|
|
|
| On Zheng Xuan's View of Animals and Its Ecological Significance |
| Shan Changtao1 Qiao Qingju2 |
| 1.School of Philosophy, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300071; 2.Teaching and Research Section of Philosophy, TheParty School of the CPC Central Committee , 100091 |
|
|
|
|
Abstract As one of the outstanding thinkers of the early Confucian hermeneutics, Zheng Xuan made a close study of the names and characteristics of various kinds of animal and insect, and thus developed and deepened the meaning of Mencius's idea of ren. Zheng Xuan's thought represents an ecological view of animals which is governed by the principle of "ren, or love for human being and things." This principle, which reflects the ecological significance of ren, includes animals in the moral community. Zheng Xuan's thought, which enriches the Confucian idea of "shengsheng," needs to be studied more closely.
|
|
Received: 11 August 2014
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
2015, Vol. 32 
