Educational Philosophy and Educational Practice in Confucianism

Filosofia educacional e prática educacional no Confucionismo

Abstract:

Confucian educational thought is a complete educational theoretical system based on Confucius’ ethical thought, which is increasingly enriched and perfected in the later Confucian thinkers’ continuous inheritance and development. Confucian educational thought is different from Western educational theory. It takes moral education as the core, and ethics as the feature, with strong Chinese humanistic color. In modern education, the excellent educational thought of Confucianism is still talked about by people. From the perspective of philosophical analysis, this paper makes an in-depth study of the main purpose, content and method of Confucian educational thought, probes into the philosophical idea behind Confucian educational thought and summarizes its important enlightenment to contemporary education.

Keywords:
Education; Confucius; Confucianism; Benevolence; Educational philosophy

Resumo:

O pensamento educacional confucionista é um sistema teórico educacional completo, baseado no pensamento ético de Confúcio, cada vez mais enriquecido e aperfeiçoado na herança e desenvolvimento contínuo dos pensadores confucionistas posteriores. O pensamento educacional confucionista é diferente da teoria educacional ocidental. Toma a educação moral como núcleo e a ética como característica, com forte teor da humanística chinesa. Na educação moderna, o pensamento educacional do confucionismo ainda é comentado pelas pessoas. Do ponto de vista da análise filosófica, este artigo faz um estudo do principal propósito, conteúdo e método do pensamento educacional confucionista. Investiga a ideia filosófica por trás do pensamento educacional confucionista e resume seu importante esclarecimento para a educação contemporânea.

Palavras-chave:
Educação; Confúcio; Confucionismo; Benevolência; Filosofia educac

Introduction

Confucian culture plays a very important role in traditional Chinese culture. Confucian educational thought also occupies a very important position in the history of Chinese education, which has been the mainstream of the Chinese feudal society’s education for more than two thousand years. Since modern times, Confucianism has been questioned and denied by some people. In the “May Fourth Movement”, in 1919, the new youth supported “Down with Confucius”, thinking that Confucianism is feudal and backward dregs. Then, is Confucianism a feudal and backward thought? A famous contemporary philosopher, put forward in the “History of Chinese Confucianism: Pre-Qin Volume” says: “Confucianism has consciously inherited the culture of Xia, Shang and Zhou three dynasties since Confucius. Historically, it has been the root of the development and growth of the Chinese nation, and we cannot cut off this root” (Tang, 2011, p. 37). Confucianism, as the Chinese nation’s traditional culture, is the root of the Chinese nation’s development and growth. We should absorb and learn from its essence. In today’s endless educational problems, re-studying and reviewing Confucian educational thought is obviously helpful for us to reflect on the current educational management system, so as to improve our educational methods and systems.

1 External characteristics of Confucian educational thought

Confucian educational thought has a far-reaching influence. Although scholars in successive dynasties have inherited and developed it to some extent, on the whole, Confucian educational thought mainly has the following three characteristics: people-oriented, respect for moral education and emphasis on practice.

The first is “putting people first”. The orientation of Confucius’ educational thought is people, and the foothold is also people. That is to say, all doctrines and propositions are for the people’s development as the goal, hoping to cultivate a gentleman with both ability and political integrity. Mencius inherited and developed Confucius’ theory, and believed that a gentleman should have a “real man’s” ideal personality, so that “One should never be corrupted by wealth, changed by poverty and bent by force” (Yang, 2021, p. 67). Confucian scholars, in the Song and Ming Dynasties, also took sanctification as their ideal realm and value standard. Therefore, no matter the internal disputes of the Confucian schools, all the ideas are based on human ontology, and the views of human nature that they advocate exactly illustrate this point. Although some Confucian scholars maintain that human beings are born good, some argue that human beings are born evil, and there is no good or evil. The ultimate goal is to make people become good and move forward toward the gentlemen’s and saints’ goal (Wei, 2021, p. 19-32).

The second is to attach importance to moral education. The ideological education, mentioned by Confucianism, is actually moral education. Confucianism emphasizes “[…] self-cultivation, a well-managed family, and the ability to administer the state and to bring peace to the nation” (Yu, 2013, p. 118-126), with “self-cultivation” as the premise. In other words, the subsequent development depends on people’s own cultivation. How to “cultivate oneself” can only be perfected through long-term moral education, so as to achieve the ideal state of unifying the family, governing the country and leveling the world. It is not difficult to find that moral education has been in the core position since Confucius. Confucius has three aspects of the gentleman’s cultivation requirements, namely, “[…] the benevolent is not worried, the wise is not confused, the brave is not afraid” (Tang, 2011, p. 46), among which the most important is the gentleman’s moral requirements. In addition, Confucius also placed special emphasis on moral education in such aspects, as “[…] filial piety, love and respect one’s elder brother, loyalty, faithfulness, propriety, and righteousness” (Chang, 2021, p. 33-40). Mencius inherited Confucius’ thought of benevolence and further developed it into the theory of benevolent government, with special emphasis on benevolence and righteousness, believing that “[…] loving parents is benevolence; respecting elders is righteousness” (Tang, 2011, p. 49). Those who are sons must “[…] serve their fathers and brothers at home, and respect their elders and superiors outside” (Tang, 2011, p. 49). Those who are kings must “[…] seriously set up school education, and repeatedly explain to the people the principles of respecting parents and loving brothers” (Tang, 2011, p. 49). In this way, everyone can love their parents, respect their elders, and the country and society are harmonious and stable.

Xunzi paid special attention to the study of ancient classics, emphasizing the educational function of rituals and laws on people. Zhu Xi also advocated moral education very much. He put forward the Theory of Moral Development. According to the individual differences, such as the educated people’s age characteristics and physical and mental development, the school was divided into two levels: “university” (after 15 years old) and “primary school” (eight to 15 years old).

In addition, Confucianism also attaches great importance to “practice”. In the view of Confucianism, only when individuals devote themselves to practice, they can truly acquire moral knowledge, cultivate moral emotions, form moral concepts and guide moral behavior. Therefore, Confucianism especially advocates the educational method of practicing oneself in moral education. Confucius advocated the combination of learning, thinking and action (Liu, 2023, p. 83). To learn, you must also know how to think, and the most important thing is to put it into action. “Learning” is only the beginning, and it ultimately serves “action”. That is to say, in Confucius’ view, “learning” is the teaching method, and “action” is the purpose of teaching. At the same time, he also asked the students to be consistent with their words and actions. “In the beginning, when dealing with people, I believed his behavior after listening to what he said; now, when dealing with people, I listened to what he said and observed his actions” (Chen, 2014, p. 5-12). To know a person, one must not only listen to what they say, but also observe their behavior. Mencius also attached great importance to “action”. Mencius once said in such a passage: “When Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on a great man, it always first frustrates his spirit and will, exhausts his muscles and bones, exposes him to starvation and poverty, harasses him by troubles and setbacks so as to stimulate his spirit, toughen his nature and enhance his abilities” (Jin, 2012, p. 114).

Mencius believes that people can only be tempered in practice. The harsher the environment, the greater the potential that people can be stimulated. Those great people, who were called saints by Mencius, are broken in the harsh environment and become a generation of stories. Xunzi advocated that, in “[…] transforming people’s evil nature and raising man-made goodness”, “man-made” means practice. Xunzi advocated that human nature is inherently “evil”, and the way to change this “evil” lies in human effort. “Although the distance is close, you can’t reach it if you don’t get up; although things are small, you can’t succeed if you don’t work hard” (Xun, 2015, p. 32). This is especially true for the development of ideal personality. Only by “practicing” what you have learned, you can develop a gentleman’s important magic weapon a saint personality. Xunzi Ruxiao records: “Not hearing is not as good as hearing it, hearing it is not as good as seeing it, seeing it is not as good as knowing it, knowing it is not as good as doing it. Only when you practice can you really stop learning” (Xun, 2015, p. 44). In his view, all people’s ideological activities and learning actions are only valuable if they are implemented in practice. “Learning” can certainly “know it”, but no matter how much you know without doing it, it is meaningless, and you will be trapped by it. Therefore, what you have learned must be put into practice.

2 The philosophical core of Confucian educational thought

2.1 Taking benevolence as the core

“Benevolence” is the core content of Confucius’ educational thought. In The Analects of Confucius, “benevolence” appears 109 times, which shows that Confucius attaches great importance to it. Confucius’ “benevolence” is mainly reflected in three aspects: as the highest moral principle, moral standard and moral awareness (Xu, 2021, p. 104-114, 129). The unity of these three aspects also constitutes the main content of Confucius’ educational thought, that is, with “benevolence” as the core, “benevolence” and “rituals” are combined with each other. Before Confucius, the word “benevolence” had already appeared in many classics. For example, “The hunter is handsome and benevolent” in The Book of Songs, which combines “benevolence” and handsome, and embodies the moral beauty of “benevolence” (Xu, 2022, p. 185-187). “I am supple and skillful, versatile, and able to serve ghosts and gods” (Jiang, 2008, p. 69), in “Shangshu”, regards “benevolence” as a talent, and embodies the rational function of “benevolence”. In “Guoyu”, Zhou Mugong said that “love can be benevolent”, and “benevolence” is regarded as a kind of emotion, highlighting the perceptual role of “benevolence” (Han, 2016, p. 31). Therefore, “benevolence” has different meanings at different times and among different people. Since then, Confucius has developed “benevolence” and formed a moral education thought that combines “benevolence” and “rituals” with “benevolence”, as the inner core, and “rituals”, as the external form of expression.

It should be pointed out that, when Confucius founded Confucianism, he analyzed the relationship between rituals and benevolence. From the time when benevolence and rituals came into being, the appearance of rituals preceded benevolence. Therefore, when Confucius founded the study of benevolence, he needed to learn from the study of rituals. Confucius created the study of benevolence not to replace rituals, but to regard benevolence as a supplement to rituals and to consolidate the social role of rituals. “Yan Yuan asked about benevolence. Confucius said, ‘Restraining oneself and returning to the rituals is benevolence. Once a day of self-denial and rituals is restored, the world will return to benevolence. Is it up to others to be benevolent?’” (Xie, 2019, p. 5-9, 17). Confucius believed that benevolence can only be achieved by starting from oneself, acting in accordance with the standards and requirements of rituals, and controlling one’s own desires. It can be seen from this that benevolence and non-benevolence are judged by whether they follow rituals. Confucius believed that the relationship between benevolence and rituals should be as follows: first, benevolence should be restrained through rituals, that is, to love others according to the requirements of rituals. Second, benevolence should be the essence of rituals and the theoretical support of rituals. From “rituals” to “benevolence” is an important leap in ancient China’s history of Confucian moral education and moral education. The emergence of “benevolence” gradually begins to establish the people’s subject consciousness in the process of receiving education and cultivating virtue. German sinologist, Luo Zhehai, used psychologist Lawrence Kohlberg’s stages of moral development to analyze this leap, and believed that “rituals” belongs to the “custom level”, while “benevolence” belongs to the “post-custom level”, whose development level is higher than “rituals”. On the “post-custom level”, people’s behavioral orientation is not based on external norms, but internal “universal ethical principles” (Wang, 2018, p. 136-141).

2.2 Theory of human nature

The theory of human nature is the foundation of the Confucian ideological system and an important content of the Confucian educational theory. For a long time, research on human nature has been endless in different fields. Whether people are born good or evil has not been able to give an accurate answer so far. And we also know that the theory of human nature, put forward by Confucius, opened the door for Chinese philosophy to explore the human nature’s issue. Later generations inherited and developed their own set of human nature theories on Confucius’ basis. Strictly speaking, although Confucius’ theory of human nature is not a mature and complete set of theories, his contribution cannot be underestimated. Mencius’ theory of good nature, Xunzi’s theory of human nature’s original evil, Yang Xiong’s theory of nature being both good and evil, Zhuangzi’s theory of nature being simple, Dong Zhongshu’s theory of the human nature’s three levels, etc. are all views of human nature which are put forward on the basis of inheriting and developing Confucius’ theory of human nature (Ding, 2017, p. 35-44, 52).

Mencius defined human nature, and clearly pointed out that “human nature is inherently good”, and based on this, he constructed a complete ideological system of moral education. This clarification not only clarified the roots of morality, such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom, but also became the basis for its educational content and methods. First of all, Mencius pointed out that “human nature” is the essential attribute that distinguishes human beings from animals. The human beings’ unique “four hearts”, namely, the heart of compassion, the sense of shame, the sense of humiliation, and the sense of right and wrong are the essential differences between humans and animals and are also the humans’ unique characteristics. Compassion is the beginning of “benevolence”, the sense of shame, good and evil are the expression of righteousness, knowing how to give way is the beginning of observing rituals and distinguishing right from wrong is the embodiment of wisdom. Without these “four senses”, man would be no man. Secondly, Mencius believes that a person’s “four senses” are inherent in a person, rather than imposed on them by external forces. “‘Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom’ are not something that affects me from the outside, but something inherent in me” (Kong, 2009, p. 97). Finally, Mencius defined human nature as “goodness”. This kind of “goodness” refers to the good factors in human nature. In the process of personal moral cultivation, this “goodness” should be expanded to overcome the people’s bad habits themselves, so as to improve themselves. It should be pointed out that, although Mencius advocated that human nature is inherently good, he did not believe that human qualities are necessarily good. In addition to the goodness of the “four hearts”, people also have the nature of material desires, which will affect people’s good nature. “The mouth is fond of delicious food, the eyes are fond of beauty, the ears are fond of pleasant sounds, the nose is fond of fragrance, and the limbs are fond of comfort. This is their nature” (Ding, 2001, p. 28-37). The human beings’ animal nature makes human beings not strong enough in the face of a materialistic world, and their human nature will also be challenged. Therefore, we must strengthen our own moral cultivation and expand our inner goodness. Only in this way, can we resist the temptation of external material desires and the influence of unfavorable environments.

Contrary to Mencius’s view that human nature is inherently good, Xunzi advocates that human nature is inherently evil. He believes that people are born with a love of interests, such as fighting for power, jealousy and hatred, and love of enjoyment. If this nature is not controlled and people follow their own nature to act, then society will become uneasy. Therefore, Xunzi believes that people’s all good behaviors are transformed, and human nature is inherently evil. This is the general interpretation and view of the theory of evil nature. In the study of Xunzi’s moral education thought, some scholars also believe that his moral education theory is based on the theory of evil nature (Fang, 2016, p. 41-43). Xunzi mentioned many times, in the “Theory of Evil Nature Chapter”, that the saints formulate rituals to teach, regulate and restrain people. For example, “[…] the ancient kings tamed and educated people’s emotions because of people’s evil natures... and guided people’s emotions”. “So the saints educate human nature and make human effort. When human effort arises, rituals and righteousness will appear, and when there are rituals and righteousness, laws and regulations will be established”. Xunzi also has related discussions about the role of the teacher’s teaching, such as “There must be a teacher’s legal education and rituals, and then there will be the virtue of humility, which is in line with the order of literature and science, and finally, it is governed by stability” (Xun, 2015, p.113). Therefore, the teacher’s teaching plays an important role in changing people’s nature. On the whole, only the acquired teacher’s teaching, the norms of rituals and the constraints of the legal system can truly change human nature because what human nature pursues is to satisfy one’s own desires.

3 Confucian educational philosophy and method

3.1 Making no social distinctions in teaching

In The Analects of Confucius, “Making no social distinctions in teaching” is a separate chapter, and there is no context to refer to in order to help understand the meaning of this sentence. Because of this, it took a lot of effort for later generations to understand it. According to statistics, since the Eastern Han Dynasty to the present, there have been as many as 17 different interpretations of “[…] making no social distinctions in teaching” (Zhang, 2019, p. 14-22, 123). It is generally accepted, by the field of educational history, that everyone can go to school and receive education regardless of high or low, rich or poor, or racial differences. Confucius’s disciples numbered as many as three thousand, and they came from different social classes and backgrounds, including commoners, nobles, merchants and even thieves. Such a diverse group of students is a vivid embodiment of Confucius’ educational theory of “no distinction in education”. Teaching should be given to all people who have, without discrimination toward rank, social status, age and race. In general, Confucius’ theory of “no distinction in education” not only reflects his profound understanding and unique perspective on education, but also provides strong theoretical support for understanding the universality and equality of education. This concept has important guiding significance for us to promote educational fairness and realize the popularization and equality of education at present.

3.2 Teaching students in accordance with their aptitude

The main ideas of Confucius’s education are “making no social distinctions in teaching” and “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude”. The tendency of “making no social distinctions in teaching” is the teaching attitude, and “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude” is the specific education method advocated by Confucius.

Confucius’ “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude” is reflected in different education for different disciples’ situations and personalities, mainly according to two aspects of the object of education. One is its personality characteristics. There is a story, in The Analects of Confucius in which Zi Lu asked Confucius, “Should I immediately do what I have to do when I hear it?” Confucius replied, “How can you do it at once when your father and brothers are present?” Ran You asked Confucius the same question, and Confucius replied, “When you hear it, you can do it right away”. Gong Xihua asked Confucius, “Why did Zi Lu and Ran You ask the same question, but your answer is completely different?” Confucius answered Gong Xihua, “Ran You always withdraws, so I will encourage him; whil Zi Lu has a bold character, so I must restrain him” (Hong, 2011, p. 127-129). Confucius treated two different students in completely different ways, so personality characteristics are one of the important bases for Confucius to “teaching students in accordance with their aptitude”. And the other one is the intellectual level of the teaching object. Confucius believed that “For those who are above the average in wisdom, you can tell them advanced knowledge; if they are below the average, don’t tell them advanced knowledge”. Here, Confucius is not looking down on people with low intellectual ability, but protecting them. He believes that people, with low intellectual ability, sometimes cannot understand what is taught, which may further lead to bias or misinterpretation of knowledge, thus losing the motivation to learn, especially in the study of moral knowledge. If there is a deviation in the understanding of moral knowledge, then it will not be conducive to people’s growth.

In contemporary education, teaching students, in accordance with their aptitude, is also regarded as a requirement for high-quality education. The “China Education Modernization 2035” document, issued by the State Council of China, also emphasized that more attention should be paid to teaching students, in accordance with their aptitude, because it embodies the desire for “high fairness” and high quality of education (Luo, 2023, p. 40). Currently, the commonly used method of teaching students, in accordance with their aptitude, is stratified teaching, which is generally conducted in units of subjects, also known as “subject stratification”, that is, students are divided into several different levels to obtain differentiated instruction, according to their academic performance or learning ability in a certain subject.

3.3 Environmental breeding

Man is the product of the environment, and the environment is the key to personal growth. Confucian educational thought has always paid attention to the impact of environmental factors on human growth. Confucius believed that people will become what kind of people they live in, and people, who live with humane people, will be positively affected and become humane people. “There are three kinds of beneficial friends: fair and just friends, responsible friends, and well-informed friends, which can help us”. Choosing a place and choosing friends are the concentrated performance of attention to the environment. Mencius believes that the living environment will affect a person’s temperament, words, thoughts and behaviors. Mencius Jinxin said: “Status and environment can change a person’s temperament, self-cultivation can change a person’s quality, and the impact on people is enormous”. The influence of the environment is subtle and silent. A good environment will make people generate positive energy and maintain high spirits, while a bad environment will make people gradually develop in a bad direction. Xunzi also supported a similar view, in the “Quanxue Chapter”, which says, “Peng grass grows in the hemp field, and can stand upright without support; When white sand is mixed with black soil, it becomes as black as soil” (Lu, 2021, p. 63-69). Xunzi used “Peng grass” and “white sand” as metaphors to show the influence of objective environment on human growth.

Even today, the educational environment is still a factor that the education community attaches great importance to. In contemporary society, the educational environment presents two different fields: macro- and micro- environment. The macro-environment consists of four kinds: economic environment, political environment, cultural environment and mass communication environment. Micro-environment includes three aspects: family, school and society. Various changes, in the environment, will have a corresponding positive or negative impact on education. Take the mass communication environment as an example: On the positive side, mass media, with its advantages, such as fast communication speed, broadens the way of education communication. On the negative side, the increasing popularity of mass media has weakened the educators’ leading role to a certain extent, resulting in over-reliance on mass media by educatees. In addition, the content of new media communication is complicated and chaotic, which is likely to have adverse effects on the educatees who lack discernment ability.

3.4 Model Demonstration

Model Demonstration is a typical educational method commonly used in Confucianism, which embodies the principle that people “[…] naturally and unconsciously follow the lifestyle of their admirers, so that the role of example, especially in virtue and rituals, is often more effective than advice and instruction” (Yu, 2018, p. 35-39, 57). Confucian education pays attention to the teacher’s own example and positive and negative exemplary educational roles. Chun Qiu Wei Yuan Ming Bao wrote: “People at the top do the demonstration, and people at the bottom do the imitation” (Liu, 2000, p. 201). This sentence describes the superior’s role model. Here, the model has two meanings. One is the parents’ own example. The second is to educate children with the ancient saints’ and sages’ deeds. This is consistent with the emphasis of Confucianism on correcting oneself and others. Confucianism believes that only teachers can better implement education by setting an example and demonstrating their own conduct, and teachers themselves must first discipline themselves and correct their own conduct in order to model others and achieve the purpose of education.

In addition, the Model Demonstration method also advocates that we learn from past educational historical experience, both positive and negative, and learn educational wisdom from the ancients’ typical teaching. It should be pointed out that, usually, we understand the educational method of Model Demonstration from a positive perspective. In fact, negative models are also one educational method advocated by Confucianism, as the so-called “[…] thinking of the same when seeing the good, and introspecting when seeing the bad” (Liu, 2000, p.52). In addition to using positive guidance, education should also use the role of negative models to guide the educated to realize the adverse consequences caused by negative models.

4 Defects of Confucian educational thought

In China’s thousands of years of educational development, Confucianism can be regarded as a pearl, which has a great influence on the development of contemporary education. In the 21st century, with the rapid development of economic globalization and world integration, some negative factors, in Confucian educational thought, are becoming more and more prominent and obvious.

First of all, Confucian educational thought has overemphasized on theory. During the long period of feudal rule, Confucianism has been respected, as an orthodox thought, by successive dynasties. The imperial examination system, which began in the Sui Dynasty, lasted for 1,300 years. The content of the examination is all Confucian classics, and it has always inherited the Chinese tradition of “examination-oriented education”. Under the advocacy of the official ideology, people regard imperial examinations as the right way, and handicrafts as strange and obscene skills. They only pay attention to book knowledge, such as Four Books and Five Classics, forming empty concepts of “only books” and “not reality”. In modern society, influenced by traditional Confucian ideas, people tend to aim at university indiscriminately and are rarely willing to learn professional knowledge and skills. Under the influence of this deformed educational background and environment, today’s students are more and more arrogant, are concerned about face-saving and are unwilling to do things in a down-to-earth manner. They only talk empty talk without hands-on experience and practical ability. This kind of thinking seriously ignores the individuals’ value in professional activities, distorts people’s value orientation, and has a seriously restrictive effect on the development of science, technology and productivity.

In addition, the “golden mean” thought of Confucianism is very unfavorable to educational innovation. The “golden mean” represents a kind of proposition of Confucianism. Adopting an impartial, harmonious and compromise attitude, in dealing with others, is the way of the mean. In The Analects of Confucius, Confucius regards the “golden mean” as the highest moral standard and the highest wisdom for him to solve all problems. People are used to thinking about problems with the “golden mean”. Therefore, they do things unbiased, unclear, not backward and more for the “eclecticism”. The “golden mean” of Confucianism has a kind of proper staleness, but it lacks a kind of courage to move forward and fight bravely, which is harmful in the era of the pursuit of innovation and progress.

CONCLUSION

Confucian educational thought is the mainstream of traditional Chinese educational thought. Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi and others are outstanding thinkers and educators in our country. Although some of their educational ideas seem unreasonable now, it cannot be denied that these ideas have played an important role in the historical stage and are also the source of China’s educational modernization. However, the source is not equal to running water. How the source can become the running water of China’s educational modernization still needs to be based on a deep understanding of traditional Chinese educational thoughts. We should take its essence and discard its dross, and inherit and absorb its favorable factors from a dialectical perspective. This is the scholars’ reasonable attitude today when facing Confucian educational thought.

Acknowledgment

Shanghai University of Finance and Economy Zhejiang College Research Project: 2019YJYB04 A Study on Cultural Transplantation Strategies in the English Translation of Wu Opera.

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Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  21 June 2024
• Date of issue
  2024

History

• Received
  08 Aug 2023
• Accepted
  02 Jan 2024
• Published
  30 May 2024