsibility

In the early days of Confucianism, they began to think about the internal relationship between the identity level of the "four people" and social responsibility. From Confucius' criticism of Fan Chi's request for "learning from crops" and "learning as a nursery", to Mencius' comparison of scholars' "ambition to eat" with farmers and craftsmen, and to Xunzi's exposition of the professional connotation of agriculture, Jia, Baigong, and scholar bureaucrats, the early Confucian theory of "four people" was all consistent with the recognition of the value proposition of "scholars' ambition in Taoism". In this sense, the possession of "Tao" ("virtue") is interpreted as the identity trait of scholars, and becomes the internal basis for their ranking first among the "four people". Scholars are thus regarded as the only subject to bear moral responsibility - especially the social responsibility of the country under heaven. The connotation of their responsibility is as Mencius said, "Be happy with the world and worry about the world". As for its internal root, it was attributed to the differentiation of occupation by Confucianism. In other words, scholars were able to understand and acquire "Tao" because of their occupation - "learning", while agriculture, industry and commerce were excluded from "learning" because of their occupation restrictions, and naturally could not be connected with "Tao". As a result, the early Confucianism constructed a single structure of social responsibility subject based on identity hierarchy, and received a continuous response in the history of thought.

"Four people working in different industries and sharing the same path": the looseness of the single subject structure of social responsibility

In the Ming Dynasty, the identity of scholars began to break through the restrictions of "learning" and "duty", and the theory of "four people" appeared the first turn, which was marked by Wang Yangming's saying that "four people are different from each other and share the same path". The proposition of this concept means that scholars, farmers, workers and businessmen have obtained full equality in the face of "Tao". This seems to deconstruct the unitary structure of the subject of social responsibility. It is worth noting that "Tao" of "Tongdao" means "the way of living", that is, "governing life". This is a major breakthrough for Wang Yangming in the content of "learning". In this regard, there is no doubt that the "four people" are equal. However, in the Collection of Biographies, he also pointed out that "if it is the first thing to manage life and enable scholars to make profits, it must be done. And what is the first thing in the world? Who is eager to give lectures?" Taking "giving lectures" as the first thing, in fact, it confirms the dominant position of "Tao" in the level of "learning" content, and the subject of "learning" is still limited to scholars (scholars). This kind of meaning was made clear in the Book of Meng, the Master of the Book of Wei Dynasty. Wang Yangming regarded "fools" as "those who hide themselves from ignorance and refuse to do so", which meant that ordinary people excluded "learning" from their free will, and only scholars could master "Tao" through "learning". In this regard, the "four people" equality is not tenable.

Due to the inability to completely break through the hierarchy of occupations, the "four people working in different industries and sharing the same path" still does not break out of the single structure of social responsibility subject, but it began to loosen. There was another voice in the Ming Dynasty. According to the Ming Confucianism Case · Taizhou Learning Case, Luo Rufang took filial piety and brotherly kindness as an example, and believed that there was "no difference" between the gentry officials and the common people. This is a further development of Wang Yangming's view, but it does not occupy the mainstream position, nor does it require ordinary people and scholars to shoulder social responsibilities equally. At the turn of the Ming and Qing dynasties, Gu Yanwu put forward an important point in the Rizhilu: "Knowing how to protect the world and then know how to protect the country... Those who protect the world are cheap and have no responsibility!" This gave ordinary people the responsibility to "protect the country", thus fundamentally loosening the single structure of social responsibility subjects, However, it still does not completely break through the restriction of identity class on the subject of responsibility.

Four People Are All Scholars: The Formation of Multidimensional Subject Structure of Social Responsibility

The second turn of the "Four People Theory" was the emergence of the concept of "Four People Are Scholars" in the late Qing Dynasty. The Qing Dynasty continued a social phenomenon starting from the Ming and Qing dynasties: businessmen and farmers gradually differentiated from professional scholars. Wei Yuan objectively described this in his "South Village Coupled Farming Records": "There are scholars, farmers, and businessmen." He also said: "How can scholars exist? They are inherent in them and not glued to the trace, and can not be generalized." It means that the key to judge the identity of scholars lies in their inner "ambition", This made the scholar identity get rid of the restrictions of occupation and become the "people's talent" in all walks of life. However, Wei Yuan's thought did not break through the traditional concept, but only opened the prelude to the "four people are all scholars". In the late Qing Dynasty, with the invasion of foreign powers and the spread of western learning, the traditional "four people" structure gradually disintegrated, and the Confucian value system marked by "Tao" was questioned and challenged unprecedentedly. The concept of "four people are all scholars" was introduced, which realized a real breakthrough in the traditional "four people" theory.

Among the related discussions, Liang Qichao's comments in General Reform are the most typical. By deconstructing the identity of scholars, he constructed a multidimensional structure of social responsibility subject based on identity equality. First of all, he made the scholar identity completely break through the restriction of "learning" and "duty" in the concept. He said, "All the people of a country belong to the fifth class: scholars, farmers, workers, merchants, and soldiers. Scholars are called students, and wives know it. However, farmers have farmers, workers have workers, merchants have businessmen, and soldiers have soldiers." The so-called "scholars are students" refers to the symbolic representation of knowledge and skills owners, and widely refers to the outstanding people in various occupational groups, It is not a professional "learner of Taoism". Liang Qichao further pointed out that "agriculture without talents", "industry without talents", "business without talents" and "military without talents" have led to a huge gap in economy and military between China and Europe and the United States, which is one of the important sources of poverty in China. The implication is that if the education system is reformed so that farmers, workers, businessmen and soldiers can receive formal school education like scholars, the national quality and economic and military strength can be maximized. He further broke the gender restrictions and believed that women could also become part of the intellectuals through "learning". The identity characteristics of traditional scholars were thus deconstructed externally. Liang Qichao also realized the internal deconstruction of the scholar identity through the reconstruction of the content of "learning". He believed that the scholars should go beyond the generation of "gathering thousands of posts including textual research", take the practical knowledge pointed out by "anecdotes of past dynasties" and "the situation of all countries" as the main content of "learning", and then take "implementing new policies and resisting foreign aggression" as the ultimate value pursuit. This makes "learning" completely break through the framework of "Tao" of Confucianism, and all professional groups can connect with "Tao" because of "learning".

In the above sense, Liang Qichao endowed the "four people" with equal social status, completely denying the traditional concept of occupational hierarchy. He further cancelled the moral stratification caused by the status hierarchy, and constructed a multi-dimensional structure of social responsibility subject oriented by equality. In "He bystander article", he put forward the concept of "national": "national affairs, each national has its own responsibility. The more virtuous and intelligent, the greater its responsibility, that is, stupid is just a little less responsibility, can not be called nothing." It means that, as equal "national", different occupational groups should bear social responsibility. The difference between wisdom and ignorance among people cannot be the reason for giving up social responsibility, but can only be the basis for determining the size of responsibility. As a result, the unitary structure of the subject of social responsibility has been thoroughly deconstructed. However, Liang Qichao did not completely deny the tradition of "scholars aspire to Taoism", but converted it into the division of responsibility levels, believing that intellectuals should bear greater social responsibility. In "Xinmin Shuo", he took "the society among the existing thoughts" (intellectuals) as the main body to improve the national capacity, thus limiting the main body of social responsibility to intellectuals as "a minority". Therefore, the completely equal subject of social responsibility has not been completely constructed.

During the period of the New Culture Movement, a concept similar to "all four people work" appeared. This is a new concept construction. For example, Li Dazhao said in "The Victory of the Common People": "If we want to be a common people in the world, we should be a worker in the world." Manual workers and mental workers are equally regarded as a part of the labor force. The main body of social responsibility has completely broken through occupational differences and achieved equality, and the so-called division of responsibilities no longer exists. This thought has been carried forward for the Communist Party of China, and through the practice of the new democratic revolution, the people's political power has been established, and the people have equally become the subject of social responsibility. The history has turned a new page.