Confucian thinking in traditional moral education: key ideas and fundamental features

Abstract Ancient Chinese ideas of moral education could be said to have five main dimensions – philosophical foundations, content, principles, methods and evaluation – which are described in this paper. An analysis of the fundamental features of Confucian thinking on moral education shows that it took the idea that human beings have a good and kind nature as its logical starting point. It built a system of ethical norms, based on the idea that an individual's feelings come from the inner mind, combined with external rites. Its methods of moral education are diverse, with an emphasis on learning from exemplars, environmental conditions and practice, as well as the cultivation of moral responsibility and social commitment. Its quintessential ideas were ‘virtue lies in practice’ and ‘life is moral education’. The paper concludes by arguing that Confucian thinking on moral education has ongoing value for research and practice in contemporary moral education. Notes Research Institute of Moral Education, Nanjing Normal University, 210097, Nanjing, P. R. China. Email: wangfengyan@njnu.edu.cn Other Confucians who might be mentioned include: Mencius (c. 372–289 BC) and Xun Zi (c. 313–238 BC) in the Warring States Period (475–221 BC); Dong Zhongshu (c. 176–104 BC) in the Xihan Dynasty (206 BC–23 AD); Cheng Hao (1032–1085 AD), Cheng Yi (1033–1107 AD), Zhu Xi (1130– 1200 AD) and Lu Jiuyuan (1139–1193 AD) in the Song Dynasty (960–1279 AD); Wang Shouren (1472–1528 AD) in the Ming Dynasty; and Wang Fuzhi (1619–1692 AD) in the Qing Dynasty (1644–1911). You Zi, a close student of Confucius, once said: ‘So filial piety and respect and love for one's older brothers are the fundamental principles of humanity, aren't they?’ (Yang, Citation1980, p.2). Although this was said by You Zi, this could be regarded as the result of the influence of Confucius, and as one of his thoughts. Confucius paid consistent attention to filial piety, and this shows that the idea that filial piety is a basis of morality originated from Confucius. Mencius said, ‘The essence of benevolence is to serve one's parents; the essence of righteousness is to obey one's older brothers; the essence of wisdom is to know these two and adhere to them …’ (Yang, Citation1960 p.183). ‘Serve one's parents’ and ‘obey one's older brothers’ are both indicators of filial piety, and this shows that Mencius also had the idea that filial piety is the foundation of morality. For example, to develop a moral character of honesty, a child should be taught from a very young age to get along with people in an honest way, and to always act in this way. The teacher can never require that the child treat others in an honest way today and then ask the child to cheat people tomorrow. If the teacher genuinely and consistently teaches the child in an honest way it would amount to a positive and coherent education. Positive education involves role models and educating with an ‘intention towards goodness’. This refers to the five virtues of benevolence, righteousness, courteousness, wisdom and honesty. For example, Confucius said: ‘Suppose that a man is well read in Shijing [The book of songs], but is not proficient in the government work he is entrusted with, nor can he handle diplomatic affairs independently when he is sent on a mission to another state; even though he has read a great deal, what is the good of that?’ (Yang, Citation1980, p.181). It is also said in the 48th chapter of Laozi [Lao Tzu], ‘If one pursues knowledge too inflexibly then the more knowledge he learns the less he develops morally.’ (Chen, Citation1984, p. 250). Lu Jiuyuan said in his Quotations, II: ‘Nowadays a person who is a bit arrogant just likes to show off his knowledge, but his knowledge does not help him to be a better person. Even if I do not know one word I could still be a good human being.’ (Lu, Citation1980, p. 447). This shows that the Confucian thinkers discovered that one of the important characteristics of virtue is ‘practice’, and that moral knowledge is mainly acquired through one's experience and consciousness of one's own moral life, not by moralizing. The great thinkers of the past usually emphasized the importance of ‘practice’ (accepting influence is just one of the ‘practices’) for moral development and they also differentiated knowledge from virtue, as they clearly realized that growth in an individual's knowledge did not always promote, and sometimes even hindered, the development of moral character. ‘Practice’ means that a person conducts him or her self according to certain moral principles approved by Confucianism. Practice had two levels: practice at a lower level, mainly by children behaving according to adults' teachings or by imitating them; practice at a higher level, mainly by adults conducting themselves earnestly and sincerely, according to a certain set of moral principles in their daily lives. Most Confucians thought that practice was a way for people to do small things in their daily lives as well as possible, in order to become moral, but practice did not mean people should specifically and consciously do one kind of thing rather than another.