Revisiting the Analects for a modern reading of the Confucian dialogical spirit in education

Abstract

This study investigates the educational thought of Confucius with focus on the educational relationship in the Analects, which is a historical text that defines the foundations of Confucianism. The first part of the investigation examines Confucius’ concept of the educational relationship and how it is characterized with a dialogical spirit, which consists of worldly and secular human-orientedness, co-existentiality as a fundamental principle for educational practice, and dialogue to become an ideal ruler through self-discipline. The second stage of this study further examines the spirit of dialogue in the Analects with consideration of its historical–cultural context. Through this process, the study unravels the historical and cultural limitations of original Confucian educational thought for modern society and proposes a possible way to reengage Confucius’ educational value in today’s modern educational context.     

Confucius’s view of learning

Drawing textual evidences from the Analects (Lunyu論語) and other Confucian classics, this article attempts to clarify the contents, methods, and ultimately the nature of learning in the eyes of Confucius. The paper set out to argue that a better understanding of the concept of learning by Confucius must be angled on: (i) Confucius’s political aspiration and life pursuit (zhi志) rather than his teaching; (ii) The personal preference (hao好) of Confucius along with his zhi that has motivated his study and practice of the finer aspects of the Zhou legacies. And on the above basis, the paper suggests that: (iii) TO BE one’s mandate self (wei ji爲己) is at the core of Confucius’s concept of learning and that naturally determines the methods and characteristics of learning; (iv) the three opening lines of Lunyu in fact made a statement on the way Confucius learns.     

《论语》与学生主体性教育

在大力发展素质教育,培养创新人才的今天,作为教师若能从孔子的教育思想中领会和借鉴以学生为主体的教育,无疑是大有益处的。文章从汲取知识的主动性、独立思考的自主性、寻求发展的创新性三方面来发掘《论语》中学生主体性教育思想对当今教师的重大指导意义。     

To be more fully human: Freire and Confucius

This paper compares the educational thought of Paulo Freire and Confucius on what it means to be more fully human. Both Freire and Confucius object to the dehumanisation of human beings through the banking concept of education and other oppressive practices. They argue for the ontological vocation of becoming more fully human through humanisation and humanity (ren) respectively. In terms of differences, Freire’s notion of humanisation seeks to transform human beings from objects to subjects who know and act. Confucius’ concept of humanity, while also stressing autonomy and agency, places moral self-cultivation at its centre. While Freire advocates critical consciousness and social transformation, Confucius propagates dao- or Way-consciousness and self-transformation. The essay concludes by exploring a synthesised conception of humanisation where human beings are subjects who are motivated and guided by humanity (ren).     

子夏教育思想简论

孔子的高徒子夏,在孔子去世后的六七十年间,办学成就与影响无疑是最大的。子夏的教育思想在全面继承孔子的教育思想基础上,又在教育目的论、教学过程论、学习和借鉴历史、慎交益友等方面有发展创新,是上承孔子、下启荀子和《大学》、,庸》等光辉篇章的重要一环。     

春秋时代称《诗》之风对孔子"诗教"的影响

春秋称《诗》之风对孔子的影响，主要体现在三个方面：一是在教育理念上，使孔子重视《诗》的传授，以《诗》作为教学内容；二是在学《诗》目的上，使孔子重视《诗》的政治功用，重视《诗》在伦理教化、性情修养和增长见识方面的作用；三是在引诗、解诗的方式上，孔子也深受《左传》一类解诗性质的引诗的影响。春秋时代人们称《诗》时没有文本观念，而孔子却已具有朦胧的文本概念，他在引导学生理解诗歌时，要求他们注意《诗》作者的本意。可以说孔子诗教并非空穴来风，它是对春秋时代称《诗》传统的继承与发扬。     

Toward a “Hard” Metric for Educational Utility

Education is far too costly an enterprise to operate without precise indicators of the successes and consequences of educational interventions. Unfortunately, many educational economists and educators have resisted measuring the societal impacts of educational programs, options, and interventions because a reliable and valid metric did not exist for those consequences. This article explores alternatives to the metrics utilized thus far in measuring the individually oriented “preferences” used in the conceptualization of utility, and argues that a “hard” metric which would either monetize or impute monetary values for both individual and social outcomes is both possible and useful. A hard metric is one that is independently verifiable based upon values attributed to results. While any such metric will be both imperfect and controversial, we suggest that it is more desirable to attempt its development than to take the greater risk of pretending that one is not possible. Three alternative (and related) types of educational results are suggested: products, outputs, and outcomes. Possible results-oriented indicators for each are suggested. These will serve as a basis for developing a useful hard metric for educational utility.     

Ren-li,reciprocity, judgment,and the question of openness to the Other in the Confucian Lunyu

Here the author takes ren-humanity to be, as Confucius says, an underlying, ineffable, potentially universal human quality, and draws a distinction between three different types of moral capacity in the Lunyu: the man of ren’s capacity for li-proper interactions, his capacity for total reciprocity with another, and his capacity to make moral discriminations. The nature of these moral judgments is then discussed in relation to the praxis of entering into shu-reciprocity with another and that of recognizing others’ actions as being li-proper. A key question is that of whether even an intuitive feeling of commonality, if not identity, with another man-of-ren involves a subjective judgment. Confucius’ view that foreigners can respect ren even if they may not possess it is also discussed. The author suggests that any viable ethical model would need to maintain a universal standard of humaneness while also including a maximum degree of openness to the other.     

Race,Reason and Reasonableness: Toward an “Unreasonable” Pedagogy

Starting from the contemporary critical-theoretical notion of an objective violence that organizes social reality in capitalism, including processes of systemic racism, as well as from phenomenological inquiries into processes of race and identity, this article explores the relationship between racism and reasonableness in education and society. The category of the reasonable connects the content of particular propositions with the inner truth of the form of thought. At the same time, the reasonable refers to what can be legitimated not only intellectually but practically and morally. I describe how the force of this category, working through neoliberal modalities of appropriation and penality, is an anchor for persistent processes of racial oppression in educational policy and curriculum. Furthermore, if the reasonable is a central figure for ideology, then a kind of thinking that would break with it will show up in the first instance as unreasonable. Thus, I argue that critical pedagogy in the present needs to start from a different and “unreasonable” reason. In addition, taking its cue from interventions by radical educators and students, critical teaching needs to challenge the dominative decorum that forces dialogue on race and racism into the narrow spaces—both material and discursive—of the given.     

论徐复观对儒家教育哲学思想的现代疏释

徐复观教育哲学思想的基础是人性论。在徐复观看来,儒家教育哲学思想的历史贡献主要体现在三个方面：第一是人格世界的完成;第二是奠定了中国学术发展的基础;第三是对教育价值的积极肯定。     

从孔子的教育思想看当今的大学教育

伟大的教育家孔子以其"学而不厌,诲人不倦"的精神,投身教育事业长达四十余年,给我们留下了宝贵的精神财富和博大精神的教育思想。《论语》一书,最集中的反映了他的教育思想,也为后世所传诵。作为教育类专业的学生,既学孔子,其教育思想是重中之重,努力的汲取孔子教育思想的精华,以更好的为当今的教育服务是很有必要的。文章从孔子对教育、对学生、对教师的见解与观点三个方面,并结合亲身经历来解读孔子的教育思想,对比并分析当今大学教育之弊病。     

《论语·先进第十一·子路、曾皙、冉有、公西华侍坐》：一节值得现代教师学习的老课

《论语.先进第十一.子路、曾皙、冉有、公西华侍坐》生动地记载了孔子和他的学生有关理想的讨论,是一次成功的教育经验,从中可以看到孔子民主平等的教育思想,重视对人格的培养和引导,充分发挥学生的自主性、能动性、创造性和独立性的教学机智。这些教育思想和教学方法与现代的某些教育思想和教学方法如出一辙,可见二千五百年前的孔子出色的教学技艺对我们现代教育仍有借鉴意义。     

孔子教育思想成因探析

近些年来,我国一直都在进行教育改革,素质教育成为教育改革的重心,孔子的教育思想对如今的教育现状有着重要的借鉴作用,如"有教无类"、"重在育人"、"因材施教"等。通过对孔子几个重要的教育思想形成原因的探析,可以更深入透彻地理解孔子的教育思想,从而为当代的教育改革提供参考。     

浅谈孔子的学习观

孔子作为教育家,有着丰富的教育理论,《论语》中关于学习的思想在中外教育史上有着重要的地位。孔子认为学习首先要端正态度,要能虚心,做到不耻下问,更要努力做到终生学习。关于学习方法,孔子强调要善于思考、主动学习、循序渐进、温故知新,最终要能学以致用,勇于实践。     

中西方教育思想演进的不同路径及其影响

孔子和苏格拉底的思想分别是中西方教育思想的源头所在。在他们博大精深的教育思想中,有着“因材施教”的共同旨趣,也有着明显的前提性分歧——苏格拉底对学生之“材”作了单一的假定,即“心灵的回忆”;孔子则没有进行单一的假定,并认为由于个人的差异,教师的指导也是多样的。由此,苏格拉底开启的路径产生了严格意义上的“教育理论”,而孔子开启的路径则只产生了“教育思想”。这直接导致了中西方教育传统的不同,也决定了它们直面教育实践时的境遇分殊。     

教育要从学生出发——《论语》的受教育者观

《论语》记载了孔子对受教育者发展规律的认识:人性非善非恶,是可以通过后天教化的,同时受教育者的资质是不一样的,因而施教过程必须"因材施教""、有教无类",使受教育者在不断的学习与调整中达到气质变化的目标——"仁"。文章通过逐步深入分析这三个层次的内涵和递进关系,阐明孔子的受教育者观,并指出孔子的教育学说对当今教育活动的启示。     

“有教无类”的历史解读与现代价值

"有教无类"是孔子教育思想体系的重要组成部分,是孔子毕生从事教育事业的指导思想。基于全民教育、大众教育和教育公平的时代背景,通过对"自行束脩以上"的争辩、对"类"的争辩、对"有教"的争辩三个方面的辨析,研究孔子"有教无类"的教育思想及其哲学内涵。在阐释"有教无类"之平等、正义价值理念的基础上,针对当下择校热与补课热、高收费与乱收费、高考加分与自主招生中的不正之风等教育不公平现象,从法律与政策支撑、亟须倾注全社会之力和对教育品质的追求三个方面,分析孔子"有教无类"教育思想的现代价值。     

从"仁"发现人:孔子人本教育思想的建构

“仁”是孔子思想体系的重要范畴,而由“仁”发现“人”,从“仁本”走向“人本”,是孔子教育思想体系建构的基本理路。孔子从仁本教育观出发,形成了“爱人”与以人为重的教育理念,并由此在教育内容方面呈现人本(文)主义教育色彩,即建立以“仁”“礼”为核心的世俗主义的教育内容;在教学方法方面凸现人的主观能动特性,即以启发诱导为主要特征的教学方法的运用;按照自励、励人的原则去形成具有强烈人本色彩的教师观,即以人影响人的方式去“爱人”和教人。孔子教育思想的人本化,其实就是教育体系的道德化,其终极指向是服务于德治社会的建设。     

‘Observation’ as China's civic education pedagogy and governance: an historical perspective and a dialogue with Michel Foucault

ABSTRACT

This paper examines China's civic education discourses from a historical and cross-cultural perspective. It unpacks observation as a political–cultural–spatial pedagogy, underpinning Confucius’ educational envisioning, Mao's domination in the Cultural Revolution Movement, and Xi's China/ese Dream propaganda. Drawing upon Foucault's provocation of the Western gaze, this paper historicizes Confucius, Mao, and Xi's discourses to explicate a Chinese observation diagram. With Confucius, observation works as an onto-hermeneutic principle, grounding China's cosmology and sovereign-subject governance. With Mao, observation becomes a panoramic domination-surveillance mechanism, which, coupled with a Confucian punitive shame, empowers the proletarian mass in excluding-purging the bourgeois as class enemies. With Xi, observation turns into a symbolic governing technology of self, subjecting its citizenry to re-branded Confucian values toward realizing a participatory China/ese Dream. In so doing, this paper shows the parallels and contradistinctions between the Chinese observation and the Western gaze in historically and structurally ordering knowledge production and social-educational governance.