Title

On Virtue (De) and its Various Actualizations in Ancient texts—Focusing upon Confucianism in Pre-Qin Times

Author

Chi-ping Lin

Genre

Article  

Pages

103-129

Download

PDF

Language

Chinese

Key words

Virtue, Confucius, Five-Elements

Abstract

       There is a consensus that morality, as one of the main cultural and intellectual characteristics of Chinese culture, develops various meanings. Only when we clearly understand all the aspects of the meanings of the Virtue (De) in ancient Chinese documents and thoroughly analyze the established value system though self-examination, will an analysis if the matter be possible. Generally speaking, this article is divided into three parts: First of all, analyzing the meanings of Virtue (De) from the perspective of receiving the mandate of Heaven, this article discusses the relationship between the meanings of Virtue (De) and political power. Next, the meanings of Virtue (De) is discussed in from perspective of mental-nature, analyzing the new meanings Confucius and Mencius gave to Virtue (De). Finally, the meanings of Virtue (De) are analyzed from the perspective of Heaven and inner-spirit consciousness, clearly showing the meaning Confucian added to the meanings of Virtue (De). This article hopes to use the method of conceptual terms, thereby concretely developing the answers to the questions mentioned above, in order to allow research in intellectual history to acquire a solid and fundamental interpretation of the classics.