A New Study Of Mencius’s Human-animaldistinction ——From The Perspective Of Evolutionism

The distinction between human beings and animals is an important proposition in the Confucianism.Before Mencius,the theory of the distinction between human beings and animals mostly stayed at the level of phenomenon,and did not go deep into the level of human unique nature to discuss this problem.Mencius combined the distinction between human beings and animals with the concept of human nature,and believed that man’s uniqueness is that human nature is good,that is,man is born with the morality of benevolence and righteousness.With the development of science,Mencius’ theory of distinction between human beings and animals is facing some challenges.Firstly,Mencius took "heaven" as the guarantee of good nature.However,in the era of science,"heaven" generally has nature meaning,which is not enough as a source of morality.Therefore,it is necessary to interpret the general meaning of "heaven" in Mencius’ philosophy.Secondly,through the in-depth understanding of animals,people find that animals also have altruistic behavior,and animals seem to meet the moral standard.Moreover,in reality,people have evil deeds,which seems to be contrary to good nature.The traditional distinction between human beings and animals has encountered difficulties,but the development of science has also brought new opportunities for the distinction between human beings and animals.Mencius’ theory has a common theoretical basis with the theory of evolution,so the results of evolution can be introduced to provide empirical explanation for Mencius’ theory.Mencius thought that "what can be desired is good",and life and righteousness are what people want.I analyze Mencius’ thought of life and righteousness,combined with the explanation of "life" and "righteousness" in the theory of evolution.then I put forward the concept of The view of good and evil with two meanings,which is used to make a new interpretation of Mencius’ s theory of distinction between human beings and animals.The connotation of the view of good and evil with two meanings is that survival and reproduction are the first instinct and the most basic need for organisms.Therefore,for each organism,everything that is conducive to its own survival and reproduction is "good",and everything that is detrimental to its own survival and reproduction is "evil".This level of good and evil belongs to the view of good and evil in the first sense.At the social level,"good" is used to describe the behavior conducive to group survival and order,and "evil" is used to describe the behavior harmful to group survival and order,which is the view of good and evil in the second sense.Righteousness is actually conducive to the survival of groups.The difference between human beings and animals is that human nature conforms to the second meaning of goodness,that is,man has morality.People and animals have altruistic instinct,but people can consciously and actively expand the four beginnings,so as to realize morality.The altruistic behavior of animals takes self-interest as the final effect,while human moral behavior takes pure altruism as the final effect.Therefore,only human beings have morality.The first meaning of goodness and the second meaning of goodness are an inseparable whole.The realization of the first meaning of goodness is conducive to the realization of the second meaning of goodness.The reason why human nature is good but still needs the cultivation is : human nature has moral ability but does not contain specific moral rules.When the first meaning of goodness conflicts with the second meaning of goodness,improving moral cultivation can make people overcome their selfish desires and voluntarily choose to realize the second meaning of goodness.Under normal circumstances,people will only choose behaviors that are conducive to their own survival and reproduction,and the good operation of society can ensure the survival and reproduction of individuals.Therefore,people will only choose good deeds that are conducive to themselves or society.Human nature is good in the first and second meaning.The source of evil is that the first meaning of good sometimes conflict with the second meaning of good.When we choose one level of good,the other level of evil will follow.Evil does not exist independently.Only when good conflicts with good will relative evil occur.Mencius’ s distinction of Change and Unchangeableness tells us that human morality is flexible and enables people to deal with complex and diverse social life.Human nature conforms to the second meaning of goodness,enables human beings to dominate themselves and determine the direction of evolution.