On Mencius′s Humanistic Thought

Of classical works in the pre-Ch′in period or of the Confucian classics, Mencius is one that is most characteristic of humanistic thought. Mencius′ humanistic thought inherited the thought of Respect the sky and protect the that had appeared since the Western Zhou Dynasty and the thought of the Confucian Love the people and protect the people, on the basis of which he pushed the humanistic thought to a new stage and put forward the resounding slogan The people are the most precious, the state are secondary, and the monarch comes last. This paper analyses Mencius′ humanistic thought and points out that the obvious humanistic thought is the main cause for Mencius not being able to be set up as a classic.