Confucius and Socrates lived in China and Greece respectively. Confucius lived in China at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, which coincided with the transition from slave society to feudal society. Socrates lived in the decline of slavery in the Greek city-state. Although they are in different periods and countries, they shoulder similar historical missions. During the Spring and Autumn Period of Confucius' life, the social and political chaos, the decline of kingship, the prosperity of princes and the drastic changes between classes were manifested in the collapse of rites and bad music. This is a period of intensified social contradictions, and traditional social norms have lost their binding force on people. Socrates lived in Athens, Greece, and the slave-led democracy has fallen into a deep crisis. Athens created a splendid culture by relying on democracy and prosperity. By the time Socrates lived, democracy had gone too far and evolved into an extreme democracy. It even developed into a method of drawing lots to elect officials and jury members, leaving the polis to be managed by people who draw lots by chance. The winners are mixed, and the wise can't control the fate of the polis. In addition, at that time, the fashion of obeying the law in society was fading, the trend of individual doing whatever he wants and extravagance was growing, people were competing for the enjoyment of material life, and traditional religious beliefs had been shaken. However, the intellectuals who were active in Athens at that time vigorously advocated the relativism and individualism that were unprincipled, right and wrong, and immoral, that is, people were the yardstick of everything. Generally speaking, the whole Athens city-state presents a scene of turmoil and decline. ?
Both of them have such strong secular feelings and have chosen the same way of "education"? As thinkers and educators, from a deeper level, this is closely related to their humanistic thoughts. From the philosophical point of view, the humanistic thought of Confucius and Socrates is the fundamental reason why they pay attention to social life and moral education. In the history of Chinese and western philosophy, due to the differences in ideological traditions and ways of thinking, their humanistic thoughts have their own characteristics. However, paying attention to real life, thus paying attention to ethical education, is the common purport of their humanistic thoughts. In Greece, early philosophy mainly focused on nature, but Socrates believed that it was foolish to think about the origin of things in the invisible world or the vast universe regardless of social and personnel issues. Like Socrates, in the relationship between heaven and man, Confucius inherited the realistic thought of attaching importance to personnel and neglecting ghosts and gods in the Western Zhou Dynasty, and held strong secular feelings. In Confucius' view, there is no need to talk about "ghosts and gods" and "death" when the problems of life and people are not clear. For Confucius, who is full of realistic thoughts, the problem of life or death, the problem of suppressing or surpassing people, is also a problem with no practical significance and practical function. Both Confucius and Socrates have a strong interest in practical problems, and both give themselves a strong sense of responsibility and mission through cultural consciousness. This concern for the world mainly focuses on their interest in social and political issues. This interest in political issues makes them turn their attention to the field of moral education. This is the ideological reason why Confucius and Socrates took moral education as their responsibility all their lives.
Source: Zhang Suling's Comparative Study of Moral Education Thoughts between Confucius and Socrates, Journal of Henan University (Social Science Edition), Vol.46, No.65438 +0.