History of Chinese Educational Thought - Volume 1

Author: Xu Zhonglin, Tan Foyou, Mei Ruli (editors)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 1996-09-01
Features: The pre-Qin period was a time when the Chinese nation transitioned from primitive clan society to a slave society and further to a feudal society. It was also a period when Chinese education evolved from an (spontaneous) state to conscious activities, and educational thought developed from its nascent stages to a more mature form, laying the foundation for the educational philosophy of the entire Chinese nation. Among the hundred schools of thought during the pre-Qin era, the most influential and representative were Confucianism, Mohism, Taoism, and Legalism. Their educational philosophies reflected different political objectives, which were manifested in education as follows: Confucianism emphasized reason, advocated practical application, and stressed (inspiration); Mohism emphasized practice, focused on craftsmanship, and emphasized (achievements); Taoism valued intuition, revered dialectical thinking, and discussed dialectics; Legalism valued legal systems, emphasized rewards and punishments, and used (comparison and verification). In general, all of them focused on cultivating people to achieve the realization of the value of human life in reality, though the specific content and methods varied among the different schools.