孔子的

生态伦理观
Ecological Ethics of
Confucius

Simon Kong
2008.5.14
 Preamble
� The year 1998, two-thirds of Nobel Prize
winners who are still alive had had a
meeting in Paris, and the meeting began
with this declaration, “If human beings
want to continue to survive in the 21st
century, we must go back to more than
2500 years ago, to understand the
wisdom of Confucius in ancient China.
China.””

Simon Kong Shandong University

 Preamble
� "The wisdom of Confucius" should mainly
refer to Confucius and Confucianism.
� Keywords.
� Of course, its most important representative
《论语》
《论语》）
is “The Analects of Confucius.”（《论语》
� My view.
天
 天
� In Analects, “天” appears 19 times, “命”
appears 21 times, “天命" appears 2 times.
� The character 天 in Chinese, can be
translated in many ways, such as the God,
Sky, Heaven.
� Pantheism( 泛神论).

� My view.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 天
� 孔子曰：
孔子曰：“ “君子有三畏：畏天命，畏大人，畏圣人
之言。小人不知天命而不畏也，狎大人，侮圣人之
言。
言。” ” ——《 《论语
论语· ·季氏第十六》
� Confucius said, "There are three things of which
the superior man stands in awe. He stands in awe
of the ordinances of Heaven. He stands in awe of
great men. He stands in awe of the words of
sages.The mean man does not know the
ordinances of Heaven, and consequently does not
stand in awe of them. He is disrespectful to great
men. He makes sport of the words of sages."

Simon Kong Shandong University

 天
� The ordinances of the world is an irresistible
objective, such as changes in times of the year, all
the living creature has own laws.
� People can only accept it, spring planting, then we
can harvest in auturm ; people can just adapt to it,
keeping cool in heating summer , and keeping
warm during cold winter, then we can get rid of the
diseases.
� If we are against this, we can not do good job in
food production, and are also difficult in
guaranteeing the health level , it’s just like killing
ourselves.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 天
� The mean people will never know the
ordinances of everything’s development. So
they will do anything they like. Because of
them, not human relations was ruined, but
also the relations between people and
nature are ruined.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 天
� So there comes series of so-called "moral
crisis", “faith crisis" and "ecological crisis"
phenomenon.
� Confucius regard “knowing the ordinances
知命畏天" as the virtues of gentlemen, and a
standard distinguishing gentlemen and the
mean men.
� My view.

Simon Kong Shandong University

和
 和
� 有子曰：礼之用，和为贵。先王之道斯为美。小大
由之，有所不行。知和而和，不以礼节之，亦不可
行也。 ——《 《论语
论语· ·学而第一》
� A philosopher said, “In practicing the rules of
propriety, harmony is to be prized. In the ways
prescribed by the ancient kings, this is the
excellent quality, and in things small and great we
follow them, yet it is not to be observed in all
cases. If one, knowing how such harmony should
be prized, manifests it, without regulating it by the
rules of propriety, this likewise is not to be done."

Simon Kong Shandong University

 和
� Differentiation and differences are the premise of
harmony. They are the nature of life, and because
of them, the world has become so rich and varied.
� But they must go through the steps of being
harmonious. So the real meaning of harmony by
Confucius is that things among which there are
differences and contradictions do not only allow
the coexistence of each other, but are totally
complementary symbiosis.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 和
� In the eco-system, each individual is factor
that matters, and factors affect each other,
and jointly create their own living
environment, the human beings are also
included.
� 子曰：“和而不同。”meaning that different
creatures can live together in harmony.
� My view.

Simon Kong Shandong University

俭
 俭
� Frugality is the traditional virtue of Chinese,
and is also a kind of moral character.
� When it comes to the nature, frugality
evolves kind of ecologically emotional care.

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 俭
� 子钓而不纲，弋不射宿。
——
——《《论语
论语··述而第七》
Confucius angled, but did not use a net. He shot,
but not at birds perching.
� Confucius gave us a good example of spreading
the concept of sustainable development, not only
sustainable for the people, but for the animals.
This is a deep ecological awareness, and also
reveal his kindness.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 俭
� 子曰：
子曰：““骥不称其力，称其德也。
骥不称其力，称其德也。” ”
—— 《论语
——《论语
《论语··宪问第十四》
� Confucius said, "A horse is called a JI, not because of its
strength, but because of its other good qualities."
� Do horses also have moral rights? Most people love horse,
only to use it as a tool, because it’s profitable. Confucius
thought that horses as well as people, have their own
virtues.
� People should not only make use of the animals but also
respect them. It is kind of the ecological value of equality!
� My view.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 俭
� Nowadays, although the level of productivity
has greatly increased, people's living
conditions has greatly improved, but in order
to protect the environment, we must
promote the consumption concept from the
angle of ecological thrift vigorously.
� My view.

Simon Kong Shandong University

乐
 乐
� 子曰：
子曰：“ “知者乐水，仁者乐山。
知者乐水，仁者乐山。” ”
——《 《论语论语· ·雍也第六》
Confucius said, "The wise find pleasure in water;
the virtuous find pleasure in hills."
� We could see Confucius’ attitude about the
relationship between cultivating spirits of
”pleasure in water and hills” and being a
gentleman. From which we can also found that
Confucian ethics and ecological ethics are the
same. A man who has ethics must also enjoy the
beautiful scenes.

Simon Kong Shandong University

 乐
� It should be noted that this ideal education of
Confucius is very far-sighted. although many
reasons should be accounted for deterioration of
the environment of today, the rulers of a number of
countries lack the spirits of “pleasure in water and
hills“. What they care about is the pursuit of
immediate interests, regardless of life and death of
future generations.
� On the one hand, their effort resulted in an
unprecedented economic prosperity, but on the
other hand, serious environmental problems arise
so rapidly.

Simon Kong Shandong University

天 俭
乐 和
信义仁
礼
智
 Nearly end.
� "The Analects of Confucius" shows a great
wealth of ecological wisdom, no matter it’s
from the angle of nature, existence, life or
aesthetics.
� It provides us useful resources and
inspiration in handling the relationship
between man and nature, and building a
harmonious society to create ecological
civilization.

Simon Kong Shandong University

The End.

Simon Kong
2008.5.14