Value Appeal of Harmonious Moral Life of Chinese College Students

Hebei University, Baoding 071002, China

1 Introduction

Under the conflict between pluralism and unity of moral concepts, diversity and disorder of moral norms, sublimeness and vulgarization of moral behavior, some Chinese college students are overly rational and irrational about modernity chase, which destroys the truth and integrity of life. If you want to investigate the moral cognition and the realization of college students and change their confused and puzzled moral life, the moral education has to return to the world of life and human nature, lead the students from rationalism and instrumental rationality into the essence of life and the value of life, reconstruct the subjectivity of human nature of college students, awaken consciousness, and realize the value belonging.

2 Ontological examination of college students’ harmonious moral life

2.1ConnotationMarx once proposed that human nature is not an abstraction inherent in a single individual, but in its reality, it is the sum of all social relations[1]. Harmonious moral life of college students should be a state of harmonious co-existence between college students and nature, society, others or themselves, between individual attributes and social or natural attributes, between personal interests and collective interests, between enjoying the individual rights, freedom and fulfilling responsibility and obligation. Aristotle pointed out that the so-called "happy life" is not a hedonistic life but a harmonious life consistent with the value choice principle of "middle way"—spirit and flesh, ideal and reality, the future with the immediate harmony of life[2]. Therefore, the construction of college students’ moral life and the order of good moral life should be the pursuit of the harmony of the "spiritual world" and "inner world", so that the heart will return to the pure and true equilibrium and midway state, strive to create the harmony between morality and nature, mankind and society and push it forward.

2.2Theoreticalbasis

2.2.1Human nature theory. Humanity plays a vital role in the process from moral origin to morality, and affects the realization of moral values. In the history of Chinese ethics, the theory of human nature has always been the theoretical basis of ethics, if this problem is not well resolved, the establishment of ethical norms or the cultivation of individual moral norms will be badly grounded[3]. The moral harmony of college students should be inevitably focused on the human nature of college students, ultimately with the conformity of human nature as the ultimate goal. Confucius said that we are of same sex, but different habits[4]. Mencius said that the goodness of human nature is to go down like waters, and there is no man without fault and there is no man without waters[5]. Hsun Tzu clearly put forward the theory of "human nature evil" which contradicts the theory of Mencius, and thinks that people have the nature of "good looks, good ears, good breath, good heart, good appetite for bones and skin"[6]. Gao Zi put forward the theory of non-goodness and evil, Chuang Tzu advanced super-evil theory or natural humanity theory, andYiZhuanput forward the theory of "goodness and success" with the unity of morality, goodness and sexuality.

Most Western cultures regard "human nature as evil". Maslow argues that although human beings have the potential for evil, human nature can be changed under certain conditions. The truth, beauty, goodness and beauty of human nature are a setting and an expectation and belief in human morality. Marxism believes that the real people in these relations are a unity of the natural being, the social existence and the spiritual existence[7].

We respect the difference of human nature theory and do not seek the absolute consistency of human understanding, but we need to seek a perspective to define human nature. Human nature has no congenital good and evil points, but the good and evil of human nature is specific, historical, variable, under certain conditions can be transformed.

2.2.2Community thoughts. In terms of human sociality, the history of human life is a history in which all kinds of communities took place, developed and restricted each other. There is no community, there is no human life; without a harmonious community, there is no ideal public life of mankind. Tennis said: "The community of consanguinity develops and separates into a geopolitical community as the unity of action, which is expressed directly by living together, while the latter develops into a spiritual community as a pure interaction and domination in the same direction and in the same intent"[8]. This reveals the dynamic process of social progress from a low to a high level. Kant’s idea of "ethical community" holds that if members of a community behave freely according to moral laws and regulations, since members of the community are free because the moral law is derived from the rationality of human beings, those who act rationally must be morally noble people who can do so, this community must be a harmonious community. Hegel advocates the construction of a universal community. As long as the common interest of the community is realized, personal interests can be realized.

The contemporary college students’ public life and moral life are undergoing tremendous changes. The construction of a harmonious moral life cannot be separated from the harmonious development of the community. From Plato’s "ideal country" to More’s "Utopia", Campanela’s "Sun City", Fourier’s "Harmony System", Irving’s "Communal Commune", Marx and Enge’s "Free People’s Consortium Form" and so on. From the "Great Harmony Thought" of Confucianism, to the "Great Harmonious Society" by Kang Youwei, and then to Fei Xiaotong’s "once everybody is ignited to find out positiveness from all angles, wonders of the world can be spotted anywhere anytime", and the current thought of "harmonious society", all emphasize the significance of harmony to the survival of the human community.

3 Problems

Based on the status quo of Chinese college students’ moral life nowadays, the situation allows of no optimist. It is faced with the following problems.

3.1WeakeningmoralappealThe deep application of information technology and science and technology, promoted by science and technology, brings about the deconstruction of moral subjectivity of human beings, and even the marginalization of human subjectivity. Contemporary Chinese college students are more and more intoxicated with materialized things and enjoyment, social moral disorder, indifference to moral consciousness and weakening of moral beliefs have also emerged. Melancholy, autism, violence are all common occurrences. Some college students simply regard foreign culture as modern and blindly worship it, regard our traditional culture as backward, reject and resist it, and shake the national self-esteem, self-confidence and pride, and distort the world outlook, outlook on life and values.

3.2ImmoralconductSome Chinese college students may undergo the loss of moral consciousness and self-discipline due to the discrepancy of judgments under the "herding effect", which may lead to the contradiction between the universality of norms and the particularity of individual accomplishments. Ideologically, in the face of poor social environment, they lack determination, and speak or behave as others do without views of one; in learning, they are tired of learning, fudge on the exam, and even spend money to buy the graduation thesis; in life, they occupy seat in the classroom, or even occupy tap water in the bathroom with basin. In the view of love, they deviate from reason, lack responsibility, and the love relationships are disorganized. Some students even make some shameless behaviors in public places such as classrooms and playgrounds. This is a mirror image of personal centralization, an individual’s social psychology under the center of social illusion, and a misplaced expression at the moral level.

3.3SupremacyofmaterialvalueAs Fromm said, "Human alienation begins in the process of civilization, and human alienation is that we cannot balance the empty spirit of human nature with the social existence, so the end result is an unbalanced morality and imbalance of the human nature"[9]. In face of the material or physical value, some college students lose the antagonism against the wild expansion of the desire "devil element", lose the direction of value pursuit, and the human value is pushed by the physical value, spawning exquisite individualism, hedonism, money worship and utilitarianism characterized by "selfishness" and "narcissism". The new images formed by "egoism" and others are in conflict with "the mirror of the ego" of original good morals of college students, which makes them stick to the image of "egoism". On the other hand, there has been a misunderstanding of the selfishness and morals of egoism. Some college students take advantage of righteousness and interest and resort to opportunistic measures and wangle the poverty allowances, scholarships, use the bribe and other means to achieve the purpose of joining the Party, join the school community just to get "bonus".

3.4UnclearpositioningofroleUndergraduates play multiple roles in schools, families and society. However, some modern college students have unclear roles, failing to assume their due roles and responsibilities. Specifically, in the school, they have some improper behaviors, such as indulgence, lack of restraint, the pursuit of fashion, laziness in learning, disrespect for the teacher, quarrel with classmates, and quibbling; at home, they do not know how to respect the old and love the young, and rarely exchange opinions with their parents, so that the affection and the sense of gratitude are weakened; in the society, they are not qualified citizens, and do not observe the law, and some uncivilized phenomena are ubiquitous, such as jaywalking, spitting, littering, disorderly crowding in public transport and seizing seats. The lack of clear positioning of roles leads to a lack of moral character.

4 The focus of Chinese college students’ harmonious moral life value appeal

The college students’ harmonious moral life should establish the consciousness of life community, inspire the inherent driving force of human, keep the morality of value pursuit, to realize the return of human values and the sublimation of self-worth. Specifically, it is necessary to focus on the following aspects.

4.1CultivatingmoralfeelingsFirst of all, we should pay attention to cultivating students’ healthy life sentiment and the awareness of increasing income and reducing expenditure, opening up the spiritual source of inner faith and wisdom. The college students should return to the innocence of the child, to maintain a simple, pure, humble life character, have wisdom, responsibility, perseverance and correct outlook on life and values. Secondly, there is a need to pay attention to the cultivation of college students’ autonomous rationality. Taking the requirements of the times and the goals of moral education in our country as the basic growth points, we should cultivate their ability of moral cognition, moral judgment and behavior selection and urge them to fulfill their mission of adhering to the righteousness, uprightness, to avoid deception and ill performance, understand tolerance, respect and integrity, know how to pay, learn to pursue the beauty of human nature, live harmoniously with people, society and nature, so as to achieve a pure and clear state. Thirdly, we should cultivate the college students’ enthusiasm for moral practice. College students should incorporate the sense of gratitude, goodness and nourishment into their moral practice and promote the rational development of their moral practice. People are not only teleological but also existential, as long as people do not jump out of the shackles of "me", "self" and "us", they only try to pursue and realize "What is valuable to us?", rather than stand at the height of human beings for the pursuit and realization of "What is valuable to humankind?" Treading on Hartmann’s "good back" only makes you horrified and dazed, without being calm and magnificent[10]. If the college students only have a heart of wisdom, but have no goodness of beauty, then wisdom is nothing but "selfish" wisdom, and slightest mistake may stay them treacherous, crafty, and jealous. Students must first of all play a positive role in non-intervention of value, cherish the good ideas, good words, good things, good heart, give people convenience and confidence comfort people. Secondly, it is necessary to respect all creatures with equal heart and compassion. The American philosopher Taylor put forward the proposition of "Respect for the Ethics of Nature", that all species are equal and have the same natural value, which gives them the moral right to be respected[11]. Thirdly, the role should be clearly defined, and it is necessary to know how to be grateful, to be thankful for the stability of the country, to be grateful for the upbringing of parents, to be grateful for the cultivation of schools, to be grateful for the teachings of teachers, to be grateful for the help of friends. Finally, the colleges and universities should vigorously carry forward the thanksgiving education, innovate and enrich the contents and forms of education, regularly hold activities such as Thanksgiving Alma Mater, Thanksgiving Teacher and Thanksgiving Parent, and launch Thanksgiving Education Lecture, Thanksgiving Photography Exhibition and Thanksgiving Party to arouse gratitude consciousness and inspire gratitude action. It can also organize charitable activities for college students, guide college students to help the underprivileged.

4.2BuildingalifeofmoralvaluesThe spirituality of some undergraduates currently exists only as discrete phenomena. Without being unified and unable to move as a whole, the students’ psychology cannot display a clear image and certain content, and life will fall into contradiction. Therefore, students should go beyond this state, stand on the basis of their common ideals and beliefs, stand on the basis of their basic living structure, self-inspection and self-deepening movement in line with their inherent independence and promotion of their essential life, sex and simplification to the whole, to build a new life of the integrity. This kind of new life formed by the whole consistent with the reality will produce a new annotation of the truth, the goodness and the beauty. The content and value of college students have a noble purpose, and for this purpose, we should mobilize all their forces, to build a spiritual country, and we must focus on solid moral integrity, and build a harmonious community of life. College students want to blend themselves into the big self and concentrate their mind and power in the common ideal and belief. It is necessary to strive to promote the great spiritual world and combine their responsibilities, dedication and service awareness with a work-worthy life to create the life of society, the life of the country and the life of the public. Secondly, we must be based on respect and tolerance, with a critical and submissive attitude to foreign culture, and constantly correct the heart, control behavior, hold innocence. Thirdly, we must study Leifeng spirit, Jiao Yulu spirit, the long march spirit, Xi Bai Po spirit, and inherit the Chinese spirit and Chinese power.

4.3RemodellingbehaviorethicsWe should guide college students to understand the purpose, value and significance of individual life in their daily life and urge them to form a complete spiritual life by strengthening personal accomplishment as a form of living. It is also necessary to play a guiding role of university culture, restraint and shaping role in regulating the behavior of college students. Firstly, we should actively integrate general education, cultivate the spirit of science, enhance humanistic accomplishment and promote the all-round development of undergraduates. Secondly, we should give full play to college students’ cognitive subject and value subject function, arouse their subjective consciousness and urge them to affirm self-worth, all-round development, initiative development, individual development and lifelong development, the pursuit of truth, goodness and beauty. Thirdly, there is a need to build a "coexistence" community. Students should correctly handle their own relationship with others and society, make good and different things coexist in harmony, pay attention to mutual aid and make progress together. Fourthly, we should promote the fine tradition of equality between teachers and students and the teaching of education, create an atmosphere conducive to education that combines "benevolent love" and "strict love" and guide and bind them, and realize the self-discipline, as well as self-education, self-management and independent learning. Fifthly, it is necessary to strengthen the construction of academic ethics, strengthen the awareness of honesty, establish honest and true research ideas. Sixthly, students should establish a rational concept of love, regard love as an admiration, understanding and trust, a responsibility, commitment and dedication, make it develop in the right and healthy direction.

4.4GivingplaytothemainchannelfunctionofideologicalandpoliticaltheorycourseinthecollegesanduniversitiesUnder the new situation, colleges and universities should attach importance to strengthening and improving the construction of the ideological and political theory courses. The teaching methods should be closer to the students, closer to reality and closer to life, and there is a need to advocate heuristic, participatory and research-based teaching and enhance the persuasiveness of Marxist theory in order to improve the effectiveness and pertinence of ideological and political education. The Marxist Institute of Hebei University of China has pioneered the teaching mode of thinking and micro-movie of administration in the new era, making the students take part in the filming of the ideological and political micro-films and apply them to the teaching of ideological and political education. The film’s documentary film "Love for Home" tells the story of a teenager in Fuping County, Hebei Province, who lost his parents and followed his uncle to survive. He is a brave and hard-working student, and this micro film touches the soul of college students, so that students feel the value and significance of life. Secondly, we must also strengthen the practice of teaching, establish and perfect the practical teaching guarantee mechanism, combine the practice teaching with volunteer service, public service activities and charity activities to lead college students into the grassroots, mountainous areas, poor villages, widows and widowers, etc., and get close to the masses of workers and peasants to observe and experience the real situation of social life through a variety of different practical teaching links and activities, to enhance the ability of college students to observe and analyze social phenomena and ideological and political accomplishments, and cultivate their sense of gratitude and dedication.

4.5InheritingChineseexcellenttraditionalcultureThe German philosopher Karl Theodor Jaspers said: "Mankind has always survived by the thinking and everything created in the Axis Era and every new leap forward recalls this period and is revived by it"[12]. In his opinion, between 1 000 BC and 500 BC., there were Socrates, Plato, Aristotle in ancient Greece, Jewish prophets in Israel, Sakyamuni in ancient India, Confucius, Laozi in China—They put forward the principles of thinking to shape different cultural tradition. The state should support the development of Chinese learning education in universities, encourage the setting of "Sinology" disciplines, incorporate the national studies into the outline of the educational reform plan, incorporate the essence of Chinese learning into the courses of ideological and political education, integrate the education of Chinese learning with the spirit of the times, establish a system of the study of Chinese history and language and culture, and enhance the Sinology courses for the college students, so that they can learn Sinology, accept Sinology, practise Sinology, develop Sinology, so as to enhance college students’ cultural identity and sense of cultural belonging, and reshape the college students’ moral beliefs and moral self-consciousness. Only by never forgetting the civilization can we make progress. Students should review and examine the civilization created by the Chinese nation for 5 000 years, reposition their moral character to return to the true nature. They should uphold their spirit of dedication, tolerance, equality and spirit, to build themselves and serve the community.

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