Qian Xun

He is graduated from Department of History of Tsinghua University. He was in Marxism-Leninism Teaching Researching Group and Philosophy Researching Group in Tsinghua University. He is the former Director of Insitute of Humanities, Department of History of Tsinghua University.

The levels of Confucian morals

Confucian morals include different levels. It's important to recognize and analyse them Dao(doctrine) and De(virtue) are two basic levels in traditional morals.Zi Lu asks what is Junzi(gentleman). Kong Zi says: "Carefully nurture oneself. Nurture oneself to do good to other people."(Xianwen). The difference between human beings and animals lies in "Righteousness" and "group". To nurture oneself is to put the spiritual life in the first place, in which the righteousness is crucial; to do good to other people is to put oneselfin the group, care for others, share the weal and woe with the group. It is the raison d'etre of human being's existence and basic requirement to be a human being.

De also means 'to get'. If one gets Dao in himself, we can say he has De. Only then can Dao be a instruction of behaviors. Dao is the basic of De, De is the agency of Dao. Dao is the basic spirit throughout the moral system while De is the embodiment of Dao.De has two categories: the common, general De and specific De-s in human relationship. The De in human relationship is the requirement of the latter.

To precisely understand the characteristics of Confucian morals,one has to analyse the levels of it. Without such analysis means one can't recognize the origin, importance and relationships, thus Confucian morals will be in a isolated and plain status, not a solid whole object. The discussion of core values of Confucian theory has been heated with numerous viewpoints. This also results from a lack of analysis in levels.

The three levels of Confucian morals are from abstract to specific, while seen from its scope of regulations are from wide to narrow. The nurture of morality of human beings starts from the De of human relationship, from specific to abstract, from near to far. The levels of morality is the decisive factor of the sequence of moral education.

钱逊

毕业于清华大学历史系、中国人民大学马列主义研究班。先后在清华大学马列主义基础教研组、哲学教研组任教。曾担任过清华大学文史教研组主任，清华大学思想文化研究所所长。并主要研究中国思想史；先秦儒学、中国古代人生哲学。

儒家道德的层次

儒家道德包含着不同的层次。分析认识这种层次，非常重要。

道和德，是传统道德的两个基本的层次。

子路问君子。子日： “修己以敬。” “修己以安人。”“修己以安百姓。”（《宪问》）义与群，是人禽相区别，人之所以为人之所在。修己，以精神生命放在第一位，义以为上；安人安百姓，置身群体中，心系他人，与群体共命运，群己统一。正反映了人之所以为人之特质，是为人之道的根本要义。

德，得也；道之得于己者为德。只有得于己者，才能据之以指导言行。道为德之本，德为道之用。道是贯穿于整个道德体系中的根本精神，德是道的具体体现。
德又可分为共同的一般之德和各别的人伦之德两个层次。一般之德为人际交往之共同要求，人伦之德为特定人伦关系各别之要求。

分析儒家道德之层次性，方能准确把握儒家道德之特性。不作层次分析，不见本末主次及相互关联，儒家道德乃成一孤立平铺的状态，难以把握其整体特性。近年讨论儒学核心价值，众说纷纭，难求共识，原因之一也在没有对儒家道德作层次分析。

儒家道德三层次，依次由抽象而具体；从适用范围看，则前者宽而后者窄。人之道德修养，一般即由人伦之德始，由具体而抽象，由近而及远。道德的层次性，是道德教育次第的依据。