孔子的君子小人论.docVIP

Gentlemen and Small People Introduction Confucianism was an important education system in ancient China, and now it still plays an important role in education all over the world. People around the world learn and research on the Confucianism. One important concept of Confucianism is gentleman and small people. Choosing to be a gentleman or small people is choosing the standard of personal conduct. The essence of education is to teach how to behave. As the classics of Confucianism, learning the theory of gentleman and small people in The Analects of Confucius has much education value and can guide our behavior and mind. This essay is written to introduce the gentleman and small people defined by Confucius. This essay can be divided into four parts. The first part is a brief introduction to this essay. The second part defines the gentlemen and small people. The third part analyzes the differences between gentleman and small people in detail. The last part is conclusion of this essay by summarizing that why people hate small people and want to be gentlemen. Definition of gentlemen and small people Before Confucius, gentlemen and small people are general terms of social status in Western Zhou Dynasty. The former means the noble ruler inferior to the emperor, and the latter refers to the common people and slaves ruled by emperor and gentlemen (Chen 11). According to Confucius, gentlemen refer to well-behaved men with integrity, virtue, and superior moral accomplishments. On the contrary, small people refer to those who seek nothing but profits, have interest only in personal gains and no concern for morality. As we all know, the central idea and value of Confucianism is benevolence. Confucius thought benevolence is the essence of gentlemen. Without benevolence, no one can be a gentleman (Chen 14). Besides benevolence, righteousness is also an indispensable quality of gentlemen. To Confucius, benevolence and righteousness are two fundamental qualities of gentlemen. Addit