A Study On Kang Youwei's Humanism Thought

The value of humanism in modem China was established gradually on reformation of "Debate on the relation between Heaven and Man". As "the Mandate of Heaven" declined, the value of Man and Man's principal part were raised which showed from animadverting on historic view of "the Mandate of Heaven" and deterministic morality. To establish the value of humanism in modern China must face two backgrounds, one was the tribulation of nationality, continuous wars and the masses having no means to live; and at the same time ,the society had value crises as the fatality came down. It became a question that how Man could exist since they broke away from the feudalism morality bondaging. It was the tribulation of nationality and crisis of era that gestated Kang Youwei's humanism thought. Kang Youwei turned over to think being of Man from the aspect of philosophy and expected the future for human beings. As the considering of the existence of Man, Kant had brought forward the questions as follow, "What can I know? What should I do? What can I expect? What is human being?" Different from Kant, as one of the Confucianists, Kang Youwei's humanism based the ground of the "debate on Heaven and Man", he thought firstly about the question of what Man was, then what the way of Man was ,how the way of Man would come true, what future could Man expect. Here, Man didn't refer to individual but colony. Through these questions, from metaphysical and ideal world to idiographic reality ,from China to world, Kang Youwei constructed his Da Tong world, where the true way of Man could come true in the end. Kang Youwei's humanism thought focused on how Man could live a really happy life.As far as the truss of Kang Youwei's humanism thought, firstly, from the metaphysical aspect ,Kang defined what was Man from the foundation of the way of Heaven.,both of the Man and other things came from "Yuan", the relationship between "Yuan" and Man were whole and parts. As concrete things, Man and animals had congenital "Ren". So the morality was the essential attribute of Man. But Man were different from animals since they had wisdom and could extend "Ren" in self-conscious. It enlarged Man's intellectual existence. From the fountain of human nature, Man firstly are natural things, so Kang Youwei affirmed the rationality of Man's desire and other sensibility. As Kang Youwei thought, the natural...