The Foundation Of Chinese Modern Ethics

Yan Fu’s ethical thoughts had a profound influence on “China in the transitional era”(Liang Qichao).In the very late nineteenth and early twentieth century,the inherent ethical system that had supported the traditional feudal empire fell behind the times,and “traditional Chinese values aided with modern Western ideology” could not self-renew because of its conservation and rigidity,with the new ethics China desperately needed being clueless.At this moment of national crisis and peril,Yan Fu inspired new ethical thoughts by translating and introducing western thoughts.Being close to the pulse of the times,ethically aiming at saving the nation,promoting survival and pursuing prosperity,he became the forerunner of the construction of new ethics in modern China.Tian Yan Lun was the starting point of Yan Fu’s ethical thoughts.With the social Darwinism’s idea of natural selection,Yan Fu shook the foundation of Chinese traditional ethics that “the greatness of tao comes from heaven,and heaven remains unchanged,so does tao” and enlightened people’s national consciousness and national competition consciousness with the idea of “evolution” and the competitive concept of “survival of the fittest”,promoting the transformation of Chinese modern ethics.“Group against group,species against species” negated the traditional Chinese view of the world that there was no country but the world in China,corrected the ethical superiority deriving from the concept of“debate on Hua Yi” and advocated the construction of ethical entity of “Guo Qun” in the era of nation and state.“Bao Zhong He Qun” gave birth to the modern national identity of Chinese people.With China just entering the modern world system,“He Qun Bao Zhong”advocated by Yan Fu was the consciousness of the Community of the Chinese nation and the earliest conception of “Guo Zu”.The significance of this conception was that the foundation of the new ethics was based on “nation”,replacing the three cardinal guides adapted to monarchical autocracy and patriarchal family society,which was the foundation of modern ethical transformation in China.“Freedom” is one of the most important concepts established by the Enlightenment and the fundamental sign that distinguished the modern society from the pre-modern society.In the same way,Yan Fu also regarded “freedom” as an important dimension of constructing modern ethical system in China and put forward the ethic view of “Qun Ji” conforming to modern Chinese society.“Qun” was made up of millions of individuals,without which there was no existence of “Qun”.Individuals enjoyed the natural right to freedom and could increase group strength if they gave full play to their own abilities.For individuals,“Qun”guaranteed them to enjoy their rights.In the relationship between the group and the individual,the fulfillment of individual freedom must be bounded by the freedom of others on the premise that the rights of others were not infringed.By interpreting freedom ethically,Yan Fu intertwined liberalism centering on individual interests with nationalism putting group interests first,bringing out the best in each other on the stage of modern China for the purpose of seeking national prosperity.A great contribution of Yan Fu’s ethical thoughts is that starting from the actual situation of modern Chinese society,he reconciled the contradiction of the ethical concepts between national independence and individual freedom and gave priority to “national liberty”flexibly,making the aim of achieving national prosperity as the highest ethical goal.Under the control of “patriotism”,“freedom” had become the basis of national independence.With it,“We could support ourselves and resist external invasion”.Under the background of modern imperialist powers carving up the world,Yan Fu advocated the unity of national consciousness and individual consciousness to pursue the overall interests of the nation,achieving the ethical goal of saving the nation from extinction with the unique model of coexistence of liberalism and nationalism.This understanding was undoubtedly a rational choice for China at that time.It should be mentioned that one of the main reasons for Yan Fu’s historic contribution is that he omni-directionally translated and introduced new Western ideas,keeping up with the trend of world history and facing Chinese problems.Yan Fu influenced an era with his broad vision,keen insight,ethical concepts fitting China’s national conditions and academic pursuit of national prosperity,becoming the forerunner of modern ethical thoughts in China.