Research On Confucian Food Ethics Thoughts In The Pre-Qin Dynasty

The close combination between diet and ethics has shaped the remarkable characteristics of Chinese traditional dietetic culture,and the extensive and profound dietetic ethics has laid the basic foundation of Chinese traditional dietetic culture.The pre-Qin period was the establishment period of the main body of traditional dietetic culture,and also the foundation period of traditional dietetic ethics.In the development and changes of the following two thousand years,the basic core of Chinese traditional dietetic ethics did not deviate from the ideological system established by pre-Qin Confucians,and until now it is still an important factor that potentially affects people’s diet practice.Therefore,it is necessary to conduct a critical study on the pre-Qin Confucian dietetic ethics in order to clearly distinguish its modern value.In the context of the Pre-Qin Confucians,diet is not a pure natural instinct behavior of human beings to fill their hunger to sustain life,but a kind of human ethical behavior that not only affirming and transcending natural desire in the confrontation and symbiosis between man and nature,and between man and man,but also consciously pursuing “good” life in the antagonism and interaction between the subjects and heaven,and between the subjects and themselves.Therefore,dietetic ethics involves two issues.The first is to answer the question of mingfen in dietary activities which points to the relationship between people,that is,the regulations on the status and obligations of the dietary subject.The answer to this question is mainly reflected in the norms of human relations in dietary activities.The second is to answer the question of xingfen in dietary behaviors that points to the relationship between the subjects and themselves,the subjects and heaven or even the whole world,that is,the subjects’ affirmation and transcendence of “the nature of pursuing material desires”,the manifestation of “the inherent nature of advocating benevolence”,and the aspiration of goodness of “the ability to rationally recognize the truth of things” which introspects and sublimates “the inherent nature of advocating benevolence”,or the pursuit of moral "should".According to this,dietetic ethics can be defined as a theoretical system of norms of interpersonal relationships and corresponding moral principles regarding dietary activities under certain social conditions.However,in the existing related research results,they often pay more attention to the dietetic etiquette and the "should" of human relations,and relatively ignore the "should" of morality in dietary behavior.In this regard,the latter should be a concern for further research.The pre-Qin Confucian basic propositions about the "should" of morality in dietary activities mainly include the dimensions of respect for life,observance of etiquette,pursuit of kindheartedness,frugality and moral integrity.Among them,the view of respect for life illustrates the ethical mission of maintaining the value of life through dietary activities.The view of following etiquette explains how to coordinate the order of human relations in dietary activities.Virtues such as kindheartedness,frugality,and moral integrity explain the ideal personality pursuit and moral cultivation practice in dietary practice.The combination of these principles together constituted the ideal form of "good" diet under the social conditions at that time.Based on the current social reality,it is necessary to use historical materialism to evaluate the pre-Qin Confucian dietetic ethics,in order to remove the dregs and retain the essence,so as to carry out critical inheritance.On the one hand,it played the historical functions of promoting moral cultivation and harmonizing interpersonal relationships with the dietary ethics under the social background at that time;on the other hand,due to the constraints of the times,it also had many historical limitations,and these limitations were hidden in the diet practice for thousands of years,which still have negative influence on people’s diet practice,and these must be transformed or abandoned.Based on this,it is necessary to draw inspiration from the positive core of pre-Qin Confucian dietetic ethics,to critically inherit the traditional diet etiquette,to strengthen the cultivation of diet virtues,and to advocate the concept of ecologically harmonious diet.And then to solve the problem of actual diet alienation with the construction and improvement of dietetic ethics,and to guide the formation of healthy,civilized and ethical individual dietetic habits and social dietetic fashion through the cultivation and promotion of dietetic virtues.