Ancient Confucianism was concerned with how to reconcile the pursuit of human interests and moral ideals when they clash, and in the process, they proposed ways to direct interests and harmonize with the community.
The ancient Confucians, represented by Confucius, Mencius, and Sun Tzu, strived to build a moral kingdom while contemplating the improvement of society and the salvation of reality. The ideal society they sought was one in which people expanded the “inner circle of relationships” surrounding them and became one with the community. However, this dream of a moral ideal society was becoming difficult to realize as the desires of the real world came into conflict with it. The ‘circle of relationships’ was shrinking and isolating due to the proliferation of small people who ostracized and plundered others to pursue their own interests. In this situation, the ancient Confucians realized the need to explain their personal desires for private gain.
The problems faced by the ancient Confucians were not limited to the realization of moral ideals; they involved a deep philosophical examination of how to understand human nature. Their philosophical foundation was the dual nature of human beings, who are both selfish and moral in nature. The selfish aspect of human beings is manifested in the pursuit of self-centered, private interests, which can often lead to harmony or conflict in a community. At the same time, however, humans are also inclined to care for others and to follow moral norms, and Confucianism was concerned with how to strengthen this moral aspect and spread it socially.
The ancient Confucians recognized human desires as a natural fact. They also argued that the desire for the pursuit of learning and the enjoyment of the moral life is real. It was at this point that the ancient Confucians pondered how to control natural and material desires so that moral desires could be realized. Only by solving this problem could the moral society they envisioned, a life of expanding “in-relation,” be possible. Importantly, the Confucians’ discussions were not merely moral ideals; they attempted to understand the desires inherent in human nature and to take a practical approach to how to control and utilize them.
Confucius did not deny the receipt and enjoyment of the benefits that come with political and moral achievements and accomplishments, but he did deny living for one’s own benefit, and he supported the actions of monarchs who acted for the good of the people. He asked whether the desire for “profit” is an individualized desire or a desire that is open to the community. Confucius believed that the order of human beings and society could be different depending on how these desires were directed. Therefore, in his philosophy, the pursuit of profit was not necessarily negative, but rather positive as long as it was in harmony with the common good.
Mencius advocated “reducing desire” (寡欲) and “eliminating desire” (去欲). In Mencius’s view, the heart is the place where moral tendencies, such as the Four Noble Truths, and material desires, such as appetite and sexuality, arise together. Material desires are natural and have a strong momentum, while moral tendencies have a weaker momentum, requiring an internal force of will to realize them. Therefore, Mencius suggested reducing material desires and increasing moral tendencies. Through this process, he prayed to overturn the natural forces between moral tendency and material desire and ultimately subdue material desire under the power of moral tendency.
He advocated either dao desire, “let desire be induced,” or yang desire, “let desire be cultivated.” Not only is the generation of desire a natural fact and therefore cannot be eliminated or reduced, but one should not be ashamed of or negatively evaluate the “existence” and “abundance” of desire. Furthermore, one should not equate the generation of desire with its actualization, because while the generation of desire is a natural fact and beyond human control, its actualization is subject to the mind’s prohibition. Sun Tzu argued that a person is not necessarily governed by the desire to do something, but rather acts in a way that induces or restrains the desire to do it under the control of the mind.
By explaining how to deal with “profit” desires, the ancient Confucian texts provide a way to expand human beings in “relationship”. Self-interest causes us to lose our sense of relationship, isolating us as physical objects. In order to bypass and divert the natural and powerful capacity of material desire, one can see it as a concomitant rather than an end, as a purity within a mixture, or as a fulfillment within a constraint, thus expanding the “in-relationship” and opening up the possibility for individuals and communities to move toward unity. These ideas of the ancient Confucians are still relevant today because they are not merely philosophical ideals, but concrete proposals for how to build a moral society in the context of realistic human relationships.
