Any kind of thought is the product of specific historical conditions. Mencius lived in the Warring States Period in the history of China. During this period, countries carried out political reforms one after another, and the emerging landlord class seized power. It is a foregone conclusion that feudalism will replace slavery. In this process, the legalist view representing the requirements of the emerging landlord class occupied a dominant position in the ideological and political field. However, in the landlord class at that time, in addition to the emerging landlords, that is, military landlords and industrial and commercial landlords, there were also landlords transformed from old nobles, which was a conservative faction of the landlord class at that time. These landlords from the old aristocracy were extremely dissatisfied with the reform policy of abolishing the economic and political privileges of the old aristocracy promoted by the rulers of various countries at that time, and demanded to continue to retain their original privileged status. Mencius' ideas represent the demands of this part of the landlord class.
Mencius was a theorist of good nature. The goodness of human nature is the basis of all his ethical thoughts. Mencius believes that good governance is not as good as good education to win the people. Good governance is feared by the people; Teach well and people will learn from it. Good governance gains people's wealth, and good education wins people's hearts. Winning people's hearts in politics is the core of Mencius' political proposition, and winning people's hearts is the key to winning people's hearts. In this way, Mencius put the education of people in the first place.
Mencius' theory of goodness of nature, philosophically speaking, is completely an idealistic transcendentalism. Mencius attributed the moral principles rooted in economic relations and reflecting certain class contents to the immutable universal principles inherent in life.
Mencius believed that everyone has a conscience and good ability. The so-called unlearned people have good abilities; Everything you know, everything you can say. In other words, conscience and kindness are innate things, and everyone is born with kindness.
Mencius believes that all mortals have the essence of common service. He said: why should people of the same kind doubt others alone when they cite similarities? And illustrate with examples: mouth is also for taste, there are similarities and differences; The ear is to the sound, and there is the same hearing; There are similarities and differences in color of eyes. As for the heart, is it unique? Mencius believed that people's hearts have something in common, that is, compassion, which everyone has; Everyone has a heart of shame and evil; Everyone has a respectful heart; Everyone has a right and wrong heart. This constitutes four kinds of goodness, that is, four moral qualities. The so-called compassion, benevolence; Shame and nausea, righteousness also; Respect and courtesy; The heart of right and wrong is also wise. He compared these four kinds of goodness to a person's limbs, thinking that they are indispensable things for human beings, and it would be inhuman without them. Mencius believes that benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom are rooted in the heart, not from outside, but also from me. In this way, Mencius defined the moral norms such as benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom as an inherent, transcendental and eternal human nature.
Mencius explained this problem with children's natural love and respect for their parents. He said: A child loves his relatives. As long as he is here, he respects his brother. Dear, benevolent; Respect is long, and righteousness is also. It can be seen that Mencius repeatedly emphasized that the four ends of the root in the heart are mainly the ends of benevolence and righteousness. And his so-called benevolence and righteousness, its actual content is also the way of loyalty and filial piety emphasized by Confucianism. He said: those who leave their relatives have no righteousness, and those who leave their husbands have no righteousness. In this way, Mencius abstracted the moral principle of respecting the landlord class.
Although Mencius believes that human nature is good, people will also have all kinds of evil deeds because of their desire for benefits. He regards righteousness, desire and benevolence as the fundamental signs to distinguish between gentlemen and villains, rulers and ruled. He said: to know the difference between shun and jump, there is nothing but the difference between benefit and goodness. So when Liang Huiwang asked him if it was good for our country to come from afar, he said: Why should your majesty talk about profit? Only benevolence and righteousness. However, why should people go to benevolence and benefit? Mencius believed that it was due to the degeneration of people's thoughts, that is, the so-called sinking of the heart. He said: Fu years old, disciple Dora; When he was fierce, his disciples were violent, and it was natural that he was talented, so he was trapped in his heart. In order to get rid of people's evil pursuit of interests and keep their original good deeds, we must try our best to cultivate their nature. Therefore, Mencius put forward the methods of self-cultivation, such as wanting nothing, aiming high, aiming high, etc. Simply put, it is to be intentional and not to do it, and even to get the drowning heart back. So he also said that the destination of education is the only way to learn, and he just reassured him that he could be kind and polite. This view determines that Mencius believes that it is not enough to be good for politics, and it is not up to him to be good. Therefore, he paid special attention to upholding and winning people's hearts and put education in an extremely important position.
Benevolence is the core of Mencius' political thought. His theory of good nature is the theoretical basis and foundation of benevolent policy theory. He spent most of his life leading his disciples to lobby princes, that is, to publicize benevolent policies and make them implemented.
What Mencius saw was the situation in which rulers of various countries fought for cities and land, killed people to seize cities and killed people to seize wild places in order to expand sovereignty, and their extravagant lives. He also observed that the ruled is not enough to serve his parents and wife, and he is happy all his life, inevitably separated from each other and in dire straits. At the same time, he also felt that this would inevitably deepen class contradictions and be extremely unfavorable to the rulers. This is the basic starting point of his theory of benevolent governance.
Mencius believed that the key to ending unrest and stabilizing society was to unify the world. King Xiang of Liang asked him how to stabilize the world, and he clearly replied: it is scheduled to be one. In order to achieve the goal of unifying the world, Mencius believed that the key lies in getting the Tao.
Mencius divided the way of governing the country into kingliness and hegemony. The so-called king means taking virtue as benevolence. Hegemony means pretending to be benevolent with strength. Yu Zi is totally opposed to both, advocating kingliness and opposing hegemony. He believes that bullying is a person who persuades others by force, not by heart, and Wang Dao is a person who persuades others by virtue. Therefore, Mencius believes that only by practicing kingly way, that is, benevolent government, can we achieve the goal of unifying the world. He said: At present, the benevolent people in the country of Wancheng enjoy it and solve it. A man with half an ancient story will do twice as much work, but only at this time will he let nature take its course, and he said: if you do benevolent government, the people will kiss it and die for a long time. It is believed that as long as the benevolent government is implemented, the contradiction can be alleviated and the goal of returning to the world can finally be achieved. This is the best way to get twice the result with half the effort.
Mencius further developed Confucius' thought of benevolence, righteousness and morality, and gave full play to the thought of attaching importance to the people since the Spring and Autumn Period. He politicized and concretized Confucius' theory of benevolence. He said: benevolence is also a human being; In short, Tao is also. This view of the Qin dynasty is what it now calls benevolent government, which is also the so-called policy of being unbearable to others. He said that everyone can't stand others. The late king had a heart that could not bear others, and Sri Lanka had a policy that could not bear others. In order to bear the hearts of others, we can rule the world in our hands. Therefore, Mencius' view of benevolent governance is based on the theory of good nature. In Mencius' view, compassion is the purpose of benevolence. As a benevolent person, we must extend and fill this unbearable heart from its nature. That is, to extend this goodness to people. He said: I am old, and people are old; Young people, young people, young people. Extending this practice of pushing others to politics, that is, benevolent governance, has achieved the goal of ruling the world. He said: so, pushing grace is enough to protect the world, and you can't protect your wife without pushing grace. Ancient people were so great because they were good at pushing what they did.
It is very important to extend the heart of benevolence to the people in Mencius' thought and policy of forbearing others. How to treat ordinary people is the central content of his theory of benevolent government, and it is also the basic premise for him to deal with all political relations. He once said: a gentleman is to things, and love is benevolent; Be kind to the people and be kind. Kiss and be kind to people, be kind to people and care for things. It shows Mencius' attitude towards people's benevolent governance.
In Mencius' view, whether a ruler can win or maintain the world depends on whether he can win the support of the people. He said: To win the way of the world, win the hearts of the people and win the world. Therefore, he is extremely opposed to the abuse of the people and the mob, and believes that harming the people will lose the world. He said: if you attack your people violently, you will die; If you don't know much, it will be dangerous, and the country will be cut. "To win the people, we must first win the hearts and minds of the people. He said: those who win the hearts of the people win the hearts of the people. If you lose the world, you lose the people; If you lose the people, you lose your heart.
On the question of how to win the hearts of the people, Mencius proposed to obey the public opinion, saying that he should have a kind heart, get together with fate and not do evil. But it is mainly about teaching and supporting the people. Mencius attached great importance to the role of parishioners. The so-called benevolence of virtue is to convince people with virtue. Otherwise, if you have no perseverance, put aside your sins and waste your time, don't do it for yourself first. Therefore, he believes that teaching the people without it is a disaster for the people. Those who harm the people are not allowed to live in the world of Yao and Shun, saying: Good governance is not as good as good education. Good governance is feared by the people; Good teaching, people like it. Good governance gains people's wealth, and good education wins people's hearts. Only the method of enlightenment can win people's hearts. This is the main way to win the world.
Mencius believes that the guarantee of material life is the premise of people's ideological obedience. He said: people who have perseverance without constant production can only be talented. If people, there is no constant production, because there is no perseverance. To this end, he advocates that a wise monarch should control the people's property, so that he can support his parents and wife, be happy all his life, avoid death in a bad year, and then drive away the good ones, so that the people will be lighter. Based on this view, Mencius proposed that rulers should have rich materials to keep people healthy and have no regrets about losing their lives; People can have five acres of houses, trees can be mulberry, and fifty people can wear clothes and silk. Chickens, dolphins and dogs are all domestic animals, and they can still eat meat at the age of 70. One hundred acres of land, don't hurry, a family of eight, can be hungry. I am willing to teach you for filial piety, so that those who give you white clothes will not be put on the road and the people will not be hungry and cold. At the same time, it is necessary to save punishment, tax, deep cultivation and relocation. The strong cultivate their filial piety and loyalty in their spare time, and serve their fathers and brothers and elders. Mencius believes that being able to do this is the beginning of kingliness and has achieved the goal of stabilizing the world.