Newton said that I was able to see farther because I stood on the shoulders of giants. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Culture, to put it bluntly, is the accumulation of various experiences in human history. Without the ordinary people's exploration of the world for thousands of years, there would be no dazzling light of the later intellectual elite, which is a process from quantitative change to qualitative change. However, due to the uniqueness of Chinese culture, the elite was more interested in politics, which led to a large number of intellectual elites in ancient China, all of whom were officials. They have a lot of knowledge of social experience, but they often ignore summarization and look for rules, and prefer practicality, which is inseparable from the innate temperament of Confucianism. To put it mildly, it's a bit utilitarian. In the Tang and Song dynasties, scholars still attached more importance to their own all-round development. When Zhu Xi finished summarizing the theoretical system of Song and Ming Dynasty science, he was transformed into a shackle that shackled the social elite by the rulers. Especially after the implementation of the Eight Shares of Scholars in the Ming Dynasty, in order to be officials, most scholars only focused on studying the Eight Shares of Articles, and directly left behind many of the cultures summarized by their predecessors, which is a cultural regression.

Wang Mai explained the "carriage theory", a variant of the "tram paradox", to Zheng Changshi.

"This ......" Zheng Changshi listened, he was also the master of the six gods, panicked, and the more he thought about it, the more cold sweat he became. Why are both options wrong? Is there something wrong with the person or is there something wrong with morality? How would the saint reply? No, the saint cannot answer, and if the saint does, then he is morally flawed. Is a saint a saint with a moral flaw? …… It took him a long time to wake up from this infinite nightmare, his forehead was covered with cold sweat, and he looked at Wang Mai with strange eyes.

"Mr. Zheng, are you alright?" Wang Mai asked with concern.

"It's okay...... It's just that I have a lot of ...... on my mind Doubt. Lao Zheng spoke a little slurred.

Kong Yingda patted him on the shoulder: "When I first heard this just now, I was also covered in a cold sweat, but when I think about it carefully, I feel that there is something more in my heart, and now I am just waiting to answer our questions." ”

Wang Mai nodded, but the expression on his face was extremely serious: "There are only three people present now, and what I say may be very shocking." If the three of you don't like it, I can interrupt it immediately, but please keep the content of the words confidential, and the matter will be stopped, and I haven't heard of it. May I? After all, the next words involve too many problems, thinking about Bruno's final fate, Wang Mai shuddered, he did not have the courage to sacrifice himself for the truth.

Xu Wenyuan nodded: "The old man guarantees his reputation for life, and he will never disclose this matter to the outside world." ”

"Mr. Kong, I have to explain to you separately, there may be old Master Kong involved in the words for a while, please bear with me." Wang Mai solemnly bowed to Kong Yingda.

Kong Yingda nodded.

"First of all, I'll announce the answer to the question I just asked, the carriage should turn a corner." After saying that, he stared at the expressions of the three of them tightly. Kong Yingda and Xu Wenyuan both looked calm, only Zheng Changshi opened his mouth and stopped talking.

Wang Mai was quite satisfied with the reaction of the three of them, he took a deep breath, and continued: "I think Mr. Kong and Mr. Xu are more inclined to the answer I said. Don't be busy nodding your heads, I'll answer your doubts right now. What is morality? Ethics is a set of rules of conduct that people summarize that are in line with the interests of the majority of people. Answering the question of the carriage with this explanation leads to the conclusion that even if we were to kill the innocent child in the carriage, we would be acting morally because it was in the interests of the majority and saved the lives of the majority. You can compare this explanation with any of the moral standards in reality and consider whether most of the morals that are now available meet this standard. ”

The three of them were silent in unison, all thinking about Wang Mai's words.

I think you already have the answer in your mind, and most of the current moral standards are in line with this interpretation. So why are there still some ethical standards that don't fit into this interpretation? Just because morality has its time limit, in other words, an era has an era's moral standards. For example, Confucius promoted the Zhou rites, why did Confucius respect the Zhou rites so much? This has to start from the era in which he lived, during the Eastern Zhou Dynasty, the princes divided one side and attacked each other, and the lives of ordinary people were miserable. Everyone misses the peaceful era of the Western Zhou Dynasty very much, so they attach importance to Zhou rites because that system is in the interests of most people. And if the weekly rites are resumed now, do you think it can be implemented? ”

Kong Yingda's face changed a few times, Xu Wenyuan frowned, and Zheng Changshi was thoughtful.

"Zheng Changshi, you have held important positions repeatedly, do you think that Zhou Li will meet the actual needs now?" Wang Mai asked.

"This ......" Zheng Changshi looked embarrassed.

"Now that the weekly rites are resumed, it is indeed not the best choice." Kong Yingda answered this question for him.

Wang Mai looked at Kong Yingda with some admiration, and he could muster up the courage to deny the words of his ancestor Confucius, and the Kong family did inherit the open-mindedness of his ancestors.

Then we must admit that the ancient law is absolutely incompatible. Because the ancients had the problems of the ancients, and the ancients had the problems of the ancients; Modern times have modern problems, and today's people have today's problems. The problems we face today cannot be the same as those of the ancients. I met a Hu man before, and he once said to me a famous saying of a Western sage, I love my teacher, I love the truth even more. ”

I love my teacher, I love the truth even more. The three of them savored this sentence at the same time.

Therefore, I think that what the sages have left us is not a specific good way to govern the world, and when our descendants encounter problems, we must not be lazy, but only know how to turn to the ancients, but should find our own way to solve the current problems. We should learn from the good character qualities that the saints have left us, rather than copying the opinions of the saints. Wang Mai said that he felt that he was a little off-topic, so he quickly stopped.

"That's right," Xu Wenyuan nodded, "Self-cultivation is the foundation of everything, and it is also the foundation of my Confucianism." ”

"Therefore, there is a beginning, and there is a whole thing. If you know what to do, you will be short. The foundation of self-cultivation and Qi family governing the country and the world lies in Gewu, what do you think, what is Gewu? ”

"Grid, come on." Kong Yingda said.

"Who's coming? People or things? Wang Mai asked.

Kong Yingda thought for a moment, "People come." ”

"What does it mean?"

"This ......" Kong Yingda hesitated for a moment, "I heard that there are many things lost in the Book of Rites, and the meaning of learning from things should be in the lost chapter." ”

"Yes," said Wang Mai, "I was a student in my early years who said that he had seen this part of the lost chapter. ”

"What?" The three elders were all shocked. The Book of Rites is a compulsory Confucian classic, a program for scholars to guide their own actions, and a book for readers to establish a world view. However, because of the changes of time and social changes, especially after the Wei and Jin dynasties, the Northern and Southern Dynasties and the Five Chaos of China for a long time, it has led to the loss of a lot of content.

"The man's surname is Cheng, he is very old, he told me the meaning of Gewu, I asked him where he got it, he claimed to have seen this missing part of the content."

"Where is this man now? Come on! The three of them asked eagerly.

Wang Mai shook his head: "At that time, I met him in the Jiangdu area of Jiangnan, and when I saw him, he was already eighty years old, lonely, and ill, and now I am afraid that he is no longer alive." ”

"Alas......" Xu Wenyuan sighed, "Presumably he is a scholar of the former Southern Dynasty, the Southern Dynasty is not like the Northern Dynasty that has been war-torn for a long time, and it is normal for some complete chapters to be handed down." Do you remember the missing part of the chapter he told you? ”

"Yes." Wang Mai got up and walked to the side of the case, picked up the pen and wrote a few lines on the paper, "This is what the old man mentioned to me, and it is difficult to distinguish between truth and falsehood, but I do think that the truth in the article is the best explanation of Gewu." Three gentlemen, look! ”

The three elders couldn't wait to take the paper.

"The so-called knowledge is in the object, and if you want to know it, you will be in the thing and exhaust its reason. The soul that covers the heart of man is not known; And everything in the world is reasonable. However, there is no end to reason, so there is no end to it. This passage is the fifth biography of "University Chapters and Sentences", which is derived from Zhu Xi's summary of Cheng Yi and Cheng Hao's thoughts. In order to cope with the college entrance examination, Wang Mai memorized a lot of ancient Chinese by rote, but he didn't expect it to come in handy here. This passage explains the meaning of Zhizhi Gewu, if you want to reach the state of Zhizhi, you must understand the principles and laws of things, as long as it is the human heart, you have the ability to recognize things, and everything in the world has principles and laws; As long as the principles and laws of all things are not clarified, it is difficult to reach the state of enlightenment.

"Alas......" Zheng Changshi looked at Wang Mai, "No wonder you have such attainments in arithmetic, I think you are deeply affected by this." ”

"Not bad. So over the years, I stopped wasting time on books and turned to the pursuit of knowledge beyond books. "After telling so many lies, now Wang Mai has also reached the realm of lying without blinking.

"It's just that there are more than everything in the world, and it's not easy to be reasonable." Zheng Changshi sighed.

Kong Yingda and Xu Wenyuan also nodded.

"Actually, I think that it is not necessarily necessary to understand the truth of all things, and human energy is limited, at least to understand the truth that should be understood in the world, and then divide the subject into different disciplines, so that personal research can be focused. For example, if I have a lot of research on arithmetic, then I can sort out my own experience in studying arithmetic and teach others, so that others can save a lot of effort. In the same way, there are people who specialize in other sub-disciplines of Gewu, and he also contributes his own experience. Our generation may not be able to exhaust the truth of things, but if it is passed down from generation to generation, one day we will grasp the truth of all things. The more we understand the principles and laws of things, the closer we get to the realm of enlightenment. "Wang Mai has said so much, whether he can accept it or not is their business.

He was a time-traveler in later generations, and he knew too little about ancient cultures. But as a person who knows that Chinese civilization will eventually decline, back to this era, if he doesn't do something, Wang Mai is unwilling. He has always believed in his heart that the reason for the decline of modern China is not only because of the weakening of national strength, but also because of the inherent inadequacy of Confucianism. Scholars attach too much importance to their own inner cultivation, so they lose their desire to learn about external things. It's like a person who walks on one foot, no matter how thick his legs are, they are never as fast as his legs.