The Pre-qin Confucian View of Dignity and its Contemporary Value

Abstract

Pre-Qin Confucian scholars and their classics attach great importance to the concept of human dignity, which is an important embodiment of Confucian humanitarian spirit. How to maintain dignity in the “sense of shame”, how Confucius creatively transformed rituals to improve human dignity, and the realization of human dignity under relative equality will be the main issues discussed in this paper. The concept of dignity advocated by the pre-Qin Confucians fundamentally affirmed the value of human beings, which was highly praised by later scholars and intellectuals. In the new era, it is necessary to carry out a deeper discussion and research on the Confucian concept of dignity that highlights the people's right to life and personality to a large extent. How to trace back to the source and correctly interpret the Confucian concept of dignity, the most fundamental thing is to return to the discussion and discussion of this proposition by Confucian scholars and their classics. This article focuses on the Confucian classics, and tries to analyze the concept of dignity in pre-Qin Confucianism.