论“以人为本”的古代道德哲学智慧

On Ancient Chinese Moral Philosophical Wisdom Manifested in "Taking Man as the Staring Point"

中国先民在距今两千多年前,创造了一种“爱人”、“爱民”、“重民”、“民为贵”的高尚“仁爱”精神和普遍性价值的道德关怀。这种道德关怀,先被周朝统治者创造性地吸收并系统化利用,从此世代相传,熔铸成中华民族“以人为本”的高尚政治美德和优秀政治传统。这些宝贵的精神财富见诸于《管子》、《论语》、《孟子》、《荀子》等古代典籍中。如今,所有文明国家的社会生活中,都程度不同地存有“重民”、“民本”等基因。

Two thousand years ago, Chinese ancestors created a moral doctrine of universal values, advocating the noble spirit of ＂benevolence＂, including ＂love for others＂, ＂love for the people＂, ＂recognition of the people＂, ＂the people being most important to a ruler＂ and so on. This virtue was first absorbed creatively and exploited systematically by the ruler of the Zhou Dynasty. And henceforth it was transmitted from generation to generation, and has been developed into a noble political virtue and an excellent political tradition of ＂taking the people as the starting point. These precious spiritual legacies are very abundant in the works of Confucianism, such as Guan Zi, The Analects of Confucius, Meng Zi and Xun Zi. As a matter of fact, the civilized nations of the world at present all cherish the spirit of the ＂recognition of the people＂, and of ＂taking the people as the foundation of a nation＂ in their social political systems to different degrees.