Zhu Xi's Political Philosophy, Research,

The political philosophy is the judgment made by the thinkers about what we ought to do regarding the social politics life. In political philosophy scope, people's discussion is mainly related to social life about "ought to be", but not "to be", so, the judgment which people make in the political philosophy scope is to essentially the value judgment, but not the fact judgment. Because value judgments are the core of political philosophy, the basic way to study is logical rather than empirical. Just as Kant once said: "If there is a philosophical subject, it must be a philosophical system made up of pure rational conceptions and the system is independent of any intuitive conditions. In other word, it is metaphysical." In this sense, the development of Chinese traditional political philosophy is the improvement of traditional Chinese metaphysics. This paper is to study how Zhu Xi built a logical premise for his political philosophy, and thereby he understood the universal moral principle about the society and politics in a more abstract way, and on the base, how he explained some questions of political philosophy, such as moral principle, political structure, political principle and political ideal, etc.Almost all the thinkers in history and now have the same tendency, which is to regard universal inevitability, and grasp the rationality of social and political life at a more abstract level. But before Song dynasty, because metaphysics and ethics in a way are separated from each other, the Confucian of this period explained the universal moral principle usually based on empirical observation. But the most prominent feature of Zhu Xi's political philosophy is the metaphysical. When Zhu Xi argued the existence of Tianli in a metaphysical way, and discussed the relationship of Dao and Qi, Tian and Ren at the level of ontology, he also grasped the universal principle of at a more abstract level. In this way, he put the Chinese traditional political theory's philosophy degree to a higher level. Zhu Xi was different to the Confucianism of the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties period in the way of study. The latter usually built their theory on the experience of intuition, but Zhu Xi started his theory on the analysis to the conception of Tianli in a way of metaphysics. By the logical analysis of Li and Qi, Zhu Xi cleared that Tianli is a transcendental principle prior to the physical world, and it is "ultimate cause." of everything in universe. Zhu Xi discussed Tianli at the level of ontological, at the same time, he not only put the logic of Tianlie as the universal law of pre-determined, but also united the ethical principles and the laws of nature, "There is only Tianli in universe", Li is not only the nature law of material world, but also is the moral principle of the social and political life. All the laws of human society only are a local performance of the law of universe.The question of human nature in Zhu Xi's political philosophy is a continuity of the structure of Li and gas. In the history of political thought in China, the judgments made by thinkers about human nature were the logical starting point of their political philosophy. On the one hand, through the theory of human nature, they tried to answer what human should be, and which kind of they should have, as well as how people should been treated, on the other hand, they had made use of the judgment of good or evil of human nature to discuss the question of where does good come from. Just as some scholars have pointed out that the question of human nature discussed by ancient Chinese thinkers was usually a ontological problem and a metaphysical questions, even became the cornerstone of moral metaphysics. However, in the history of Chinese political thought, to really understand and grasp the problem of human nature in metaphysical way started form Neo-Confucianism in Song Dynasty, among them, Zhu Xi's understanding was the most representative. Through the topics of "nature is Li", ZhuXi resolved the problem of where good comes form, made a well moral commitment for the human social and political life. In Zhu Xi's political philosophy, there is a transcendental foundation of the theory of human nature, at the same time, the difference of people's moral and status on society is also having a transcendental foundation. Fundamentally speaking, everybody is good, but for the effect of gas, someone is superior to the others on their moral, and someone is poor natural. The difference of moral is turned into the political institutional arrangements, and on the arithmetic structure of the rule of man, which suggests the ethical and political principles on the provision of human supportDeontology based on the basic principle of justice priority was the core of Zhu Xi's political philosophy. In political philosophy, justice is a hypothesis taken by the thinkers to social and political life. On the sense of political philosophy, the thinkers discuss justice in more abstract way, and then they are at a higher level grasp on the universal principles of social and political life. Since the beginning of the pre-Qin Confucianism has been trying to understand justice as a absolute moral principle, but it was Zhu Xi who really achieved. In Zhu Xi's political philosophy, justice is Tianli, and it is elevated to the status of ontology, becoming a "categorical imperative" that must be obeyed by everyone. In any case, justice will not be weighed, and they would never retreat. Although people will be infected by "intrinsic gas", they will indulge their own desires, pursuit personal gain and abuse the power hold by themselves. However, these acts do not accord with the moral principles, in any case, they can not be proved to be legitimacy. Zhu Xi treated people as rational self-discipline, only in the own to materialistic desires and confrontations, people could make their own behavior accord with universal moral law; For individuals, they could not contrary to the moral law for meeting their own desires and self-interest. Similarly, for those who hold political power, they can not make the power abused for the personal purpose, even under the pretext of a prosperous.In Zhu Xi 's political philosophy, the moral problem is not only how to become a good person ,but also a political question. He would discuss what kind of politics accord with justice. Zhu Xi explained the moral principle in polity in a metaphysical way, so he regarded "WangDao" as the polity following Tainli(natural law), and then he hold the rationality in political process in a higher level; Zhu Xi's thought of WangDao had a obvious tendency that justice was most priority; The opinion that the polity accorded with the moral principle was perfect showed that traditional Confucian comprehend polity deeper and deeper. The theory of Zhu Xi' thought of WangDao indicated that the political philosophy of traditional Confucian had been developed to a higher phases, and it also reflects Zhu Xi's political has a critical spirit.In the history of political thought of China, the importance of Zhu Xi's political philosophy is that Zhu Xi equated people's ethical principles to "Tianli", made ethical questions become metaphysical questions. However, Zhu Xi's theory that in which he equated people's ethical principles to "Tianli" being outside of human had been challenge by Wanyangming's theory. Wang united heart and Moral law, in order to achieve justice to the people outside the main body of the return of consciousness, and then he took the political problem of metaphysics as a subjective question. This change in a way also reflected some shortcomings of Zhu Xi's political philosophy. In addition, Zhu Xi's political philosophy was borne from traditional Confucian thought, it was unable to break through the traditional mindset that hierarchy and the difference between people was treated as sanctity. The advance of the level of thinking provided a reasonable reason for the unreasonable political system. It shows the political philosophy of Zhu Xi's can not finally break through the barriers of traditional Confucian theory, which is one of the main reasons for criticism in modern times.