On the Moralization and Artistic Quality of Confucianism——A new Perspective of the History of Social Thoughts

When it comes to scholastic succession and style,Zhuangzi is closer to Confucius in some aspects than to Mencius.To understand Confucius through Zhuangzi may help to find the artistic quality of Confucianism that was not given enough attention before.The entries of aiming far,possessing and judging by kind-heartedness are all of the artistic quality,while the concepts of realization and destiny can also be explained from this perspective.The combination of morality and art is the highest realm of Confucianism,thus the gain and loss of whose successive theories can be judged by this combination as a standard.The pan-moralization of Confucianism can be complemented by its artistic quality in which lies the way of the creative transformation of Confucianism.