Having Ample Virtue and Carrying All Things: The Moral and Humanistic Spirit of Cultivating Personality

The debate over mankind versus beasts sought to establish what distinguished human beings from other animals. This was a matter of critical importance in the discussion of ancient Chinese thought and culture. The sages believed that humans are privy to a social life, interpersonal relations and moral norms. They not only have natural instincts, but also cultivate ideals and sentiments, and possess their own spiritual lives. Therefore, people are inclined to establish moral and ethical ideological systems, to study the purpose and significance of life, to discuss how mankind can excise what is evil from what is good, and to validate the kind of moral standards by which one should abide. The Chinese humanistic spirit was bound together with just such a moral theory, namely the humanistic spirit of morality. The debate over mankind versus beasts sought to establish what distinguished human beings from other animals. This was a matter of critical importance in the discussion of ancient Chinese thought and culture. The sages believed that humans are privy to a social life, interpersonal relations and moral norms. They not only have natural instincts, but also cultivate ideals and sentiments, and possess their own spiritual lives. Therefore, people are inclined to establish moral and ethical ideological systems, to study the purpose and significance of life, to discuss how mankind can excise what is evil from what is good, and to validate the kind of moral standards by which one should abide. The Chinese humanistic spirit was bound together with just such a moral theory, namely the humanistic spirit of morality.