Plato's youth was also spent in the Peloponnesian War (427-404 BC). In order to realize his political ideal, he visited Syracuse, the ancient city of Sicily, three times. Around 367 BC, he returned to Athens, which was over 40 years old. He founded a college there and taught and wrote books. In his dialogues, Plato kept silent about his life before he was 60 years old. For himself, it may be an unpleasant memory, or it is precisely because of the failure of early political activities that he embarked on the road of philosopher. Let's boldly assume that one day, three people will come together and communicate with each other in a common language. I think nothing deserves our attention more than discussing what they are talking about. But one thing is certain, in their mutual communication, they will consciously put themselves and two other people in the position of philosophers. Think about what topics they will discuss. Many philosophers before Socrates, especially those in ancient Greece, invariably turned their eyes to the objective world and stood on the objective natural reality. From the religious worldview of primitive mythology to the natural philosophy of cosmology, it is necessary to make a reasonable explanation of the objective world, especially nature. Therefore, many people pay attention to the sun, moon, stars, fire and water in Jin Mu, and their way of thinking also lies in "what is it". Socrates is special. What makes him outstanding is that he has found another research path. "(He) was the first to pull philosophy back from the sky and introduce it into the city-state and even the family, so that it could consider the issues of life and morality, good and evil" (Cicero language). In Socrates' view, the "truth" sought in the world is better to return to itself because of its endless connection rather than "fruit". This fruit may not be in nature, but in itself. "It is better to ask for help from the outside than to ask for help from the inside and return to yourself." Seeking truth is also a new way for Socrates, but the way of thinking (or research method) is still a "definition problem", that is, to solve "what", explore the logical definition of concepts, and discuss its significance from concepts, languages and categories. Socrates believes that this "meaning" is the essence of things and is eternal. Grasping this "meaning" means grasping the truth and getting the "truth". As his disciple, Plato's research method has not been fundamentally improved in this philosophical atmosphere in Greece. Similarly, while defining the objective world, Plato was also establishing his own "ideal country". Different from other scholars, Plato gradually approached the society while looking for "truth", not just a conceptual term divorced from reality. Compared with his teacher Socrates, Plato was more enthusiastic about political activities in his youth, and all his political theories revealed the establishment of an ideal political country. He tried to March into reality through theoretical reasons, but was ruthlessly denied by reality. In the Politicians and the Law in his later years, although he still thought that sage politics (ruled by the king of philosophy) was the first good country, he had begun to turn to the second good country plan, namely the rule of law. What about Confucius? As the founder of Oriental Confucianism, Confucius laid the philosophical foundation not only for the content of philosophical research, but more importantly, he established the direction or method of philosophical research, that is, towards reality. Confucius seldom "abstract" speculative and "pure" theory, and his reasoning is very practical and concrete. Confucius' words and deeds recorded in the Confucian masterpiece The Analects of Confucius were more than 2,500 years ago, but it is a miracle that most people can read it easily now. This just shows that Confucian culture and Confucius thought have a deep influence on contemporary people, flowing in the blood of everyone in China. Between theory and practice, Confucius took a different road from western masters: he focused on instructing the world how to do it, downplaying the so-called concept, and rarely asked "what" but more asked "how". This is certainly not in line with the views of western masters. Hegel once laughed at The Analects of Confucius, saying that it was just a motto. However, in our view, although Confucius adopted an educational tone when expounding his thoughts, there is always a profound theoretical thinking in these seemingly practical answers and narratives, "exploring, demonstrating and discovering rationality and rational categories" (in Li Zehou's words), but these "life maxims" have a value recognition of human existence as the ontology. Let us law school students listen to their views on the law. In ancient Greece, law and politics were generally considered to be unified. Socrates' understanding of law, we can draw some conclusions from his political views. In Socrates' view, "virtue is knowledge", and the truly ideal country is a society full of wisdom and attaching importance to knowledge. In his view, governing the country needs people with good knowledge. Because not everyone has this kind of good knowledge, only a few people do. Therefore, the people who rule the country should be these people, not the people's congress composed of vulgar people. Election officials should also be measured by their knowledge, not by drawing lots. He is in favor of aristocratic rule, and those democratic politicians themselves do not have good knowledge, so it is impossible to cultivate the virtues of citizens and there will be no justice in society. Speaking of justice, in Socrates' view, "abiding by the law is justice", everything that conforms to the law is justice, and a just person is a law-abiding person. He divided the law into natural law and personal law. Natural law is the will of God and universal. Personal law is a law promulgated by state power, which is changeable. People are guided by both human laws and natural laws. Law is created by God, whose nature is rationality and complete goodness. Only under the guidance of God, fearing God and obeying the law can we move towards goodness. The death of Socrates once made philosophers lament. The Athenians executed Socrates, who loved this country, and personally executed this great man. The reason for the execution is actually "corrupting the youth and not believing in the gods and inventive spirit of Athens city-state". According to the records of his disciple Xenophon, Socrates was a model citizen of Athens in all aspects, and Plato's Argument and Quirido also described Socrates as a person who was loyal to the law and fulfilled his civic obligations. He refused the help and advice of his friends, neither ran away nor begged for mercy from the civic meeting. Hegel said Socrates deserved to die, "... man's own self-consciousness replaced the Oracle with the universal consciousness of everyone's thinking, which is a change. In any case, this inner certainty is a new god, not a god that the Athenians once believed in; So the accusation against Socrates is correct. Socrates is like a gadfly. He bit the cow in Athens, but he can't live without it. Anyway, Socrates' death was his last contribution to Athens: he defended the inviolability of the law with his life. Obeying the law is justice, and he died a fair death. Plato went a step further than his teacher in governing the country. In his view, the quality of aristocratic regime is to love money, and only a wise regime can truly realize the justice of the country. Personal virtue and national virtue, personal justice and national justice are integrated. Philosophers are born with good memory, sensitivity to understanding, sudden generosity, love of literature and knowledge, and virtues of justice, courage and temperance. Only such people, not warlords, nobles, tyrants and civilians, can lead the country to achieve justice. Similarly, Plato, like his teacher, did not go out of the view that the role of law is negative when dealing with the issue of rule by man or rule by law. Laws can be used to crack down on criminals and maintain public order, but they cannot change the hearts of citizens. Only by transforming people's hearts with the "goodness" brought by knowledge can national justice be finally realized. Perhaps because Socrates died of Athenian law, Plato always thought the law was unreliable. If all the country's rule is resorted to the law, once a class of people manipulate the law, the city-state will not be able to get rid of the disaster. Similarly, the rule of law depends on the majesty of the law. Once this majesty is lost, the rule of law will become empty talk and the city-state will fall into chaos. In Plato's view, governing a country depends on a wise monarch to a greater extent, and law can only be a sword in the hands of a monarch. At first glance, this view seems to have similarities with Confucius in the East, but under careful scrutiny, the difference is obvious. Confucius lived in the Spring and Autumn Period. At that time, all countries in the Central Plains were ruled by princes. Although there are differences in writing, measurement and currency, they are the same in political form. In people's understanding, there is no other concept of political power except this one. Confucius also agreed with the rule of man, the specific reason is that he did not and will not realize the rule of law or rule of man. Even the legalist Han Fei, even though he emphasized the rule of law so much, in his mind, the rule of law is only a harsh law under the rule of man. The central idea of Confucianism is a word "benevolence", which is embodied in political rule and advocates rule by virtue. This is inseparable from the social reality at that time. As mentioned above, Confucius did not have the so-called concept of government at that time. In his view, the rule of princes is natural, and the so-called rebellion and revolution against the sky is immoral. Therefore, if the country wants to have better governance, it can only hope on the princes. The so-called "rule by virtue" has two meanings: 1, to improve the morality of governors; 2. Improve people's moral standards. Confucius said, "Governing the country by virtue is like Beichen, living in its place and surrounded by stars." On the one hand, he warned the princes to put morality first in their administration, so that their rule would last long; On the other hand, it provides a means of governance, that is, doing nothing. Of course, this requires a premise, that is, rule by virtue. "Son for politics, how to kill it? Children are better and people are better. The virtue of a gentleman, the virtue of a villain, the strong wind on the grass will be suppressed. " Similarly, Confucius adopted the rule of man in dealing with the issues of rule of man and rule of law. It has been analyzed earlier that Confucius adopted the rule of man because he did not consider replacing vassals with laws. At that time, the law refers to severe punishment and severe law, "politics is the way, people are free from punishment, shameless;" Tao is virtue, courtesy, shame and dignity. "Confucius believes that severe punishment can only punish people's bodies and have no effect on their inner evil. Only by using morality and teaching morality to resolve the evil in their hearts can we achieve real results. Confucius emphasized the use of etiquette to educate people and regulate people's behavior through etiquette to form a certain social order (whether this social order is excellent or not).
Finally, Socrates, Plato and Confucius, as masters of contemporary eastern and western philosophy, have taken two completely different paths while studying by themselves: one is "what is" in concept; The other is the "how to do it" that tends to be applied. On this basis, the development of science and culture in the East and the West has also taken different paths. China's science and technology was far ahead of the west in ancient times, but it fell behind in the key modern times. There are many reasons, but one thing is certain: China has never established its own scientific system. Under the guidance of attaching importance to concepts and reasoning, the West has developed a system of scientific logic. Confucian culture flourished and declined in ancient China, but it never formed its own philosophical system, which is not unrelated to the philosophical research direction adopted by a group of pre-Qin philosophers such as Confucius.
By comparing Socrates, Plato and Confucius, I think the reasons for the different development of ancient eastern and western philosophy are as follows:
1, geographical factors. Oriental civilization originated in the Yellow River basin. At that time, the Yellow River Basin was densely forested and fertile, and it has been a stable and rich hot land since ancient times. Tribal people, who are mainly agricultural, have developed the nature of relying on the sky to eat and follow the fate, and a more comfortable life has formed a gentler character; The origin of western civilization ancient Greece is near the Mediterranean Sea. Facing the majestic sea, the ancient Greeks' longing for the sea formed their adventurous spirit of longing for the new world. Facing the unknowable natural world, they choose to know it, instead of just obeying it like the orientals.
2. Social factors. The mode of production dominated by agriculture in the ancient East made the social population and wealth grow steadily, and this steady growth brought a stable social order. People attach importance to the family, the social relationship is single, and the moral function is huge, so it is not easy to form advanced thought of rule of law. Athens, a famous city-state in ancient Greece, as the economic and cultural center of the west at that time, was a city-state with commercial exchanges as the main body. Its social wealth comes partly from trade and partly from foreign wars, with unstable growth, many social contradictions and complicated relations. At this time, there is already a problem with morality itself, and the society will have high requirements for the law, and the rule of law will naturally develop.
3. External environment. In the Spring and Autumn Period, the political power and ruling thoughts of all countries were consistent, that is, under the unification of the Zhou Dynasty, scholars such as princes and Confucius lacked objective materials to study the political power form and could not form the political power theory like the West. Socrates lived in ancient Greece, where there were large and small city-states. As far as Athens and Sparta are concerned, their regimes are completely different. Different forms of rule gave Socrates and other philosophers materials to learn, and at the same time formed a more systematic theory.