Political Philosophy Of Ren (仁) And Yi (义)

As the Kingcraft concept of traditional Chinese political thought,its essence is the combination of ethics and politics.This concept,through the exertion of Mencius,has become the conscious character of the Confucian Internal Saints and External Kings,and it has also become the core category of Confucian political thought and the political picture that human society strives for.This article aims to study the ideological basis,specific content and essential characteristics of this concept.First,there are two main sources of Mencius’s political thought.First,Shi(《诗经》)and Shu(《尚书》)are the origins of their classics,which inherently contain the values of the humanistic tradition,the normative consciousness found in history,and the logical paradigm applicable to the situation.Mencius used this to elaborate his Kingcraft Ideal.Second,the structure of the theory of human nature,which is“On Life from the Aspect of Mind”,provides the Kingcraft Ideal with an internal basis for the nature.He realized the transcendence from Ren(仁)to Yi(义)Governance through the logical demonstrations of speaking with conscience,Jin-xin(尽心)and Zhi-xing(知性)and speaking with goodness,and in the meaning of Jin-xin(尽心)→Zhi-xing(知性)→Zhi-tian(知天)Domain,providing it with metaphysical support.Secondly,the specific content of Mencius’ s ideology of Kingcraft includes two dimensions of Moral Governance and people-oriented.The so-called Moral Governance is essentially to apply the Internal Saints learning to external things.This is manifested in the political ideals of pushing oneself and being friendly,benevolence and Moral Governance,kiss-in-kind and benevolent,which is manifested through the value appeal of the benevolent should be high.Specifically,it includes the three aspects of the benevolent reigns,enables the esteem,and both ancient methods,and constitutes the ideal paradigm of meritocracy.The so-called people-oriented is the value pursuit that Confucianism demands that the monarchs take the people as the government.Mencius elaborated the value of minority,gentleness and honor,the specific strategy of protecting the people and the king and the symbiosis of fun with the people,which made the people prominent in the value of royal politics,thus reflecting the bidirectional characteristics of the people-oriented theory in the classical era.In the end,the essence of Mencius’ s thoughts of Kingcraft lies in benefits and justice.Whether it is the human dimension of On Life from the Aspect of Mind,the rule of virtue of the King Rende,or even the people-based concept of mind but state,Benevolence and Righteousness always runs through it.Benevolence and Righteousness,as the moral principle,value principle,and order norm of Mencius’ s political thoughts,has always implied the ideal model of the Kingcraft in the perspective of political philosophy.Mencius constructs the theory of Internal Saints from inner Benevolence and Righteousness,clarifies the matter of outer king from discrimination of righteousness and benefit,and demonstrates the three dimensions of holy king practice from being righteous and righteous.In the support of this theory,he attributed the Confucianism of inner holy and external kings to one body,making it the dignity and spiritual speciality of Confucian political philosophy.