2018年10月18日 14:17 来源：中国网
今年的9月28日是孔子诞辰2569周年纪念日。他被尊为“至圣先师”，他的思想深刻地影响了中国社会的方方面面。在中国，三岁孩童都能诵出几句孔子《论语》中的名言：“有朋自远方来，不亦乐乎。”“三人行，必有我师焉。”
了解孔子，是了解中国人精神世界的方式之一。
与西方文化所推崇的“追寻真我”不同，美国夏威夷大学教授安乐哲总结孔子的观点：“每个人都要立足于自己所处的社会关系，关爱他人，并把自己的角色诠释得更加完美。”——更好的父母、孩子、教师、商人、帝王。
儒家要求帝王为政以德，而非以武，同时设计了一整套制度来约束皇权。法国思想家伏尔泰对此推崇备至，他认为，在奉行儒学的中国，政府只管社会风化，中国人用自身的道德伦理来协调事务，具有明显的进步意义。
可见，思想的传播并不完全受国别、时代的制约，尤其是像儒家这样具有实用性质的、入世的哲学。甚至来到21世纪的互联网时代，孔子的理论依然值得被学习。马云就认为中国企业可以从传统文化中寻找根基和风格，他曾说：“如果公司发展到一定程度，不懂儒家的组织体系建设，将没有机会持久。”
公元前6世纪~4世纪，古希腊、古印度、中国都产生了众多伟大的思想家，苏格拉底、释迦牟尼、孔子……这一时期被称为人类文明的“轴心时代”。先哲之间也许无法对话，但今日的人们已经可以进行多种多样的文化交流。不同文明之间的了解、尊重、互鉴，正是孔子教给我们的“和而不同”。
Sept. 28 marks 2,569 years since the birth of Confucius, who is known as the “great sage and teacher” in China, whose ethical and philosophical teachings continue to have a profound influence on every aspect of Chinese society. In China, even a three-year-old toddler can recite some of his famous quotes, such as “What a joy to have friends coming from afar!” and “Whenever I walk with two other men, I can always find teachers in them。”
Understanding Confucius is one of the ways to understand the minds of the Chinese people。
Confucius’ views are quite different from the pursuit of “seeking your true self” emphasized in Western philosophy. According to Roger Ames, a professor of the University of Hawaii, Confucius’ views can be concluded as the following: “The way in which we become consummate as human beings lies in the roles and relationships that locate us with our family and community。” This requires one to become a better parent, a better child, a better teacher, a better merchant or a better emperor.
Confucianism teaches that a ruler should rule by virtue, but not by force, with a complete system established to constrain imperial power. This view was highly praised by French philosopher Voltaire, who believed it to be very advantageous, because in Chinese society where Confucianism was taken as the mainstream philosophy, the government only needed to maintain social morality, while the general public could handle everyday affairs through their own moral and ethical judgment。
It is thus clear that the spread of ideas and thoughts is not entirely limited to a particular country or era. With a practical philosophy focusing on the relationship between individual and society, Confucianism found its way deep into the hearts of the people. Even in our time – the internet age of the 21st century – Confucius' theory is still worth learning. Ma Yun, also known as Jack Ma, founder and executive chairman of China's e-commerce giant Alibaba Group, believes that Chinese enterprises can gain fundamental strengths from traditional Chinese culture. He once said that a company, which has developed to a considerably large scale but still knows nothing about the ideological system of Confucianism, will have no chance to last in the market。
Ancient Greece, India and China from the sixth century BC to the fourth century BC produced a good number of outstanding philosophers and thinkers, such as Socrates, Sakyamuni and Confucius. This period is hailed as the Axial Age in the history of human civilizations. While the great thinkers of the past may have had no way to communicate with each other, today people can carry out varied cultural exchanges through multiple channels and platforms. It is exactly this mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual learning among different civilizations that Confucius conveyed to us as "harmony in diversity."
[编辑：页丛槿]
