"A Benevolent Man Must Have Courage":Research On The Confucian Idea Of Courage

"Courage" is very important in the position in Confucian ideological system,as a moral force,to the formation of individual moral personality with tear,it is even being viewed as an important condition was established,all virtue in the pursuit of social moral life,being the kernel of social character and value ideal,play an important role.In other words,the moral subject needs brave and resolute strength to overcome difficulties and overcome anything that threatens our achievement of perfection,so as to improve ourselves and promote the realization of the whole personality of the subject.It can be seen that "courage" is an indispensable virtue of ideal personality and occupies a special position in Confucian ethics.Especially in the modern society where the sense of courage is weakened,the analysis of the Confucian concept of courage and the exploration of the modern value of the Confucian concept of courage will help to carry forward the Confucian spirit of courage,perseverance and courage,and help to cultivate the moral character of the subject with benevolence and courage.The concept of "courage" was highly respected since the Spring and Autumn Period.In the Spring and Autumn Period,Dukes were engaged in campaigns and wars frequently."Courage" was of special social value,and courage in war was regarded as a special virtue,or even the only moral personality trait.The war character of courage is a noble quality,but when it is closely linked with blood and strength,it can easily encourage evil deeds.With the reduction of the threat of war and the leap of humanistic spirit,the courage of war gradually faded,and the understanding of"courage" turned from the breakthrough of survival dilemma to a valuable virtue.Confucius began to solve this problem,he affirmed the "courage" in the practice of moral cultivation,together with "knowledge" and "benevolence" as the three virtues.Thus,courage stood out from the crowd and was regarded as one of the most satisfactory virtues.However,Confucius also noticed the negative aspect of courage,emphasizing that courage must be guided by moral purposes such as "rites""righteousness" and "learning",which is a reasonable value model.It can be seen that In Confucius’s view,"courage" is a neutral quality,and it must be restrained and guided in order to become a virtue.At this point,Confucius distinguished between courage that has nothing to do with human virtue and courage that conforms to virtue,and this feature became the keynote of later Confucians on courage.Although Meng and Xun developed Confucius’ concept of great courage from different paths,they had basically the same views on moral courage.They all start with the object and purpose involved in courage,make a more detailed typology of"courage",think more deeply about the real courage and its illusion,and divide the concept of "courage" into two main lines:"courage of virtue" and "courage of blood".In addition,the thought system of Meng and Xun has the level of "elevating",that is,to look at the ethical behavior from the perspective of moral metaphysics and ask for the origin of the subject’s moral behavior.They think that courage of virtue should become a virtue,that is,it must be the manifestation of the benevolence and righteousness of the subject,and the spirit of benevolence and righteousness is the spiritual support of the moralization of individual behavior.This theory makes the Confucian concept of "courage",with speculative color and metaphysical meaning,and greatly enrichis the Confucian concept of courage.The concept of "courage" of the Confucians of the Han dynasty inherited the understanding of "courage" of the Confucians of the pre-Qin Dynasty.This courage is actually the landing of the Confucian moral courage in the system of rites and laws,which enriched and developed the Confucian concept of courage.For example,Jia Yi put forward the idea of holding the rules and not being afraid of being brave,which emphasized the use of etiquette and other customs to improve people’s moral life and make the outward appearance of brave behavior conform to the social character in the public domain.Zheng Xuan,as the master of the system of rites and laws in han Dynasty,paid special attention to the relationship between the image or symbol of"courage" and the spirit of "courage" in the process of annotating the system of rites and laws,which showed the pursuit of the people who made rites for courage.On the other hand,the noble spirit of the han scholars was also the practice of Confucian moral courage.This spirit of courage is based on integrity and integrity.It is born of righteousness and is extremely strong.They take the spirit of death as the determination,with the fearless attitude of approaching the major festival and can not be taken away,in moral practice,showing the justice behavior of leisurely and fearless.This spirit of moral courage is not only related to the individual’s own morality,but to the state,society and other public aspects as the direction,reflecting how the intellectuals in the Han Dynasty learned and practiced the Courage of Confucian virtue,how the courage of Confucian virtue was deeply rooted in the people.The Song and Ming Neo-Confucianism interprets the Confucian concept of"courage",focusing on the aspects of nature,mind and time,and further deepening the Confucian moral courage.The song and Ming scholars’interpretation of the courage of virtue changed the Confucian concept of "courage" from outside to inside.The courage of virtue they praise is not heroism in which one risks martyrdom at the expense of one’s own life.The Confucianists of Song and Ming dynasties took the courage of virtue as their own aspect.They developed the role of "courage" in changing temperament and breaking away from the old customs.They believed that"courage" obviously had the trait of self-affirmation,which could promote the improvement of personal existence and mental state.Its vision is to focus on the cultivation of individual life,realize self-transformation,let people have confidence in their own existence,dare to face their own moral deficiencies have the courage to accept and change themselves.Then make people achieve perfect moral personality,reveal the goodness of human nature.The development of the courage of virtue made Confucianism become the knowledge of self life.However,the Confucianists of Song and Ming dynasties did not only attach importance to the internality of moral courage.Moral courage must include the practice of action,the integration of body and mind,practical action and the unity of knowledge and action.The Confucian concept of "courage" also has certain reference significance for the development of modern society.In modern society,heroes and sages withdraw from the public view,and people are faced with frequent problems such as courage weakening,human indifference and moral bystanders.The lack of courage and morality is an unavoidable problem.Is it necessary to talk about "courage" in today’s world?Or what about "courage" in modern society?The Confucian discourse on the concept of courage may be instructive.This is the time to call for courage,which means the emergence of moral behavior on the social level,which can make people have a stronger sense of social responsibility and justice;On the individual level,it is a struggle to get out of the state of sinking,is the affirmation and achievement of self.It can be said that the Confucian concept of courage can provide positive and valuable ideological resources for modern society.