A Study On Lu Jiuyuan’s Benevolence Thought

Lu Jiuyuan was a famous Confucian thinker in the Southern Song Dynasty.As the pioneer and founder of teleology since the Song Dynasty,he inherited Mencius’ "theory of mind" and put forward a series of propositions such as "mind is reason"and "inventing the original mind".In the Southern Song Dynasty,he started a unique tradition of "theology of the mind" by inheriting the "theory of the mind" of Mencius and proposing a series of propositions such as "the mind is reason","the invention of the original mind" and "my mind is the universe".Lu Jiuyuan’s "Heartology" and Zhu Xi’s "Science" were called the "two wings of the bird" and "two wheels of the car" of Confucianism in the Song Dynasty."Their ideas profoundly influenced the development of Confucianism thereafter and jointly promoted the progress of Confucianism.It is worth noting that both teleology in the narrower sense and doctrine in fact present different aspects of Confucian doctrine in different dimensions.In terms of moral philosophy,the emphasis of doctrine is on moral principles and laws,while the emphasis of teleology is on the moral subject and moral motivation.On the whole,moral principles and laws,together with the moral subject and motivation,are the constituent elements of human virtue.In other words,Confucian moral philosophy,which includes metaphysics and ontology,is typologically oriented towards the achievement of a virtuous personality that nurtures the moral self.On the whole,Confucian moral thought is seen as an ethics of virtue from its origins.In the context of modern virtue thinking,Confucian ethics is a broad normative ethics.Further,Confucian ethics differs from both deontological ethics,with its emphasis on moral motives,and utilitarianism,with its emphasis on consequences.Substantively,Confucian ethics has something in common with the new form of normative ethics,modern Western virtue ethics.This similarity is mainly in the sense that the focus is not only or primarily on the actions of the moral subject,but on the subject of moral action-the person himself.In other words,it is not primarily concerned with ’how I should act’,but with ’what kind of person I want to be’.Since Confucius,Confucianism has focused on the virtues and education for the achievement of a perfect personality,and Mencius developed this thought into a more complete theory of virtue and virtuous conduct.Mr.Xiangshan,who "got it from reading Mencius",interpreted the Confucian "benevolence" as the root and connotation of the application and expression of good and evil hearts.In terms of spiritual direction,he focuses on the cultivation of human beings as subjects of value with the virtue of benevolence.This is highly compatible with the goal of moral education as stated in modern Western virtue ethics.If we use modern Western virtue ethics to grasp the virtue of benevolence of Xiangshan,it is useful to carry out the modern value of the virtue of Song and Ming philosophy.At the same time,the theory of benevolent virtue taught by Mr.Xiangshan also has the necessary ideological elements that modern Western virtue ethics lacks.In conclusion,this theme is to show the results of creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese philosophical excellent traditional culture through concrete cases.