People are emotional beings. A notable feature of Confucian philosophy is that it attaches importance to people's emotions. If compared with western philosophy, this is very prominent. The so-called "concern" is to put emotion at the center of human existence, and without emotion, there is no human existence; On the other hand, the discussion of human existence and its significance and value must start from emotion. For human existence, emotion has a basic nature. It is in this sense that we call Confucian philosophy emotional philosophy. This is a Confucian tradition (except modern new Confucianism). Compared with western philosophy, Chinese and western philosophy also has its own tradition, that is rationalism. There is a famous saying in western philosophy: "Man is a rational animal." The so-called "rationality" is a broad concept, but it has a basic meaning, which refers to people's rational ability, and then evolved into cognitive ability, which is called "intelligence" today. This tradition has continued to modern times, so that when people discuss the "modernity" of modern society, they cannot but be associated with rationalism. This makes sense. There is also a tradition in the west, that is, "humanism and empiricism." 17 and 18 centuries saw the emergence of a number of thinkers, such as Rousseau, Diderot, Hume and others, who generally cared about and attached importance to people's emotional problems and linked emotion with people's morality. Later Schopenhauer and others even regarded emotion, especially "sympathy", as the same basis of morality. This tradition seems to be "contrary" to the rationalist tradition, but it is actually complementary. It was not until Kant came out and drew a clear line between "cognitive rationality" (theoretical rationality) and "practical rationality" that the controversial issue had a "result". But this "result" does not mean the solution of the problem, but the beginning of a new debate. First of all, although Kant himself put forward the question of "moral emotion", due to the long-standing tradition of separating emotion from reason in the west (Kant did not overcome this tradition), he excluded "moral emotion" from moral reason when establishing a rational moral philosophy, that is, moral metaphysics, and thought that "moral emotion" was only psychological and empirical and could not be the basis of moral metaphysics. Secondly, great changes and differentiation have taken place from Kant to modern western philosophy. Among them, modern analytical philosophy (represented by Ayre and Carnap) criticized Kant's metaphysics, but put forward "emotionalism ethics". On the one hand, this kind of ethics thinks that ethics is determined by human emotions; On the other hand, he believes that emotion is purely private and subjective, so ethics is also subjective, and there is no same value standard. At present, this theory is criticized because it denies the universality of ethics. In contrast, Confucian philosophy started with the problem of human existence from the beginning, giving emotion special significance and occupying an important position. How does man exist? In Confucianism's view, human beings are first and foremost sentient creatures, that is to say, human beings are sentient animals. In the current language, emotion is the most basic way of existence or style of human beings. The meaning and value of human existence must be solved first from here. Of course, this does not mean that emotion is unique. People have nothing but emotion. But people, as far as they are concerned, have emotions first. This kind of emotion is internal and direct, which has an important influence and role in other people's activities, and even plays a core role. Confucius, the founder of Confucianism, attached great importance to human emotional activities. In his view, the most authentic existence of human beings is "true feelings". The so-called "true feelings" are true feelings from the heart, without disguise or disguise; The so-called "real feeling" means that there is a real feeling and existence, which is not illusory or imaginary. This involves the relationship between body and mind, form and god. It is often said that China's philosophy, especially Confucian philosophy, is a theory of the unity of body and mind, which can be seen from Confucius' theory of true feelings. True feelings must be true feelings with true feelings and cannot be separated. Only when "true feelings" and "true feelings" are unified and integrated, can they be real existence, real life and real people. Man is a real existence first, but inanimate is also a real existence. At this level, people are like everything else. Secondly, people are alive, but so are all living things. At this level, people and creatures are the same. Finally, if people want to be real people, they need people's "true feelings", which is innate. People's material existence is the existence in time and space, and people's emotional activities are non-time and super-time. However, because the physical existence in space is inseparable at the same time, it is concrete, not abstract, but has content, not empty form. This is the basic view of Confucianism on emotion after Confucius and Confucius. This is the reason why Confucianism failed to establish pure theoretical ethics, moral philosophy and formal aesthetics; However, Confucianism has always paid attention to the "existence" of human beings, and it is very rare and valuable to establish the world of meaning and value of human beings. Second, filial piety is based on true feelings. Confucius' emotional theory begins with the family relationship between parents and children, the most important of which is "filial piety". Confucius himself is a dutiful son, which goes without saying (Confucius' father died early, and his mother raised him and was very filial to his mother); As a thinker and philosopher, Confucius viewed "filial piety" from an emotional point of view, that is to say, "filial piety" was first regarded as the most basic true emotion of human beings and the most authentic natural emotion. "Filial piety is also the foundation of benevolence!" [1] "Benevolence is the foundation of human relations", because "Benevolence is the foundation of human relations" (in Mencius, we will talk about benevolence later). Children should be "filial" to their parents, and younger brothers should be "filial" to their older brothers (that is, "caring"). This kind of emotion is the most authentic way of human existence. Some people say that animals also have "love" and "affection" between mother and child, which is just an "instinct" of animals. Therefore, Confucius' thought is not great, at best, it is a family ethics based on blood relationship. It is true that animals do have "maternal love" and "affection" between mother and child, which used to be considered as "instinct" of animals without any consciousness, but now it seems that animals not only have emotions, but also have thinking (advanced animals), language and society; People and animals belong to the same "big family" in nature, so they have the same side. Moreover, the experiments of modern scientists show that people and some animals can exchange emotions, information and even language. Even if Confucius pointed out that people and animals have a common side, it may not harm people's dignity, nor can it be said that people are reduced to the level of animals; What's more, the "filial piety" mentioned by Confucius, as an emotion, comes from nature and is higher than nature. In action, we should not only try our best to support our parents, but also have a "love" heart. This feeling of "respect" is of course what animals lack and lack. Confucius said that if the affection for parents is only "nurturing", that is, only providing them with means of subsistence, then domestic animals such as dogs and horses can do the same thing. What is the name of "filial piety"? The most important meaning of "filial piety" is "respect", which means respecting parents. This is not only to repay the kindness of parents, but also to respect their personal strength such as hard work, selfless dedication and life experience, and it is the accumulation and inheritance of culture, not just a simple blood relationship. People explain the most basic emotion of "filial piety" by blood relationship, pointing out the biological and basic side of people, but ignoring the other side, that is, the spiritual side, which is very important for people's existence. Confucianism believes that "filial piety" comes from "true feelings", which is the most basic affirmation of human emotions. As life, human existence begins with emotional activities. The first cry of a baby at birth is the bud of emotional activities and the birth of life. After the baby was born, his parents and brothers (sisters) first contacted him, and his emotional activities took place in the contact and communication with his parents and brothers. At this time, he showed various emotions such as joy, anger, sadness and joy, among which the most basic emotion was love for his parents, which produced the so-called "filial piety". The emotion in infancy is the truest, simplest and richest. When he has not learned to speak, that is, to express his needs and thoughts in language, his emotional activities have already been expressed, which can be called emotional language. It is no accident that many philosophers in China attach great importance to the observation of babies and find and raise many important philosophical questions from it. Taoist Laozi used the baby as a metaphor for the highest realm that human beings have reached-the realm of Tao, and put forward philosophical propositions such as "returning to the baby", "returning to infinity" and "returning to simplicity". [2] He compared the baby with "infinity" and "simplicity", and also proposed that human beings should live like babies, obviously referring to the state of human existence. Mencius, a Confucian, also said, "Adults are childlike." [3] The heart of a child, that is, the heart of a baby, is the purest and most precious. "Childlike heart" not only includes a child's feelings, but also mainly refers to emotions. If Laozi attaches importance to the naive state of "ignorance and no desire" of babies, that is, the natural state; Then, Mencius paid more attention to the equally natural and naive love of babies to their parents. "A child loves his relatives." [4] From love for children to filial piety for parents, filial piety is not only a true feeling, but also a basic state of human emotional existence. This point can be further proved by Confucius' related exposition. There is a dialogue between Confucius and Ye Gong in The Analects of Confucius. Ye Gong told Confucius that there are "people who bow straight" in his hometown, that is, people who walk straight. His father stole the sheep, and he can report it ("His father is busy herding sheep, and his son proves it"). Confucius said that the "straight archer" in our hometown is different from the "straight archer" you said. Father hides for his son, son hides for his father ("father hides for his son, son hides for his father"), and "straight in it". [5] Father hides for his son, son hides for his father, and father and son hide from each other. How can you "go straight into it"? This shows that Confucius and Ye Gong have different views on "straightness" and different starting points for discussing problems. Judging from the "fact", it is a "fact" that the father stole the sheep, and the son's report is to expose and prove this "fact", which is of course "straight". This is exactly the position of Ye Gong. Confucius considered the problem from the perspective of "true feelings". In his view, the son's true feelings for his father go far beyond the "fact" of stealing sheep and beyond exposing his father's stealing sheep. Although he concealed the "facts", there were also "straightforward" things. The "straightness" understood by Confucius obviously refers to the true feelings that can't be concealed as a son, and it is not a confirmation of the "fact" of stealing sheep. Confucius would never deny the fact of stealing sheep. On the contrary, he was about to explain the authenticity and importance of emotion through the "fact" of stealing sheep itself, indicating that the most authentic existence of human beings is the existence of emotion. Another "problem" is likely to arise from this, that is, the so-called "emotion" is greater than "law" or "law" is greater than "emotion". Actually, these are two different questions. Love has feelings, and law has jurisprudence. If when there are contradictions and conflicts between individuals, individuals have the freedom to choose, Ye Gong chose the law and Confucius chose the emotion. There is indeed a question of "freedom" here. Confucius does not advocate that man is free, as modern existentialists do. Man's freedom is freedom of choice, but one thing is similar or the same, that is, man is responsible for his own actions. In the conflict between "emotion" and "law", Confucius chose "emotion", and he is of course responsible, as Zhu said in his notes: "Father and son keep secrets from each other, conforming to nature and human feelings." [6] From here, we cannot simply draw the conclusion that Confucius opposed the rule of law. Historically, the Confucius era was relatively free. For example, you can choose between "love" and "dharma". Unlike the later authoritarian society, loyalty and filial piety can't be "satisfactory". You can only have one choice, not two. In a word, the problem discussed by Confucius is not so much the relationship between "emotion" and "law" as the problem of "free choice". What he cares about is human existence, not social system. In any case, the love between father and son, a special human emotion, cannot be ignored. If Confucius did not directly answer the conflict between "filial piety" and "law", then Mencius, as the heir of Confucius' thought, clearly answered this question by evaluating the legendary historical figures. Mencius' words must be called Yao and Shun. Shun is a legendary saint and a great dutiful son. Mencius' praise of Shun's filial piety far exceeds that of Shun's political achievements, which is also very interesting. It is recorded in Mencius that Tao Ying asked, "Shun is the son of heaven and a scholar. What if you kill someone?" Mencius said, "Just stick to it." "But can't you help it?" Yue: "Is it forbidden for a husband to avoid evil? My husband has suffered. " "But what is this?" He said, "Follow the vulgar and abandon my clothes. Stealing and fleeing, following the seaside, I was shocked by the heavens and the earth, and I was happy to forget the world. " [7] Shun is an ideal son of heaven and an ideal master of law enforcement. You are Shun's father, but a very bad father indulges Shun's younger brother in making things difficult and framing Shun, who is a dutiful son. In this case, what should you do if you kill someone? This is a very sharp problem and a very sharp conflict. In Mencius' view, since you committed murder, you should arrest him. This is really "culpable of punishment", and there is nothing you can do. But the next question is that Shun, as the son of heaven, has supreme power. Isn't it forbidden for Hao Tao to arrest his father? Mencius' answer is no. The reason is that Hao Tao's behavior is well-founded, and the laws he enforces are taught, not granted by private individuals or worked for private individuals. He accepted this responsibility ("scholar") and should do the same ("arrest"). What is the reason for the ban? So, what can Shun do to get his father arrested and punished? There is a way, but not the son of heaven. In Mencius' view, winning the world is nothing for the son of heaven, and the world can be thrown away like a whore for Shun (Mencius also said something similar elsewhere, such as: "A gentleman has three pleasures, but a king has nothing to do with the world." [8] If you are not the Emperor, you can sneak away behind your father's back, live along the coast, enjoy your family all your life, and forget to be the Emperor. This is the conflict between the dutiful son and the son of heaven, which is different from what Confucius said, but the nature is the same. They all value people's emotions, especially the affection between father and son, more than anything else, because this is the most basic emotional state of people. It is this that gives people some kind of "freedom" to choose. In Confucius, father and son can hide from each other, while in Mencius, they can give up their supreme power and realize their own wishes, that is, their own freedom. Here, Mencius never denied the rationality of "law", let alone suppressed it with "power". It is clear that there must be no "bending the law" between "law" and "power". But when there is a sharp conflict between "emotion" and "law", in order to realize people's emotional needs, we can "escape the law". What Confucius and Mencius said are all extreme examples. Generally speaking, "emotion" and "law" do not necessarily conflict, and it is not the original intention of Confucianism to completely oppose emotion and "fact" If the Confucian love between father and son is described as "ambiguity", then such "ambiguity" is very important for human existence, because such affection, as the most initial and basic way of human existence, is the foundation of human existence. "Ben" is the beginning, that is, the "origin" (Wang Yangming's language), which will continue to expand and develop, so that people show various emotional consciousness and attitudes in various behaviors and communication activities. The true meaning of "filial piety" is "love", which is what Mencius said: "Children love their loved ones". Starting from "loving relatives", or starting from "loving relatives", it will inevitably extend to loving others, which is related to "benevolence". In the bamboo slips of Guodian Chu Tomb, there is an article "The Way of Tang Yu" explaining "filial piety": "The filial piety party loves the whole world." (P 157) The five elements also said, "Love your father, love your lover, and be kind." (P 150) Series III also said: "If you love your loved ones, you will love your loved ones." (p 211) [9] Guodian bamboo slips are the most important academic documents in the pre-Qin period. According to archaeological excavations, they belong to the period from Confucius to Mencius and are of great value. There are so many words about filial piety, love for father and love for parents in the bamboo slips with a total of more than 13 thousand words, which are rare in the existing pre-Qin documents except the Analects of Confucius, Mencius and the Classic of Filial Piety. Judging from these discussions, "filial piety" is not only an ambiguous relationship, but also the most basic human emotion that began with "loving relatives" and became universal. It is particularly noteworthy that the third season also put forward: "A father loves his son, but this is not promising." [10] (p209) shows that the love between father and son is not man-made, but natural, which is shared by everyone, or human nature. "People are fake. It's disgusting." [11] (p181) "promising" and "artificial" are against nature, so they are untrue. Confucianism pays attention to the true and unpretentious natural emotion, which is the real existence of human beings. This is not absolutely opposite to Taoism, just as Taoism and Confucianism are not absolutely opposite. Interestingly, Taoism also advocates the truest natural feelings, and there are Taoist documents in Guodian bamboo slips. In the popular reading Lao Zi, there are some sayings, such as "abandon the Tao and have benevolence and righteousness", "six parents are not in harmony and have filial piety" [12], but Lao Zi C on Chu bamboo slips says: "abandon the old Tao and have benevolence and righteousness. The six relatives are not harmonious and have filial piety. " [13] (p121) is completely opposite to what I mean. In contrast, Chu bamboo slips are credible not only because of their early age, but also because of their complete semantics. This is worthy of attention, indicating that both Confucianism and Taoism attach great importance to human emotional existence. 3. Why emotion is precious Although Confucius put emotion in the first place and regarded it as the basic way of human existence, he did not put forward the concept of "emotion". Mencius put forward the word "emotion", but many scholars believe that what Mencius said "emotion" refers to "emotion", which refers to the actual situation or actual situation, not emotion. Some scholars, including some western sinologists (such as the famous sinologist Angus Charles Graham), believe that the word "emotion" mainly refers to the "emotion" and "environment" in ancient times, especially in the pre-Qin period, that is, as far as objective facts are concerned, it has little or no emotional meaning. Now the bamboo slips unearthed in Guodian have solved this problem. In Chu bamboo slips, the word "emotion" is not only widely used, but also clearly refers to emotion. Moreover, "emotion" has special significance and occupies a core position in literary works such as "sexual pretend", which shows the importance of emotional problems. The article "Sex Dress" focuses on the relationship between emotion and mind, sex and Tao, and especially points out the importance of "emotion". It says: "mortal feelings are pleasing." If there is love, it is not evil; Although it is difficult, it is not expensive. If you have feelings, you have never done it, but people believe you. If you don't say what you believe, you will have good feelings. [14](P 18 1) This is the further explanation and development of Confucius' thought on "true feelings" and the best interpretation of Confucius' view on "straightness". If there is anything different, it is that "Sexual Pretending" further clearly puts forward the value judgment. "Love" is good, and anyone who has "true feelings" is trustworthy. "Ordinary people love yue" and "yue" is also an emotional category, but it has the significance of objective evaluation here, and "yue" means good. Any behavior that comes from people's "true feelings" is always good; In other words, anything with "true feelings" is good; Moreover, the "true feelings" of mortals are all good. The "human feelings" mentioned here naturally refer to people's "true feelings" rather than "artificial" affectation. "True feelings" are the most rare and precious, just like babies, happiness is true joy, anger is true anger, laughter is true laughter, crying is true crying, and there is no disguise. It is this "feeling" advocated in "Sexual Pretending" that is the real existence of human beings. "If you are affectionate, it is not evil", and if you are sincere, even if you have it, it is not evil. There is a difference between negligence and sin. What Confucius called "straightness" may be called "excess", but it cannot be called "evil". Is it necessary to make mistakes in order to be innocent or kind? This goes back to the previous question, which involves the choice of special circumstances. Interestingly, Liu De's chapter in Chu Zhushu put forward the conclusion [15](P 188) that "you can't leave your father for your father's sake", which can be regarded as the best annotation of Confucius' exposition on "straightness" and the direct source of Mencius' exposition on "stealing negative and fleeing". This shows that in the pre-Qin period, the affection between father and son was greater than that between monarch and minister. "It's hard but not expensive if you don't care about feelings. "What people do is worthless if it is not out of true feelings. This is a negative proof of the importance and value of emotions. " If you have feelings, you have never done it, but people believe you. "If you have true feelings, although some things are not done, this person is still trustworthy. What kind of "behavior" this so-called "inaction" refers to, the author of the article did not say, but from the context, it obviously refers to acting according to the truth; So he went on to say that "people who don't believe what they say have good feelings", that is, people who can trust without words are people with good feelings. Yue ","expensive ","faithfulness "and" beauty "are all evaluative languages, which are aimed at people's true feelings or people with true feelings. This is the clearest positive affirmation of people's emotional existence. Husserl, a phenomenologist, discusses that emotional behavior is a kind of advanced behavior from the perspective of "intentional object" He said: "Generally speaking, emotional behavior and willing behavior are based on a higher level. Therefore, the orientation of intentional objects is as complicated as that of objects contained in a unified whole object. ..... Because of this objectification, we not only face nature, but also face various values and practical objects with our natural attitude and therefore as members of nature. " [16] According to this view, emotional behavior, as a "higher level" behavior, has a complicated situation in its objectification process, that is, it faces not only natural objects, but also objects of value and practice. In our opinion, the latter is more important. It involves not only facts, but also values. Emotion is valuable because it supports "values". Feelings are precious, and so are people. "The Book of Filial Piety" quoted Confucius as saying: "The nature of heaven and earth is precious. "People are expensive, in a sense, because people have feelings. Confucianism believes that human emotions are different from those of animals. Of course, people have the feelings and emotions of animals, but people are human because they have higher emotions different from animals. Mencius has discussed this. Following the bamboo slips in Guodian, Mencius put forward the so-called "difference between man and bird" by focusing on the difference between man and animal. He said: "The reason why people are different from animals is that Shu Ren went there and the gentleman stayed. "[17] He thinks that there are only a few reasons why people and animals are different. This little thing "Shu Ren" is easy to lose, but "gentleman" can be saved, which shows the importance of this little thing to people. Nothing more than human feelings, especially moral feelings, which is why people are expensive. As can be seen from this, Mencius believes that there is not much difference between humans and animals, and both humans and animals are living things. From this perspective, they even have the same sex; But on the other hand, I think the difference between people and animals is the essence of people. Compared with animals, people belong to the same "class", but "dogs and horses are different from me" [18] As people of the same "stratum", they all have some of the same feelings. At this point, there is no difference between ordinary people and saints. Saints also have the feelings of ordinary people. Ordinary people can become saints because "saints are like me". "So, if people of the same kind are similar, why not doubt them alone?" "[19] Mencius gave an example to show that everyone has the same desire." Mouth has the same taste and the same thing; The ear is to the sound, and there is the same hearing; Eyes in color; Have the same beauty. " [20] In other words, everyone likes to eat delicious food, listen well and be optimistic. This is in terms of sensory organs such as ears, eyes and mouth; So, what about people's hearts? "As for the heart, nothing is the same? What is the same as the heart? It is also reasonable and justified. The saint won my sympathy first. Therefore, be righteous and stern, please my heart and my mouth. "[2 1] From the similarity of perceptual desires such as ears and eyes, it is proved that people's hearts are similar, which is the heart of" pleasing justice "." "Yue" is a psychological emotion, and the heart of "Li Yueyi" is a universal moral emotion. Mencius' "righteousness and benefit" is a kind of moral self-discipline, not an external heteronomy, but it is universal and a kind of moral reason. The so-called "Yue" means "Yue himself", not "Yue him", that is, a person's joy in his moral self-discipline, which is expressed in the form of emotion, not in other forms. This is particularly important. Fourth, what is conscience Confucianism does not think that the difference between humans and animals is only emotional, and there is no other difference; But,