论儒家的和谐思想及其局限

"和谐"作为中国哲学的基本概念,最初主要是从音乐的和谐转换而来的,它的含义可以从多个层面去理解.儒家所说的"和谐"是以宇宙的和谐为逻辑起点,以个体的道德自律为心理前提,以礼乐制度的建立为维系手段的社会和谐.这种"和谐"只是建立在封建等级制基础上的一种道德理想,它本身有着难以克服的历史局限.对于我们今天的社会来说,所谓和谐社会的建构,仅仅依靠道德自律和道德教化是不够的,只有先从改善民生、健全民主与法制入手才是根本的出路.

On the Harmony Thought of Confucianism and Its Limitation

"Harmony" as a basic concept of Chinese philosophy initially mainly derives from the harmony of music, the connotation of which can be understood in many ways. The harmony in Confucianism is the social harmony with the harmony of the universe as the logical starting point, the individual's moral self-discipline as the psychological premise and the setting up of the rite and music system as the maintaining means. However, the "harmony" as such is only a moral ideal based on the feudal hierarchy and has its own historical limitation that is hard to overcome. For the sake of the society in our times, it is not enough to build up a harmonious society only on the basis of moral self-discipline and moral education. The fundamental way, therefore, is to first improve people's livelihood and further democracy and legal system.