"The Master said, 'At fifteen, I set my mind on learning. At thirty, I took my stand. At forty, I was free of doubts. At fifty, I understand heaven?s command. And at seventy, I could follow my heart?s desire without crossing the line.'? (Analects 2.4)
To begin with, I am forty-one and this is my first time blogging. So I trust people will forgive me if I cross any lines. We will be talking about Confucius tomorrow and, without directing the discussion toward any particular topic, I would like to say a few words so people who have heard of Confucius but have no idea of what he said (which I trust is most people) will know what to expect should they tune in.
通常当我们想到教育时，我们认为它是信息的积累。虽然信息扮演着重要的角色，但儒家教育更多的是一种自我修养的过程。具体来说，它是一个变得聪明善良的过程。
Like liberal education, Confucian education is not directed toward any particular form of employment. But as with a liberal education, one could use almost any form of employment to act kindly. Though he also sees kindness as an end in itself, Confucius also thinks that people who approach the task this way will ultimately be the most effective.
What does it mean to be ?intelligently kind?? People can be kind without being intelligent and intelligent without being kind. Intelligent kindness is both at the same time. Obviously by ?kindness? here we mean something more than just being nice all the time since sometimes you have to be if not cruel to be kind, at least sanguine.
我们倾向于认为善良是一种感觉或激情。从词源学上来说，激情是发生在你身上的事情，而不是行动，行动是你做的事情。但是孔子，以及亚里士多德和其他西方学者，认为至少有一些感情是我们可以培养、实践和加强的。
I?ll stop there, not wanting to prejudice the discussion. ?To study and have a chance to practice what you?ve learned?isn?t that a joy? To have friends come from far away places?isn?t that a pleasure?? (Analects 1.1) I look forward to the discussion tomorrow.