

# Philosophy of Human Love

# Liangzhi Gao

# 2016

Email address of Liangzhi Gao: lzgao863@sina.com

The author welcome readers have comments on this book and communication with him

Brief introduction of Prof. Liangzhi Gao

Liangzhi Gao (1929--) or Gao Liangzhi (in Chinese, Gao is his family name)

He was born in Shanghai and graduated from the Affiliated High School of Shanghai University in 1946

In 1950, he graduated from College of Agricultural Science of Zhejiang University.

He was working in East China College of Agriculture Sciences for four years . After then, he was working in East China Institute of Agricultural Sciences, which turned to be Jiangsu Academy of Agricultural Sciences (JAAS) in 1978. From 1983-1990, he was assigned as the President of JAAS and also a senior researcher there.

At the same period, he was a professor of Nanjing Agricultural University, China Agricultural University and Nanjing College of Meteorology. He was a Trustee of CIMMYT (International Research Centre of Maize and Wheat in Mexico)

He was one of the founders of Agricultural Meteorology and the main founder of Agricultural Modeling Science in China.

He has been accomplished 88 research papers and many books on Agricultural Sciences, as Climatic Ecology of Rice, Foundation of Agricultural System Science, Foundation of Agricultural Modeling Science, etc.

He was interested in philosophy in his young age. After he retired in 1999, up to now, he has read more than 300 books on philosophy, mostly original works of famous Chinese and Western philosophers. He wrote 8 books on philosophy:

1) Essay on Synthesis Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, China Culture Press, 2007 (in Chinese)

2) Strolling on Western Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, Wuhan University Press, 2014(in Chinese)

3) A Brief Discussion on Chinese Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, Wuhan University Press, 2014(in Chinese)

4) Love Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, Zhejiang University Press, 2011

5) Good Philosophy and Common Values, Gao Liangzhi, China Culture Press, 2014(in Chinese)

6) Beauty Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, Wuhan University Press, 2014

7) Does Man have Soul? —Soul Philosophy and Scientific Rational Belief, Gao Liangzhi, Zhejiang University Press, 2015(in Chinese)

8) Synthesis of Chinese and Western Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi , Zhejiang University Press, 2015(in Chinese)

His books on philosophy obtain high evaluation in the academic circle and by the readers in China.

# Philosophy of Human Love

# Contents

### Famous sayings on Love

Main points of this book

Preface 2 Yin Kefu

Preface 3 The Author

Part.1 What is Love?

Part .2 Classification of Love

Chap.2-1 Love for Oneself

Chap.2-2 Love for Lover

Chap.2-3 Love for Spouse

Chap.2-4 Love for Sons and Daughters

Chap.2-5 Love for Parents

Chap.2-6 Love for Brothers and Sisters

Chap.2-7 Love for Teachers and Students

Chap.2-8 Love for Friends

Chap.2-9 Love for People

Chap.2-10 Love for Career

Chap.2-11 Love for Motherland

Chap.2-12 Love for Science

Chap.2-13 Love for Literature

Chap.2-14 Love for Liberty

Chap.2-15 Love for the Nature

Chap.2-16 Love for Mankind

Part.3 Love in Western philosophy

Chap.3-1 Plato's View on Love

Chap.3-2 Aristotle's View on Love

Chap.3-3 Views of Middle age philosophers on Love

Chap.3-4 Views of Spinoza and Hume on Love

Chap.3-5 View of Kant on Love

Chap.3-6 Views of Schopenhauer and Feuerbach on Love

Chap.3-7 Views of School of Freud on Love

Chap.3-8 Singer's View on Love

Chap.3-9 Overview of Views of Western philosophers on Love

Part.4 Love in Chinese philosophy

Chap.4-1 Lao Zi's View on Love

Chap.4-2 Confucius' View on Love

Chap.4-3 Views of Mo Zi and Zhuang Zi on Love

Chap.4-4 Views of Zeng Zi and Mencius on Love

Chap.4-5 Views of Philosophers in Han Dynasty on Love

Chap.4-6 Views of Philosophers in Han dynasty in Wei, Jin and Tang Dynasties on Love

Chap.4-7 Views of Philosophers in Song and Ming Dynasties on Love

Chap.4-8 Views of Modern Chinese Philosophers on Love

Chap.4-9 Overview of Views of Chinese Philosophers on Love

Part.5 Scientific basis of Love

Chap.5-1 Scientific Exploration of Love

Chap.5-2 Love and Structure of Human Brain

Chap.5-3 Meaning and Evolution of Emotion

Chap.5-4 Love and Human Memory

Part.6 Religion and Love

Chap.6-1 Love is the Foundation of all Religions

Chap.6-2 Love in Christianity

Chap.6-3 Love in Islam

Chap.6-4 Love in Buddhism

Chap.6-5 Love in Daoism

Part.7 Philosophic system of Love

Chap.7-1 Basic characters of Love

Chap.7-2 Philosophy of Love and Ontology

Chap.7-3 Philosophy of Love and Epistemology

Chap.7-3 Philosophy of Love and Axiology

Chap.7-4 Philosophy of Love and Aesthetics

Part.8 Love and Human life

Chap.8-1 Love and Politics

Chap.8-2 Love and Economics

Chap.8-3 Love and Human Harmony

References

Famous Sayings on Love

Confucius: Kindheartedness means loving men.

Mo Zi: Human society needs universal love and mutual benefit.

Mencius: He who loves others is constantly loved by them.

Han Yi: Fraternity is so called Kindheartedness.

Zhang Zai: One loves people just as he loves his compatriots.

Sun Zhongshan: Fraternity is our Infinite hope and the greatest thinking.

Plato: Love is the source of all our happiness and harmony,

Augustine: God is Love. If Man doesn't have Love, even he believes the truth, and he hopes the real happiness, it is useless.

Hume: Love expresses the highest merit, which HUMAN NATURE is capable of attaining.

Feuerbach: The highest and the most important principle must be the Love between men and men.

Fromm: the comprehensive answer of the problem of Human existence is the harmony of people and the Love.

Christianity (Bible): Love others just like love yourself.

Islam (Koran): Believe God and Do Good

Buddhism: Rescue all people.

# Preface

Yin Kefu

Human Love is the comprehensive and eternal phenomenon in human life. It is also the eternal theme of various literature works. But, as a systematic summation and elaboration at the philosophical level, Gao Liangzhi's Philosophy of Human Love is a pioneering work.

In more than 2000 years, different schools of philosophy discussed ontology, epistemology, methodology, Truth, Good, Beauty, etc., but very few of them specially discussed Human Love. Human Love as a topic closely related with human life has not a due position in philosophy. This book Philosophy of Human Love, may be said is a creativity in philosophy. This book eliminates the defect of traditional philosophy.

This book makes an outline definition of Human Love. It discusses the classification of Human Love. It extracts the elite thinking about Human Love from Western and Chinese philosophy and religions and devotes them to the readers. As to a nation that had been severely traumatized in the aspect of Human Love, this book likes sweet dew nourishing Man's heart.

This book demonstrates the scientific basis of Human Love and discusses the position of Human Love in philosophic system.

The words and sentences of this book are simple, clear, smooth and popular. It is the first complete systematic book in China, which could be understood either by scholars or by common people.

The author wrote this book at the age of 80s. His devoting spirit is worthy to be respected.

On the meaning of this book, it should be mentioned that in 20th century , mankind experienced many wars and cruel struggles . This was a century that Human Love was ravaged and trampled

In the beginning of the new century, mankind should draw the lesson of blood , carry forward the lofty spirit of Human Love and let Man love in the great family of Human Love .

Brief introduction Yin Kefu: He is a senior researcher of Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences. He has written History of Western Democracy and many other works and articles on social sciences.

Preface

Liangzhi Gao

The title of this book is: Philosophy of Human Love. In 2009, American philosopher, Professor Peter Singer(1946-)wrote a book with the title--- Philosophy of Love. His book emphasized on sexual love. What my book discusses is generalized Human Love, including love for oneself, love for others ,love for children, love for parents, love for lover ,love for spouse ,love for friends ,love for motherland, love for science ,love for literature, love for career, love for liberty, love for nature and love for mankind. Sexual love will be talked about, but it is not the main content of this book.

In this book, two terms: Love and Human Love will be used alternatively. They have the same meaning in the book.

This is a book facing to popular readers. The goal of writing this book is to hope that it could answer various questions about Love, help readers to understand comprehensively and deeply the meaning of Love (or Human Love) , cognize life, society and the world using the view of Love and also obtain Love in their own life

Here, I like to introduce briefly about the reason of writing this book and also the meaning of this book which I myself realize.

From young to old age, an unchangeable character of mine is loving study and loving thinking, especially thinking on philosophic problem of nature and life.

I was born in Shanghai, a big city in China. In my young age , under the influence of some famous writers and educators ,as Lu Xun (鲁迅)、 Tao Xingzhi (陶行知),etc. I paid sympathy to peasants, the most numerous and the poorest people in China. So, while I entered university (Zhejiang University), I chose the specialty of Agriculture. In my whole life, I engaged in agricultural education and agricultural science research.

After I retired in 1999, my health, my eyes and my brain are still fine, which provides the possibility for me to think about the extent larger than agriculture: nature, world and human life. So ,based on the character of loving study, I have read a large amount of Chinese and Western books on philosophy. Combining with my independent thinking, I wrote three books on philosophy: 1) On Synthesis Philosophy; 2) Strolling on Western Philosophy. 3) Brief Introduction on Chinese Philosophy. The first book (On Synthesis Philosophy) obtains comprehensive praise in whole China. Mr. Li Rui (李锐),a famous and respectful scholar, asked me to send him 10 copies of this book and presented them to the highest leaders of China. He himself wrote a preface for the second edition of this book, which has the title: Synthesis philosophy pushes forward the establishment of harmony society.

The book On Synthesis Philosophy involves many contents: ontology, epistemology, history philosophy, etc. To me, the most satisfied content is Chapter 8: What is Man's Essence and Goal? On the highest goal of Man: Truth, Good and Beauty, I add one more: Love. Many young friends told me: you presented the compound of Truth, Good, Beauty and Love, it is an excellent idea. Their saying gave me great encouragement.

In poetry, novel, drama, music, Love is a common, even an eternal theme. But, in philosophy or social sciences, Love seems not at an important position. As on Truth, there are Logics, Mathematics, various natural sciences doing research. On Good, there is Ethics doing research. On Beauty, there is Aesthetics doing research. But up to now, on Love, there is no special philosophy or science doing research.

The importance of Love in human life is apparent.

Man's life, from birth, growing, lovingness, marriage, giving birth to and raise children, up to death, is all full of Love..

All creations of mankind: science, art, architecture, reform of the nature and historical development, etc. are all pushed by Human Love.

All ideal of mankind, as Paradise of Christianity, West Sky (西天)of Buddhism,Ideal State of Plato and Communism Society of Marx are Park of Love.

So, Love is a problem worthy to be investigated seriously. This is the starting point of my writing of this book.

For the purpose of writing this book, I read again many (more than 300) famous Chinese and Western philosophy works. I read some important special books on Sex and Love. I also read Bible, Koran and some famous Buddhist Scriptures (see References of this book). Combining with the experience of my own life, through 4-5 years repeated thinking, I accomplished this book.

After finishing this book's writing, I deeply realized that Human Love is really a broad and profound problem. The understanding of Human Love relates to all aspects of human life: politics, economics, culture, morality, family, society and international relations.

Today, to present the problem of Love to people conforms to the trend of human development.

From 16 to 19th centuries was the early period of Capitalism. Western countries for the purpose of developing their own economy, invaded colonies by army, plundered resources, market and labor from colonies . In 20th century, World War I was a war between Western countries to fight for their own interests. World War II was a war of all people in the world fighting against Fascism. After World War II, there was Cool War between Western countries and the Soviet Union Group. In 1990, the disintegration of the Soviet Union happened. Cool War basically finished.

History comes to 21th century, the main changes of the world are:

  1. Science and technology has been getting great development. The raising of productivity of every country depends mainly on science and management, not on invading colonies (the rise of Japan is a good example).

  2. The world comes from industrialized age into information age. The appearance of Internet is making the world as an Earth Village. The communication and connection between people in the world are enhanced unprecedentedly.

  3. Under the united conditions of scientific progress and democratic politics, the class contradictions in many countries are eased apparently. Class cooperation becomes the main trend in many countries.

  4. Globalization has been developing rapidly. Cooperation between countries becomes beneficial to any country. Peace and Development become the dominant direction of the world.

But, the terrorism exists, which becomes the main threat of the world. The contradictions between different nations, countries and religions still exist.

As to the situation of China, in 50-70's years of 20th century, under the guidance of Mao Zedong's thought of Struggle philosophy, the country was ruled by the principle of Class Struggle. During the Cultural Revolution 1966-1976), all Love (Love for parents, Love for children, Love for friends, Love for teachers, etc.) are criticized and denied.

Since the beginning of Reform and Open up period, political environment becomes more tolerant, economics has been developing rapidly. The relation between people has been improved. But there exist serious problems of officer's corruption, imbalance of rich and poor, environment pollutions, etc. In 80s of last century, famous leader of literature circle , Zhou Yang (周扬) affirmed Humanism (which is based on Human Love) in his article . But he was criticized strongly by some other leaders. Even today, the shadow of Struggle philosophy is still not disappeared completely.

The progress of China depends on the advancement of political reform, on the implement of those common values as: Liberty, Democracy, Equity, Justice, Rule of Law, Human Rights, etc., on the improvement of public welfare and raise of morality in the whole society.

Under such background of the age, the problem of Human Love, not only is timely, but also is worthy to be paid much attention. Philosophy of Human Love is essential for the contemporary age.

Of course, the content of this book does not only relate to politics and economy of the world and of China, it also relates to the essence of Man, Man's family, morals and happiness. Those problems relate to every one.

This book is impossible to cover all problem related with Human Love. What my hope is that this book will aroused the interest of young scholars so as to promote them to do more deep researches in this important issue of Human Love, which has close relation with the fate of human being.

During the time of publishing the Chinese copy of this book, I like to acknowledge sincerely my friends: Prof.Yin Kefu (应克复) , Prof. Dai Wenlin ( 戴文麟) and respectful Mr. Li Rui (李锐), who wrote excellent Preface for this book .

In this English edition, the Preface written by Prof.Yin Kefu is included.

Finally, I thank all readers of this book for your reading.

2010, 10,22 (in Chinese)

2015, 8, 30 (in English )

# Part 1 What is Love?

  1. Love and Human Life

To make research in Love, the first problem required to be discussed is: What is Love?

It is not easy to give Love a clear definition. Instead of discussing the problem abstractly, it is better to see where Love exists in real life, and then make a conclusion of the meaning of Love

In the life of individual or whole mankind, it may be said that Love exists everywhere.

In the whole life of a person, from birth to death, love is always there. Before the birth of a baby, he (or she, same below), as a fetus, is concerned carefully by his mother. After his birth, he is living in the love of his parents. In the year 1 to 3, he is especially lovely. All his father, mother, brothers, sisters and grandparents will take him as a bright pearl. While he enters kinder garden, he is loved by teachers. After he begins study in school, from primary school, to middle school and then university, he will receive love from teachers and schoolmates. In his young age, he will have a chance to meet with his sweat heart. He will be falling in passionate love and then establish the marriage. Love between spouses is the longest and the warmest love in one's whole life. They will have mutual concern and mutual care with each other .They will experience their common difficulties and successes. In his life time, he will have some intimate friends. The friendship love is very valuable. In his old age, he will enjoy the filial Love of his sons, daughters and grand children. After his death, his offspring will remember and love him eternally.

So, from birth to death, life is full of love.

As to the whole mankind, love is also the brightest sunshine. All civilization of mankind is created by love

Ancient Greek mythology showed the early civilization of mankind. In it, Prometheus is a famous story.

Prometheus was a god before birth of mankind, living in Olympus Mountain. He created man by clay and water. He loved man very much. He was also a teacher of man. He taught man to use language, to raise livestock, to sail by ship, to use medicines, etc. But the highest god Zeus did not like man. He only asked man's dedication, but did not love man. Due to maintaining man's benefit, Prometheus offended Zeus. As a punishment, Zeus refused to give man fire, which was essential to man's life. Prometheus took a long fennel branch to steal fire while the sun was passing and gave seed of fire to man. Zeus was very angry and used an iron chain to bind Prometheus on cliff in the Caucasus. Prometheus suffered hungry, blowing of wind and insolation. But he did not yield at all, day by day, year by year, until he was rescued by a hero, Hercules.

The story of Prometheus expressed the power of love in the long period of birth and evolution of mankind. Love created man .Love helped man all skills for living. Love helped man to create all civilization, represented by fire. The power of Love is so strong that any difficulties could be overcome.

In this book, we'll elucidate how love creates all excellent things of civilization, as philosophy, science, art, religion, etc. It is love that pushed forward human history and human progress.

Of course, in personal life, there is not only Love, but also Non-Love, as jealousy, hatred, fraud, etc. In human history, there were war, oppression, exploitation, slaughter and aggression, etc.

So, both personal life and mankind life are all coexistence of Love and Non-Love. But we have to affirm that Love is dominant. Otherwise, we could not explain the endless progress of mankind

  2. Meaning of Love

Love exists everywhere of human life. Then, what is Love? In fact, it is difficult to give Love a clear definition.

Let us review what Western philosophers talked on Love.

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato (427-347 BC) wrote Symposium and Phaedrus) . Both of them took Love as their theme. There are many remarks on Love:

Love is the most ancient and the greatest. Love is the highest happiness. (Plato: Symposium)

Such is the great and mighty, or rather omnipotent force of love in general. And the love, more especially, which is concerned with the good, and which is perfected in company with temperance and justice, whether among gods or men, has the greatest power, and is the source of all our happiness and harmony, and makes us friends with the gods who are above us, and with one another. (Plato: Symposium)

The reason is that human nature was originally one and we were a whole, and the desire and pursuit of the whole is called love. (Plato: Symposium)

Recent British philosopher David Hume (1711-1776) was a active supporter of the idea of Benevolence, which has basically the same meaning as Love.

In his book An Enquiry concerning the Principle of Morals, there is a special chapter—Of Benevolence.

The epithets SOCIABLE, GOOD-NATURED, HUMANE, MERCIFUL, GRATEFUL, FRIENDLY, GENEROUS, BENEFICENT, or their equivalents, are known in all languages, and universally express the highest merit, which HUMAN NATURE is capable of attaining.

(An Enquiry concerning the Principle of Morals, Chapter 2 Of Benevolence),

In 19th century , German philosopher Ludwig Andreas Feuerbach(1804-1872) said:

Love is the absolute essence of mankind

(Collection of Philosophy Works of Feuerbach)

Modern philosopher Erich Fromm(1900—1980)wrote in his work ,The Art of Loving :

The comprehensive answer of the problem of Human existence is the harmony of people and the Love..

Mature love is union under the condition of preserving one's integrity, one's individuality. Love is an active power in man; a power which breaks through the walls which separate man from his fellow men, which unites him with others.

Love is an activity, not a passive affect; it is a "standing in" not a "falling for" In the most general way, the active character of love can be described by stating that love is primarily giving, not receiving.

Beyond the element of giving, the active character of love becomes evident in the fact that it always implies certain basic elements, common to all forms of love. These are care, responsibility, respect and knowledge.

In Chinese traditional philosophy, even though there was no direct definition of Love, But Love is one of the kernel idea in different schools of Chinese philosophy.

Confucius (551-479 BC) and Mencius (365-304 BC) were active advocators of Love.

Confucius said:

Kindheartedness means loving men.

(Analects of Confucius, Chap.12)

Mencius said:

The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of Kindheartedness

(Mencius, Chap.4)

Feeling of commiseration is the emotion of compassion upon others and love for others. He put love at the top place of Human nature. This was a important development of the theory of Love.

Mo Zi (468-376 BC) presented the idea of universal love. He said:

Human society needs universal love and mutual benefit

(Mo Zi, Book 4)

In this book .as to the views of Western and Chinese philosophers on Love, there are special chapters to introduce. To mention the above remarks briefly is to show that, up to now, there is not a complete definition on Love. But we could understand the character and essence of Love from those very valuable remarks.

I myself also could not present a complete definition of Love. But I try to summarize the remarks on Love of Chinese and Western philosophers, and add my own understanding of the meaning of Love as follows:

Love is the essence and nature of man. Love comes from man's heart. Love is an activity of being fond of, concerning, taking care of, willing to devote to and willing to unite together as an integer with the object of Love. Love is man's rational emotion. Love is the creative life force (or Vitality) of man pushed by the emotion.

  3. Understanding of the meaning of Love

The understanding of above meaning of Love may be as follows:

  1. Love is the essence and nature of Man

"Love is the essence of Man" means that Love is a character of man which makes man different from other animals. "Love is the nature of man" means that Love is an inborn character of Man.

These two statements have inner relation. Essential character must be inborn.

Mencius said, Man has four beginnings (The feeling of commiseration, the feeling of shame and dislike, the feeling of modesty and yielding and the sense of right and wrong).

According to Mencius, without these four beginnings, it must be Non-man .He also said that Man has four beginnings, just like he has four limbs. They are all inborn, so they are Man's nature..

Both Confucius and Mencius said: "Kindheartedness means Loving men". Kindheartedness is the kernel idea in their philosophy. Kindheartedness has many meanings. But its main meaning is Love. So, The Love talked by them was Kindhearted Love.

Mencius said: the feeling of commiseration is the beginning of kindheartedness. In four beginnings, the first one is the feeling of commiseration. Commiseration has very close meaning to Love. It shows that Mencius paid high attention to Love.

So, the thinking of Confucius and Mencius is: Love is the essence of Man, and also the nature of Man.

2000 years later, in 19th century, German philosopher Feuerbach said:

Love is the absolute essence of mankind.

Its meaning is same as what Mencius said.

The above views of Chinese and Western philosophers conform to the fact.

People all recognize that mother's motherly love for baby, baby's attachment love for mother, young's intimate love for sweetheart, all these love are inborn, are human nature. It is not necessary for others to teach them.

Is Love a peculiar attribute of human being?

We have to say, animals also have primary love. In Darwin's book, there are many descriptions of the primary love of animals. For example an American female monkey takes care of her baby monkey and drives flies for it.

But the love of animals is elemental which could not reach the level of human love. Since human Love involves reason. On the earth, only man has the rational Love

So, the statements of Mencius and Feuerbach are correct.

2) Love comes from Man's heart

Generally speaking, Truth, Good and Beauty are the highest ideal of mankind. In my book On Synthesis Philosophy, I regarded that Love should be also one of the highest ideal of mankind. Many readers agree with me.

In the book Symposium, Plato gave Love very high evaluation and said:

Love is the most ancient and the greatest. Love is the highest happiness.

According to his statement, my opinion is acceptable.

But comparing with Truth, Good and Beauty, Love has its special property.

Truth, Good and Beauty mainly exist in the objective world, and require to combine with subjective ideology. Truth is man's cognition in accordance with objective world. Good should be in accordance with objective social welfare and also personal interest.. Beauty has the objective properties of well balance, clearness, vivid, etc. and making man's pleasure subjectively.

Things which conforms Truth, Good and Beauty mainly exist in objective world. They themselves are not man's emotion.

1 + 1 = 2. This equation conforms to the principle of Truth. But there is no man's emotion in it.

Do not lie. This requirement conforms to the principle of Good. But there is no Man's emotion in it.

A colorful butterfly may be said beautiful. But man does not pay emotion to it.

But Love is different .Love does not come from objective world, but from man's heart.

A thing which does not conform Truth, but man could love it. For example, God, from the view of natural science, it is not true. But Christians may love God at all.

As to one whose behavior does not conform Good, Man still can love him. For example, your child lies once. You may forgive and educate him. But you can still love him.

As to a person or a thing that is not beautiful, you can still love him or it. Your mother might be ugly, but it will not have influence upon your love for her

Love or not, it does not determined by the characters of objective world, but determined by your heart, or your emotion.

  2. Love is a rational emotion

According to Feuerbach, Reason, Will and Emotion (Love) are the essence of Man.

It should be mentioned that Emotion is not exactly same as Love. There are negative emotions, as hatred, jealousy, disgust, etc. Love is a positive emotion and the most important positive emotion. Love is not only an emotion, but a combination of emotion and reason.

In Qing dynasty, philosopher Dai Zhen (戴震。1723-1777) said: Man has inborn desire, emotion and wisdom (Textual research of Mencius). It means that Man has both reason and emotion.

Man has many kinds of emotion. Some emotions do not involve reason. While you see a beautiful flower or hear bird's singing in the morning, you will feel pleasure. Here, it does not involve reason.

But some emotions involve reason. For example, you respect your parents and teachers. Your emotion of respect involves reason. Because you know that your parents raise you and your teachers educate you.

Love is a kind of emotion which is combined with reason. This is a very important character of Love.

Love between spouses is the most important love in one's whole life. In the long time of common life, it is impossible to have no contradictions or arguments. But their reason will tell them, all the contradictions should be treated by mutual tolerance or mutual concession. Then their love will be maintained.

So, Love of spouses involves reason. If fact, all love talked in this book involve reason.

Someone might regard that the hot love between a couples of sweetheart is pure emotion. But if they are falling in real love, their love must involve reason. Without reason, they are possible to do irresponsible thing, as giving up their life for the sake of love ,or doing sex murder which is harmful to their family and society. .

  4. Relation between Love and object of Love

There are many different objects of love, as oneself , parents , children , sweetheart, spouse, compatriot, motherland, science, art, career, liberty , nature, etc. which will be discussed in next part of this book.

Talking on the meaning of Love, it is necessary to discuss the relation between love and the objects of love.

In the above statement of the Meaning of Love, it is mentioned that:

Love is an activity of being fond of, concerning, taking care of, willing to devote to and willing to unite together as an integer with the object of Love.

This sentence means that the relation between love and the objects of love has different levels.

  1. Being fond of or Liking

As to any objects of love, firstly, one should be fond of it or like it. Parents naturally like their children. Before a couple of young falling into love, firstly, they must like each other. People love their hometown and their motherland; firstly, they are fond of the beautiful scenery, customs and language of them.

  2. Concerning

Based on your liking of the object, you will begin to concern it .Parents will concern the health, growth, study and progress of their children. Lovers or spouses will concern each other. You will concern the development and progress of your hometown and motherland.

  3. Taking care of

If you really love the objects of your Love, you will not only concern them, but also take care of it as much as possible. You'll do your best to help them. While your parents, children or spouse get sick, you will take care of them carefully.

  4. Devotion

Real love is devotion. You are willing to devote yourself to whom you love. While your parents, children or spouse requiring organ transplant to rescue their life, you are willing to devote your own organ. While your motherland is invaded by enemy country, you are willing to devote your life to protect her. A scientist is willing to devote his whole wisdom to his beloved science.

  5. Fusion

In Plato's Symposium, there is a story. Zeus wanted to use man, and also to control man. He separated Man into two parts and let one part to search the other part. This is why that a man has to search a woman and a woman has to search a man.

Of course, this is not a true fact, but it expresses a thinking that a couple of lovers or spouses are willing to combine oneself to another and be fused together as a whole. This is the highest realm of love. While your love reaches the deepest level, you are willing to fuse yourself with your beloved object as an integer.

(6) Love is a kind of Life Force

In the above statement of Love, at last, it is mentioned that Love is a kind of vitality.

In the cosmos, there are four kinds of force: Gravity force, electromagnetic force, strong interaction force and weak interaction force.

In the world of life, all activities are also pushed by force, which may be called Life Force (or Vitality). The origin of life force is Sun energy, which belongs to electromagnetic force. Sun energy, through function of plant photosynthesis, transforms to be chemical energy of plants and animals

As to human being, all his activities come from his will. His basic will is to live. His will create life force to realize the will.

Austria psychologist Sigmund Freud(1856—1939)presented his theory of Libido . Libido, at the early time, means Sex force, which is a life force driven by sexual impulse. Later , Herbert Marcuse(1898-1979)and Erich Fromm(1900—1980)extended the meaning of Libido ,from sexual impulse to Will of Love .

Love is a kind of life force. This is a very important character of Love. This character makes Love different from Truth, Good and Beauty. Truth, Good and Beauty are the highest ideal of mankind, but they themselves exist mainly in the objective world. They are not the inner life force of man. But the Love for Truth, Good and Beauty is a kind of life force, which has the energy to push Man to pursuit and realize Truth, Good and Beauty.

  6. Love is a Creative Life force

Man has many kinds of life force, such as life force maintaining body temperature, life force to maintain heart beating, life force for Man's movements, life force for satisfy will of sexual desire, etc. But only Love is the life force which is creative.

Creativity is the activity to create things new in the world. Among all life forces of mankind, only Love has the ability of creativity. For example , to cerate a new life from a fertilized egg, requires the Love of motherly loved , fatherly love ,love of doctors ,love of nurses ,love of teachers and love of society .

In this book ,it will talk that all civilization of mankind ,as science ,literature music , painting, drama, etc. are created by the love of philosophers , scientists , writers , musicians, painters, directors, actors, etc.

The great philosopher Plato said:

Such is the great and mighty, or rather omnipotent force of love in general.

What he pointed out is the great creative life force of Love.

This is why, in the meaning of Love, that I mention in this chapter involves the sentence: Love is the creative Life force of Man

After understanding the meaning of Love, we are going to discuss the extent and classification of Love in next Part of this book..

Part 2 Categories of Human Love

According to the meaning of Love mentioned above, it may be seen that there are many different objects of Love. Since there are many categories of Love, it is difficult to make a classification of Love.

Based on the extent of the objects of Love, I try to classify Love into five groups. Some objects belong to the kind of culture, which are impossible to classify them according their extent. So, finally, the categories of Love are classified into six groups as below:

  1. Love for oneself

  2. Love for family members--- including Love between sweethearts , Love between spouses, Love for parents , Love for children, Love between bothers and sisters, Love for relatives, etc.

  3. Love in small social extent--- including Love between friends, Love between teachers and students, etc.

  4. Love in large social extent--- including Love for people, Love for career, Love for hometown, Love for motherland, Love for compatriots, Love for mankind, etc.

  5. Love for Nature

  6. Love for Culture and certain Ideas --- including Love for Liberty Love for Justice, Love for science, Love for literature , Love for art ,etc.

In following chapters, these different categories of Love will be described and analyzed briefly

# Chapter 2-1 Love for Oneself

In ancient Greek mythology, there is a story of a young man whose name is Narcissism. He fell in love with his shadow in the spring water. Every day, he talked on his love with his shadow. Finally he died for over sadness and became a flower called Narcissus. Psychologists took his name, Narcissism, to describe the phenomenon of Self Love.

Narcissism is a kind of spiritual disease. Someone, even does not reach the degree of Narcissism, but has the trend of Narcissism. For example, someone has too high evaluation of himself. Someone likes to boast up himself often. Someone likes to raise himself and put down others, etc.

Self Love (Love for oneself) and Narcissism are different concepts. Self Love is worthy to be affirmed.

Erich Fromm, in his work The Art of Loving, gave Self Love full affirmation. He wrote

My own self must be as much an object of my love as another person. The affirmation of one's own life, happiness, growth, freedom is rooted in one's capacity to love.

The view of Fromm is correct.

A person who loves himself must be self-esteem, self-respect, self-discipline and self-enhancement.

Self Love involves love for one's own health, own appearance, own study, own progress, own reputation, own family members, own career and own freedom, etc.

If you have love for your own health, you must pay attention to physical exercise from young to old. You must not smoke or drink too much. You must refuse drug abusing and prostitution. ,

If you have love for your study and progress, you must cherish every class in school; listen to the speech of teacher carefully. You must be delighted to read the valuable and famous works of China and of the world.

If you have love for your reputation, you must not cheat in examinations. After you get your job, you must be devoted to your duty and doing your job as good as possible. In your whole life, you must pay attention to your morals and not to do anything beneficial only to you but harmful to others.

If you have love for yourself, you must love your parents, your spouse, your children, since they give you your life and happiness.

If you have love for yourself, you will cherish and pursuit your thinking freedom, academic freedom, speaking freedom, selection freedom, management freedom within the extent of constitutional allowance. All of these freedoms are essential for of the progress of society and country.

Some problems should be discussed on Self Love:

  1. Some one might ask: is there contradiction between Self Love and Others Love (Love for others or for people)?

No, these two kinds of Love are not contradicted.

Confucius said:

Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself.

(Analects of Confucius .Chap.15)

Mencius said:

Treat with the Reverence the elders in your own family, so that the elders in the other's families shall be similarly treated. Treat with the kindness the young in your own family, so that the young in the other's families shall be similarly treated.

(Mencius, Chap.1)

Christian Bible said:

_Love_ _your_ _neighbor_ _as_ _yourself_.

All these famous sayings show that: Love for others starts from loving yourself. Love for others is combined together with love for yourself.

Why loving others is combined with loving oneself? The reasons are:

  1. Both loving others and loving oneself come from common human nature.

  2. One's growth, progress, life and happiness, all could not separated from others (including family members, friends, etc.) and from society. So, if you love yourself, you must love others.

  3. If you love others, love people and love society, you will feel great happiness; you will experience the meaning of life and the extending and prolongation of your life. In opposite, if you only love yourself, and have no emotion for others, then, the meaning of your life is nothing, just like an animal.

  2. Some one might ask: Is there difference between Self Love and Selfish?

A self love person loves himself, and at the same time loves others and people. A selfish person love himself only , but does not love others and people. He likes to do things harmful to others, but beneficial to himself.

Self love should be affirmed, but selfish should not.

In contemporary society of China, there are many officers doing corruption and many merchants producing inferior commodities. These kinds of serious selfish must be denied and punished.

  3. Some one might ask: Is there contradiction between Self love and Selfless?

To answer this question, firstly, we should ask: is the thinking of Selfless worthy to be comprehensively affirmed?

Selfless is a noble morality. In a society, someone is willing to devote his property, even his life for others, for society and for his ideal . Their morals and behaviors are worthy to be praised as Selfless.

But the idea of Selfless is not a rule of behavior that everyone should obey.

Every one pursuits his personal benefit. This is Human nature and also a pushing power of economic development and social progress. British economist Adam Smith presented the theory that every one pursuing his own interest will be beneficial to the whole society. In recent period of several hundreds years, the development of world economy has been proving that his theory is correct. In contrary, the economic-social systems that denied completely personal interest made a very slow and backward economy, as the situation of the Soviet Union and modern China before the period of economic reform.

To ask all people to be selfless is a fantasy beyond the reality. Generally, to advocate selfless in the whole society is not suitable.

Self love, including pursuing personal benefit within the extent of Law should be recognized by the society.

  4. Some one might ask: How should one does while there is conflict between self love and loving others?

Yes, there is the possibility to have conflict between self love and loving others. For example, during a great disaster, sometime to rescue others will be contradict with rescuing oneself. In the revolution or defending war, for protecting the benefit of motherland or revolution, sometime you should sacrifice yourself.

In such situation, one should have a rational thinking so as to protect others, protect the benefit of motherland or revolution, and at the same time, protect oneself as possible.

During modern revolution of China or in the period of Cultural Revolution , some respectful revolutionaries ,as Chen Duxiu (陈独秀), Fang Zhimin( 方志敏) ,Li Rui(李锐), etc. They did not yield to the power ,but paid attention to physical exercise and insist on writing valuable books. Their spirit and behavior are worthy of admiration

While it is impossible to protect both others or motherland and oneself, sacrificing yourself is a very brave and noble behavior. .

In South Song dynasty, Wen Tianxiang (文天祥) was the prime minister and also a famous writer. While he was captured by the enemy army of Yuan (元), he refused to be a high officer of Yuan and sacrificed himself bravely . He wrote a famous poem. The meaning is:

Since no one lives forever, why not leave my loyalty to the history..

This poem shows a noble spirit of Chinese traditional morality .

Chapter 2-2 Love between Lovers

Love between lovers (or sweethearts) may be called amative love or amativeness.

Amative love was the most original love of human being. It came from human nature.

Mencius said:

To enjoy food and sex is human nature.

(Mencius, Book 11)

In Book of Rites(《礼记》),it was said:

Food and sex are Man's great desire.

(Book of Rites, Book 9)

Here, sex also means amative and sexual love.

Plato advocated spiritual love which exists in human life. But generally, amative love between man and woman, involves both spiritual love and sexual love.

The intimate relation between male and female exists in all animal worlds.

Many animals have their sex ability much stronger than that of human being. For example, Longicorn makes love 9 hours in a day. A male lion can make love 86 times in a day.

But on the earth, only human being has strong amative emotion (or amative love) between male and female. So, amative love belongs to human nature.

In the long history of mankind, there were many poems praising man's amative love.

In ancient Chinese Collections of Poetry –Book of Songs, there are many excellent poems on amative love. Two examples are as below:

A Shepherdess

A maiden mute and tall  
Trysts me at corner wall.  
I can find her nowhere,  
Perplexed, I scratch my hair.

The maiden fair and mute  
Gives me a grass-made lute.  
The lute makes rosy light  
And brings me high delight.

Coming back from the mead,  
She gives me a rare reed,  
Lovely not for it's rare,  
It's the gift of the fair.

The meaning of this poem is: A silent and beautiful girl is waiting for me at the corner of city wall. She hides herself so that I cannot find her. She gives me a lute made of reed. I am so delight for her gift.

Another poem in the book is:

The Duke's Bride (second paragraph)

Her fingers like soft blades of reed,

Like cream her skin is tender,  
Like larva white her neck is slender,  
Her teeth like rows of melon seed,  
Her forehead like a dragonfly's,  
Her arched brows carved like a bow.  
And dark on white her speaking eyes,  
Her cheeks with smiles and dimples glow.

These poems were created more than 3000 years ago .they show that since very ancient time, the amative love between young man and lady was an emotion cherished and praised by mankind.

There are several characters of amative love comparing with other loves:

  1. Amative love includes both sexual love and spiritual love. So it is the great pleasure of mankind.

In Plato's book--- Symposium, Plato, through the speech of Pausanias, said:

As there are two goddesses, there must be two Loves.

He named them Heavenly Love and Common Love

Heavenly Love means the spiritual and noble love. Common Love means the sexual or body love. In real life, these two loves are combined together in amative love between lovers.

In the above two poems , the first one expresses spiritual love and the second one expresses mostly sexual love which praises the beautiful body of the lady

In the amative love between young man and his sweet heart, both of them enjoy the combination of spiritual love and body love that gives them great pleasure. The pleasure of the emotional fusion and body contact between lovers is the most beautiful flower of human life.

  2. Amative love is the hottest love in human life, which has the desire of living and dying together.

In the above statement of the meaning of Love, there is phrase: willing to unite together, which is expressed apparently in amative love. Many Chinese and Western literatures show such strong emotion.

In the famous Chinese legend of Liang Shanbai (梁山伯) and Zhu Yingtai (祝英台). The story is: In East Jin dynasty 1500 years ago, a young student Liang and his lady classmate Zhu were falling in love. After Liang died early, Zhu refused to merry with others that her father asked her to do so. She cried sadly in front of Liang's tomb. At that time, great thunder and rain was coming. The tomb suddenly burst. Zhu jumped into the tomb and tomb closed again. While rain stopped, Liang and Zhu became two butterflies fling together in the sky.

In real life, it is not advocated to die for love. But the willingness of living and dying together is a very cherish emotion between lovers.

  3. Amative love is selectable. It comes from heart. It is not obligatory.

The love between parents and children is not selectable. But amative love between lovers comes from their will and their own selection. Any obligation is useless

Amative love is different from marriage. In certain historical period of some countries, it was a comprehensive custom that marriage of the young was determined by their parents. Such obligated marriages are possible to produce love, but it is often that they could not produce love at all, which causes tragedy of whole life of the young.

Since amative love is selectable, to strive for freedom of love becomes an important content of human civilizational progress. After the European Enlightenment Movement and May 4th movement of modern China, the struggle of striving for freedom of love and marriage has obtained great success, which is an important mark of history entering modern period.

The selectivity of amative love makes man or woman may select his (her) most beloved object. This is the reason that amative love is possible to give him (her) great happiness.

The selectivity of amative love, at the same tome, carries its instability and the possibility of changing love object which causes tragedy.

  4. The process of amative love is tortuous, sometime is difficult and painful.

The love of parents for children is inborn. After the child is born, there is a stable relation between parents and child. But amative love for certain object is not inborn, but is acquired. The relation between lovers may be formed through tortuous process

There may be many obstacles in the process of amative love ,as disagreement of parents, unbalance of rich and poor ,difference of nations ,religions and civilizations, etc. To overcome these obstacles, sometimes requires great effort, even one's life (as the story of Liang and Zhu introduced above).

This is the reason that amative love (or love of lovers) becomes the precious human emotion and the themes of many famous poetry, novels, dramas, etc.

  5. Amative love may or may not lead to marriage

The ordinary goal of amative love should be marriage. All lovers are willing to have marriage with their beloved object. In the evolution process of human being, why Man obtain the nature of amative love? The reason is that amative love made mankind be possible to produce offspring.

But in real life, there are many cases that amative love could not reach marriage. This is the stories of many Chinese and Western novels or dramas. As in the famous Chinese novel, The Dream of Red Mansion , the chief young man Jia Baoyu (贾宝玉)and the chief lady ,Lin Daiyu(林黛玉), they love each other deeply ,but finally ,they could not be married ,which causes the early death of her.

The amative love which could not lead to marriage is the great tragedy of human life.

In the establishment of modern civilization and political system, it should be paid attention to the important goal of: let all lovers to become spouses.

,

Chapter 2-3 Love between Spouses

Before modern period, either in China or in the West, marriage was decided not by young man and lady themselves , but by their parents or clan. Under such marriage system, there may be love or may not be love between spouses.

In modern society, marriage is established on the basis of love between spouses.

Love between spouses is suitable to be called: Conjugal Love.

In all kinds of love, love between spouses is the most cherished love

In Chinese ancient poetry ,there were many poems describing conjugal love 。

In Tang Dynasty of China,the famous poet Li Shangyin(李商隐) wrote a poem and sent it to his wife.

Sending to the North in a rainy night (《夜雨寄北》)

You ask me when I am coming, I do not know.

How the rain filled the pools on that night.

Ah, when shall we ever snuff candles again,

And recall the glad hours of that evening of rain?

While writing this poem, the poet was assigned as a secretary in a regional government in Sichuan (South west of China). His wife remained in the capital Changan (North of China) .

This poem seems plain, but very touching. The poet left his wife and lived apart from his wife for a long distance. In a cold and rainy autumn night, he missed his wife so much. He was looking for the day to meet with his wife again, remembering this rainy night.

#### In Qing dynasty ,there was a famous autobiographical novel--- Six Records of a Floating Life(《浮生六记》). The writer was Shen Fu(沈复). Through translating into English, this excellent novel is famous in the world

Shen Fu was from Suzhou (South Jiangsu). He and his female younger cousin, Chen Yun(陈芸) loved each other from childhood. Chen was a pretty, clever and virtuous lady. She was able in embroidery and poetry. Under the agreement of their parents, that got married. In the book, they read book, sang poetry, grew flowers and travelled together. They enjoyed the happiness of family.

In later years, due to extravagance of Shen's father, their family became poor. Shen made living by teaching. Chen did embroidery day and night. Owing to the hard working, she got sick. Because some small misunderstanding, they were expelled from family. In the very difficult situation, Chen was doing her best to maintain the life with her husband. Finally, her sick became serious. Even in the last days of her, she was considerate for her husband. She told her husband: "I hope you have marriage again, taking care of your parents and raising our children. Then I can close my eyes. "

This novel touched countless readers year by year. It shows the precious and eternal love between spouses, which is worthy to be cherished by everyone.

Why love between spouses is the most precious love in human life? The reasons are as follows:

  1. Relation between spouses is the relation which maintains the longest time in Man's whole life.

If you married in the age of 20-30 and your life is more than 80, then the love of spouses will maintain more than 50-60 years. Many countries call the marriage of 50 years as Golden Marriage. In modern society, there are more and more old spouses may celebrate their Golden Marriage.

Friendship love between classmates or friends is worthy cherished. But in one's life, friends usually are periodical, as middle school classmates, high school classmates, colleagues in one's working unit. Only love between spouses, usually, .is unchanged lifelong.

As to the degree of closeness, no other love could compare with the relation of spouses. Even your longtime friend, the closeness of relation is impossible to exceed the relation between spouses.

The relationship between spouses is day by day and year by year, including all daily life. As the above novel shows that the husband, Shen, and his wife, Chen read book together, sang poetry together, grew flowers together and travelled together. They also enjoyed their harmonious and intimate sexual life together.

This continuous and daily love perhaps will be plain or dull .But it is the warmest and the most eternal love in human life.

  2. Spouses may enjoy all their common success and happiness together

For all of your success and progress, who would enjoy with you firstly? Only your spouse would..

In the novel mentioned above, Mr. Shen was skillful in the art of flower arrangement. Madam Chen encouraged him quite often .and suggested: you better put some insects on your flower. Shen said: insects are moving, how can I put them on flower? Chen answered: the color of insects does not change after they die. She put the dead butterflies on the flowers. They look alive. Mr. Shen is very happy for her help.

This example shows that in the daily life of husband and wife, they may have many small creation and success. Of course, they (or one of them) are also possible to have some important success in their career or creation. During the process of their success, their mutual help and mutual encouragement, usually play a very important role and at the same time enhance their mutual love.

  3. The couple of spouses bear all difficulty and suffering in their common life.

In human life, there is not only success and happiness. There is also failure, difficulty and suffering. During such time, the person who can give you the most important encouragement is your spouse.

After the establishment of new China, there were continuous political movements. Many intellectuals or cadres were persecuted. They could be alive and their will were not completely destroyed, the main reason was the support and love of their spouses, A good example is the literary theorist Hu Feng (胡风) and his wife Mei Zhi (梅志)。

Hu Feng was famous in China's literature circle in 30-50th of last century. In 1933, while he was 31 years old, he met and loved a pretty lady , Mei Zhi and they got married . Mei was the best assistant of Hu in life and also in work.

In 1955, Hu and many his friends were criticized and then punished as an anti- revolutionary group. Both of Hu and Mei were thrown into jail. Mei believed firmly that Hu is innocent. In 1966, Mei was released, but Hu was still in jail in Sichuan province. Mei lived in the farm of jail voluntarily so as to take care of Hu. In a period, Hu got insane .and hurt her occasionally. But it did not change Mei's love for Hu.

In 1977, after the finish of Cultural Revolution, Hu was finally released. The real story of them obtains high praise by people.

The story of Hu Feng and Mei Zhi shows that in the great suffering of life, the love between spouses could emit a golden light.

  4. Common children is the strongest link of spouses

In Chapter 2-1, we talk on the meaning of love, which mentions that: Love is a creative life power.

The creativity of love between spouses, firstly, is expressed in the children who are created and raised commonly by the love of spouses. This creative life power is the basis of eternal continuation of human being.

The common children must enhance and consolidate the love between spouses. The reason is as follows:

  1. Common children establish the indirect blood relationship.

Relation between spouses, generally, does not have blood relation. But both of them have blood relation with their children. While father finds that his daughter has her appearance as pretty as his wife and her character of firmness is similar as him self, he may find the indirect blood relation between him and his wife. The mixed appearance and character of their daughter must enhance the love between him and his wife.

  2. The growth of their common children ,from birth ,to childhood ,to junior and to grow up , all depends on the common hard effort of their parents. The health ,growth ,education and progress of their children give them the most happiness of life and also enhance the love for their spouse.

  5. Love between old spouses is the most important happiness in Man's old age.

Love between spouses will be enhanced in their old age. After entering old age, son and daughter usually have their own family and are busying in their work. It is impossible for them to get alone with parents frequently. The old spouses become the best and closest companion. They could take care of each other carefully .They could enjoy their interest ,as reading books, watching TV dramas , doing painting and calligraphy ,etc. They could remind their past common life. They will have countless common things to talk.

If someone asks: what is the greatest happiness in old age? The answer should be: it is the love between old spouses.

Owing to maintain firmly the love between spouses, some aspects must be paid attention to.

  1. Full understanding that love between spouses is the greatest happiness of human life.

What is the greatest happiness of human life? Is it property? Is it fame and wealth? No. You may have billion of property. You may be a high officer or an academician of Academy of science. But, if you do not have the love between your spouses and there are frequently quarrels and mutual suspicion between you and your spouse. Are you happy? In contrary, if you are only a common worker or farmer, but you have a harmonious family, you have deep love with your spouse, you will obtain the greatest happy in human life?

  2. Mutual respect and realization between spouses

Due to the difference of family origin and education, husband and wife might have different personal characters and different cultural appreciation, etc. But, while they get married, they should have mutual respect and realization.

Modern Chinese famous philosopher Hu Shi (胡适) was a high educated scholar . But his wife was a woman of low education. Their marriage was determined by their family. Hu liked reading books ,but his wife liked playing Mahjong(麻将牌), a kind of traditional Chinese playing card. They respect each different interest. They loved deeply with each other up to their death. Hu and his wife showed the traditional Chinese virtue in their whole life.

  3. Mutual tolerance and understanding between spouses.

No one is possible to have no mistake or shortcoming in his whole life. As to the mistake or shortcoming of you spouse, you must be tolerant.

In modern society, divorcement is allowed by the law. But love between spouses is the greatest happiness in human life. Divorcement is harmful to family, especial to children. The wise people will do their best to avoid divorcement so as to safeguard your own and your children's happiness.

Chapter 2-4 Love for Children

In Tang dynasty of China , there was a famous poem written by poet Men Jiao (孟郊), titled Song of a wanderer

A thread in my kind mother is moving.

For her son to wear the clothes is leaving

With her whole heart she is sewing and sewing.

For fear I'll ever be roving and roving.

Who says the little soul of grass waving--

Could for the warmth repay to the sun of spring.

This poem describes the motherly love touchingly. In a late night, a mother is sewing cloth for her son preparing to travel far away. She sews so intensively for fear that his son will return late. Each thread is full of her deep love for her son.

The last two sentences express her son's exclamation: motherly love is like the sun in spring which gives life to little grass. How can the grass repay the kindness of sun ! How can son repay the kindness of mother!

Yes, parent's love for their children is so deep that is difficult to be repaid.

I have a beautiful, clever and kind mother, Within 7 years , she gave birth to 4 boys, that hurt her health, In my age of seven , she died for TB at the age of only 32. Before she died, I was asked to see her. Her pale face and kind eyes was full of deep love and warm hope for me. Due to TB, she could not embrace me, even not hold my hands. This scene has been remaining in my whole life. The continuous pregnancy and bearing destroyed her life. Such motherly love, how to repay?

Where are father and mother, there are fatherly and motherly love. There are stories of parent's love in all family.

On May 12 of 2008, at Wenchuan(汶川) county in Sichuan province of China,a great earthquake of 8 degree happened. The rescue personnel found a dead woman. She was kneeling on the ground and supporting her body by two hands. Below her body, a baby was sleeping calmly. The rescue person found a mobile phone in the quilt covering the baby. There is a short mail written by the mother: My dear baby, if you could be alive, you must remember: I love you!

Parent's love involves many meanings:

  1. Love of blood relation.

Modern science elucidated that DNA of son and daughter are completely determined by their parent's DNA. Such blood relation cannot be separated by any force. Parents, no matter they understand Genetics or not, they all know that their son and daughter came from their own blood. Love for son and daughter is the most original human nature.

  2. Raising love.

Before birth of a baby, mother gives nutrition to baby in her uterus. After baby's birth, mother and father raise baby together. Before growing up, father and mother are responsible for all growth, food, cloth, medical care and education of their children . Father and mother are pouring countless love for raising their children. Even their children are grown up, parents will still take care of their study, career and family.

  3. Love of living together

Living together and getting alone will create love. In the first 20 years of human life, parents have the closest getting alone with their son and daughter. Parents hear the first cry and calling of their children, listen the first speaking of them, see the first step of them. In the common life day by day, year by year, parents must enhance their deep love upon them.

  4. Love of hope

Parents do not hope their children getting great success, being a rich or great person. What they hope is their child being a healthy person, an upright person and a person useful for society. As to parents, the life of son and daughter is the prolongation of their own life. So parent's love for children is eternal.

Comparing with other loves, parent's love has some characters:

  1. Parent's love is unconditional and non-optional. No matter your child is clever or foolish, is healthy or sick, is pretty or ugly, parents will love him all the same without any hesitation.

  2. Parent's love does not ask any reward. Parents are willing to give their love to children as much as possible. While it is required to have blood transfusion, organ transplantation for their children, they will not hesitate to do so. But they do not ask any reward from children. In modern society, the late life of parents does not depend on their children.

  3. Parent's love is eternal. Spouses are possible to be divorced. Friends are possible to be separated due to different opinions or beliefs. But the relation between parents and children is not possible to be stopped.

Besides parent's love, the love of grandparents is worthy to be cherished.

In Chinese and Western literature, there are many novels and poetry describing the love of grandparent.

In Heidi-- am famous novel written by famous Swiss writer Johanna Spyri, Heidi, a girl of 5 years old, was living with her solitary grandfather in a mountain. The deep love between them touched countless readers in the world.

. My mother in law (mother of my wife) was a very respectful women .She has 4 daughters and 1 son and 11 grandsons and granddaughters. The third generations were all born in 50-70th of last century, which was a hard and suffering period of China. Fathers and mothers of these children were all suffered in political movements with bad living condition .The heavy burden fell on her shoulder. She nursed with a bottle for the babies. She took care of food and cloth for them. While their cloth was broken, she sewed them with her aged glasses. Her beautiful appearance gradually became old. In 1990, she died owing to over work and lung cancer. Her great kindness remained eternally in the heart of all her second and third generations

Same as parent love. The grandparent love is also unconditional and non-optional, is not asking any reward and is eternal.

In modern China's society, the grandparent love is especially precious. The reasons are:

  1. In modern society of China, both father and mother are busying in their jobs. Grandparents have more leisure time to take care of children. In front of the door of kinder garden and primary school, you may see many grandparents are sending their grandson or grand daughter to school in the morning and also waiting them out of school in the afternoon.

  2. Father and mother might have to spend more time to study their professional knowledge. But retired grandparents have more time to help their grandson and granddaughter to read children's books, to play children games and to tell stories for them so that to build mutual love between them.

Chapter 2-5 Love for parents

Love in human life, generally, is mutual. Love between lovers, love between spouses are all mutual. Love for children and love for parents are also mutual.

Love for parents may be called Filial Love.

Filiality had very important position In Chinese traditional philosophy,

In ancient China, there were many poems on filial love. In Book of Songs , there is a poem titled Long Artemisia(《廖莪》)

Parts of the poem are as follows:

So sad is my poor parents

They toil terribly to bring me up.

.../........................

Fatherless, on whom could I rely?

Motherless, in whose arm can I cry?

.............................

Dad, you gave me birth and kept me fed.

Mam, you milked me and fed me bread.

You protected me in your tender loves

You matured and handled me with gloves.

You missed me, never left me alone about

You carried me in your arms in and out.

This poem expressed attractively the feeling and love of a son for his parents. He is remembering: in his age of baby and childhood, how hard is his parents to milk him, feed him and bring him up. Parents took care of him any time and every where. Such deep love of parents, he will remember for ever.

In Chinese traditional civilization, filiality was paid very high attention. A student of Confucius , Zeng Zi ( 曾子) wrote a special book The Classic of Filiality (《孝经》),which was listed in the Confucian Classics.

In one of Four Books of Confucian Classics, The Doctrine of The Mean, there is a segment:

Confucius said: They reverenced those whom they honored, and loved those whom they regarded with affection.

So according to the opinion of Confucius, Love for parents is the basis of Filiality.

In the philosophy of Confucianism, Filiality is not only a concept of Ethics, but also a concept of Politics. In Confucianism, Filiality is closely related with Royalty.

Mencius said:

Ministers serve their sovereign, cherishing the principle of benevolence and righteousness; sons serve their father, and younger brother serve their elder brothers, also cherishing the principle of benevolence and righteousness.

(Mencius, Chap.19).

If let the idea of serving people instead of serving the sovereign , and have love for people in the country and love for parents at home, this reformed idea is still suitable in modern society.

So, the traditional morality of filial love, even today, still has its ethic value in modern society. Filial love plays an active role to establish harmonious family and harmonious society in contemporary China.

Some one describes the society of USA: it is paradise of the young, the battlefield of the middle age and the tomb of the old. It means that old people might be lonely and painful there. But Chinese people, even in other countries, like to live with their parents together, at least take care of their parents carefully which gives the old much warmness. This harmonious family relation coming from Chinese traditional civilization is worthy to be cherished.

Love for parents (or Filial Love) has some characters as follows:

  1. Love for parents is love of blood relation and love of creativity

Human being is a special animal who has inborn emotion and reason. As to man's creator, man must have deep love and must feel grateful. The Christians love God, since they believe God is the creator of mankind.

Modern Genetics has already proves that everyone's appearance, wisdom , character and some diseases are all determined by his DNA , which is completely constructed by the combination of his parent's DNA . From the view of science, father and mother are the real creators of son and daughter. So, all people in the world will have deep love for their parents in their inner heart.

Mencius said:

Children carried in the arms all know to love their parents.

(Mencius, Chap.13)

Children are born by their parents, So , Love for parents belongs to human nature.

  2. Love for parents is the closest family affection

Just as the poem mentioned above said:

Fatherless, on whom could I rely?

Motherless, in whose arm can I cry?

In the earliest period of about 20 years, everyone's growth depends on his parents completely. His (her) growth depends on milking of mother and feeding of his parents. He depends on parent's help to be able to walk and to speak. His early knowledge comes from his parents. In the period of early living together closely with his parents, the intimate affection must be built. Such intimate emotion is impossible to be instead of by other human emotion.

  3. Emotion of gratitude while parent is getting old

While parents get old or sick, their son and daughter must remember the deep love that parents have given to him or her which would enhance his filial love for parents.

In modern China , there is a famous prose-- Back Image written by famous writer Zhu Ziqing ( 朱自清) The prose describes that old father sent me (the writer) to railway station for my leaving . While I was on the train, I saw my old and fat father, brought some apple and climb up the train hardly giving me the apple. While he left, I saw his bent back image and burst my tears. I was thinking of that in his long life, from my childhood to adult, I was concerned by him and also by my mother throughout.

Son or daughter's Love for parents is the best comfort in old age of parents. And it is also the great happiness of son and daughter themselves.

Chapter 2-6 Love for Brother and Sister

Relation between brother and sister, in China, is called relation of hands and feet. This calling is suitable. Since hands and feet are blood relation which is the same case of the relation between brother and sister.

In the West, love between brother and sister is named Fraternal Love.

In traditional Chinese civilization, it was paid much attention to the love between brother and sister.

Mencius said:

The principle of Yao and Shen was simply filiality and fraternity

(Mencius, Chap.12, Both of Yao and Shen are ancient Chinese sages)

Filiality is the love for parents. Fraternity is the love for brother and sister.

In ancient China, there were many famous poetries describing fraternal love:

In Tang dynasty , famous Wang Wei (王维)wrote a poem, titled On Double Ninth Day Thinking of My Brothers

A lonely stranger is in a strange land,  
Think of my dears on every festive day.  
By now my brothers must some heights have attended,  
They are inserting the cornel grass, only me is outside.

Wang had five brothers and two sisters. He was only 17 while writing this poem. He left family to have a job at Changan, capital of Tang. In the festival of double nine (September 9th), he was missing his brothers and sisters. He thought that they must climb the hill to play and insert the aromatic grass, cornel, around. But only he himself was outside. They must think of him also.

This poem expresses deeply the love between brothers and sisters.

In Song dynasty, both the brothers , Su Shi(苏轼) and Su Che(苏彻) were famous poets. They had deep love with each other.

In 1076, Su Shi was an officer in Shandong province, far away from Changan (the capital) , where Su Che was working . On Middle Autumn day (a festival of China). Su Shi wrote a poem remembering his brother. The last two sentences are:

May we all be blessed for long life.  
Though far apart, we are still able to share the beauty of the moon together.

These two sentences are very famous in China, which expresses the deep love between two brothers.

After they died, they were buried at the same place in Henan province

Love between brothers and sisters own the following characters:

  1. It is the love of blood relation

Research of Genetics clarifies that twin brothers or sisters have their DNA of 100% sameness. Brothers and sisters have their DNA of more than 99% sameness. Either brothers or sisters with same double parents or with same father or same mother, they have very close blood relation. The close blood relation makes them create deep love between them.

  2. Love of companions in childhood

Brothers and sisters, usually, are living together in their childhood age. From the age of child to the age of youth, they live together, play together and study together. Even in their old age, the common memory of the life of childhood remains eternally in their mind. Due to having the same parents, quite often, they have more similar personality and common interest which must enhance their mutual love

  3. Love of common responsibility

After they grow up and have their own families, even they might live in different cities or countries, but they have the common responsibility to take care of their common parents and other brothers and sisters. This common responsibility must enhance their mutual love with each other.

In China, love between brothers and sisters is named Di (弟), which has the same meaning with Fraternity in the West. So it is the common tradition of Chinese and Western civilizations. It is worthy to be cherished in modern society.

Chapter 2-7 Love between teacher and student

Man's living society, besides family, has comprehensive relations between people. Society may be classified into two kinds, large society and small society. Large society means nation, country, world and mankind. Small society means the groups of people in which man has close relation between people, as teachers and classmates in the school, neighbors in same residential area, colleagues in same working unit and friends, etc. In those small society, people is getting together closely, they must have mutual emotion and love with each other.

Due to limitation of the volume of this book, I select two kinds of love in small human society: one is love between teachers and students; the other is love between friends.

In one's life, besides parents, the most influential persons are teachers. Teachers not only teach you knowledge, but also impart you morality.

In Chinese traditional civilization, there is special respect to teachers.

In ancient Chinese books, there are following sayings:

Student should respect teachers as his father.

Your teacher for a day just like your father in whole life

(Taigong Tutor ,《太公家教》)

Relation between Confucius and his students are good examples of Love between teacher and students. In Analects of Confucius (《论语》)and Book of History (《史记》) ,there are many introduction about it.

The love of Confucius for his students expressed in following aspects:

1)Confucius knew clearly the strength and expertise of every student and gave them warm encouragement.

For example, he praised his student Yan Hui (颜回):

How virtuous is Hui ! Living in a single meal day, with water for his drink, and living in the lowest hovel of the city. No man could have stood such hardship, but he did not lose his cheerfulness.

(Analects of Confucius, Chap,6)

2) Confucius applied different methods for different students

As to Zi Lu (子路), in Book of History , it is written::

Confucius said: Zi Lu has a rough character and likes to use his force. He is strong and frank. So I use rites to educate him.

3) Confucius paid high attention to the morality of his students

Confucius taught his student Zi Xia (子夏):

Be a moral scholar as a gentleman, not be an immoral scholar as a villain.

(Analects of Confucius, Chap,6)

4) Confucius concerned the livelihood very much of his student and gave them warm sympathy

Confucius went to see his sick student Bai NIu (伯牛) and sighed with feeling: It is fate! Such a good person gets this disease! It is fate!

(Analects of Confucius, Chap,6)

5) Confucius gave warm expectation to student to serve for society and country.

Confucius admired the talent of his student Zi Jian ( 子贱) and said:

It is pity that he governs is a small city. He is able to govern a large city.

(Book of History)

Owing to the concern and education of Confucius towards his students, he was respected and loved by all his students.

In 489 BC, while Confucius was leading his students to travel in different countries. King of Chu (楚) prepared to invite Confucius to serve for Chu. Kings of Chen (陈) and Cai(蔡)were afraid of the invitation of Confucius to Chu. Their army besieged Confucius and all his students.

In seven days of being besieged, Confucius and his students had no food at all. All students did their best to find food. While some food was found, they always let their teacher eat first .All students took care of their teacher warmly with deep love.

From the story of the relation between Confucius and his students and many other stories in China and in the West, we may see that Love between teacher and students has the following characters:

  1. Love between teacher and student is spiritual.

What teacher could give to his students are mainly two aspects: one is knowledge and the other is morality.

The courses that Confucius imparted his students were: Six Classics: Book of Songs , Book of History, Book of Changes, Spring and Autumn , Book od Rites and Book of Music. These are knowledge imparting.

Confucius paid much attention to the education of morality, to teach students how to be an upright man .The famous sayings in Analects of Confucius are mostly in this aspect.;

For example,

Fan Ci (a student of Confucius) asked: What is Kindheartedness?

Confucius said: Kindheartedness means loving men

(Analects of Confucius, Chap.12)

In modern society, from primary school to middle school, what the teachers teach in the class is the cultural and scientific knowledge accumulated in long human history,

In university, especially in the period of graduate student, a part of knowledge that professors impart is their own research achievements which could not obtained in other place. In recent 100-200 years, the progress of various sciences depends on the imparting of knowledge generation by generation in universities or academies.

Beside the knowledge imparting, the morality and spirit in scientific research and human life has great impact upon students.

In modern China, there are the spirit of Chen Duxiu(陈独秀) to advocate Science and Democracy . the spirit of Hu Shi (胡适) to advocate Liberty , the spirit of Zhu Kezhen (竺可桢) to advocate "Seeking the Truth" and the spirit of Wang Guowei (王国维) of " Independent thinking and Liberal spirit" ,etc. They all give great influence upon several generations in modern China.

  2. Love between teacher and students influences upon Man's whole life.

In one's whole life, who gives him the greatest influence. Of course, everyone has different answer. But many one may answer: my teacher.

Among the students of Confucius, many ones have outstanding achievements. Zeng Zi(曾子) was one of them. He wrote The Classic of Filiality, which is a book elucidating specially Confucian Filiality, has important position in the history of Chinese civilization. His book completely carried on the theory of Confucius.

Modern Chinese physicist Shu Xingbei (束星北)(1907-1983) was a professor of Zhejiang University before 1949. In his early age, he studied in UK and USA. He was an assistant of Einstein. His research achievements reached the highest level of modern physics .For his upright character and braveness of speaking out his own opinion, he was punished seriously in political movements in 50-70th of 20 century in China.

Famous physicist Li Zhengdao(李政道) is a winner of Nobel Prize. He said: "In my whole life ,I am fortunate to obtain the influence of three teachers :the enlightenment of Shu Xingbei , the education of Wu Dayou(吴大猷) and the professional training of Enrico Fermi. My life could not be separated from the influence of them upon me. The earliest enlightenment light came from my teacher Shu Xingbei.

  3. Generalized love of teacher

Love between teacher and student is not limited in school. The concept of teacher is not limited to the teachers who teach you in classroom. All men who give you influence on your thinking, morality and knowledge may be called your teachers.

After I retired in 1999, due to the interest in my young age, I read earnestly a great amount of books on Chinese and Western philosophy. While I am summarizing my own view of philosophy ---Synthesis philosophy, I found that Confucius is my best teacher. Confucius said: "Harmony but not sameness", which is a good expression of Synthesis philosophy. The basic thinking of Synthesis philosophy is that any thing in the world is a synthetic body of different components. There is difference between its components, but there exist mutual coordination and mutual harmony between them.

Confucius was a man living 2500 years ago. It is difficult for me to imagine his appearance. But his thinking, wisdom and morality make me take him as my best teacher in my whole life.

One man's teachers are not limited in his own country. In philosophy , the most one respected by me ,besides Lao Zi and Confucius , is Immanuel Kant(1724-1804).Kant spent his whole life in his reading room and did not have extraordinary stories. But his books--- The Critique of Pure Reason, The Critique of Practical Reason, Critique of Judgement, etc. attains the highest level of West philosophy. His deep thinking on philosophy gives me great enlightenment.

In summary, Love between teacher and student may have influences upon your whole life. Everyone must be grateful for his teachers in his whole life.

Chapter 2-8 Love between Friends

Confucius said:

Is it a pleasure when your friend come from far to see you?

(Analects of Confucius Chap.1)

Yes, if you have some Intimate friends, it is a great pleasure of your life.

In one's whole life, he must have many friends, including classmates of primary school, middle school and university, your collegues in your working unit, etc. The relations between you and different friends are at different emotional levels, some are only common relations, and some have deeper friendship. In your whole life, usually, there are only a few friends that you have deep emotion with them.

Is there relation between friends attaining the degree of Love between friends in human life? Yes, there is. It may be called Friendship Love or Friendly Love

Two examples of Friendship Love in ancient and modern period are introduced as below.

In Tang dynasty of China, there were two famous poets, who loved each other deeply. One was Bai Juyi( 白居易,772-846) and the other was Yuan Zhen (元稹,779-831).Both of them came from Henan province (in middle China). While they were young, The met in an examination at Lu Yang (洛阳) . Before their meeting, they admired the talent of poetry of each other. After their meeting, they established deep friendship for a long period, up to their death.

Their friendship was established on the basis of their common opinions on poetry. Both of them supported the view that poetry should serve for the progress of society and should be popularized to people. In Tang dynasty, represented by them two, a movement of New Poetry was rising up.

Both of them had written a lot of famous poems to express the hard living of common people and also poems singing the love stories.

Besides the common opinions of poetry, they also have same opinions on politics. Both of them were upright and brave to supervise and charge the corrupt officers. Since so, both of then were demoted and ousted to regions far away.

There deep friendship love expressed in their poems.

While they were ousted and living thousands miles apart, one day, Bai wrote a poem and sent it to Yuan:

Dream of Yuanjiu (other name of Yuan)

The morning breeze makes me feel sad,

Waterlogging at Tongchuan stopped hearing from you

I do not know for what you remember me,

Last midnight I dreamed of you.

Bai was thinking his friend--Yuan, sadly. He told Yuan: I dreamed of you last night. And asked: for what reason you came to my dream?

After Yuan received Bai's poem, he replied a poem:

Mountains and rivers stopped our mailing

I am grateful for your dream of me

Due to my sick, my soul is abnormal

I feel sad that I only dream of others, but not of you

Yuan got serious sick while he received Bai's poem. He told Bai: I was so grateful that his friend dreamed of him. But due to my sick, I am so sad that I could not meet you in dream.

These two poems are very famous in China, touching all readers for their deep love of friendship.

Another example is the friendship between Karl Marx (1818-1883)and Friedrich _Engels_ (1820-1895).

Their friendship came from their common opinions on philosophy, history, economic, and the common belief of human future.

Due to livelihood and political reason, they did not live in same place. Marx lived in London writing his famous book Capital . Engels lived at _Manchester_ working in a company of his father.

Engels admired very much the knowledge and theory of Marx. In more than 40 years, he gave help to Marx in many aspects:

  1. Economic help: Even though he himself was a scholar and did not like to make money, but he managed the company and sent money to Marx each month so that Marx could accomplish his book, Capital.

  2. Theoretical and writing help: Engels researched economics before Marx. But while he understood the great meaning of Marx's theory, he was willing to be an assistant of Marx. Marx's ability of English writing was not good enough. 120 articles of Marx were written by the help of Engels

  3. Cooperation in political movement: Many articles were written by both of them to argue against the authority of Prussia.

After the death of Marx, Engels helped to accomplish the book of Marx.

From above two examples, you may see that Friendship Love has the following characters:

  1. Friendship Love is higher than the general relation between friends. You may have more than 100 friends, but you could only have friendship love with a few friends.

  2. Friendship love is established on the basis of common idea, common political thinking, common professional interest and intimate communication. Without those, it is impossible to establish friendship love.

  3. In friendship love, you must be very happy while your friend is healthy and get success. You must do your best to help your friend, while your friend meets difficulties. You must not ask any reward for your own help from your friend

  4. If you have friendship love with your friend, you and your friend must learn the talent and morals of each other and be tolerant the shortcomings or mistakes of your friend.

In summary, besides the love between family members friendship love is the most precious love in your whole life.

Chapter 2-9 Love for People

Besides Love for family members and love in small society (school or friend circle), man also have love in large society, as love for people, for motherland, for mankind, etc.

Love for people should be recognized as a very noble emotion and morality. Kindhearted love, a very important idea advocated by Confucius, just means love for people.

Fan Ci (a student of Confucius) asked: What is Kindheartedness? Confucius said: Loving men.

(Analects of Confucius, Chap.12)

Here, "men" means others or people, not only family members or friends.

Mencius said:

Treat with the reverence the elders in your own family, so that the elders in the other's families shall be similarly treated. Treat with the kindness the young in your own family, so that the young in the other's families shall be similarly treated.

(Mencius, Chap.1)

Mencius's thinking was the inheritance and development of Confucius's thinking of Kindheartedness.

Mo Zi (墨子) said:

Human society needs universal love and mutual benefit

(Mo Zi, Book 4)

So, love for people is a precious tradition of Chinese culture.

In Chinese and Western history, there were many outstanding politicians, writers and scientists who had deep love for people and made great contribution to people.

Among them, two of them are introduced in this chapter, one is famous Chinese poets Du Fu (杜甫) and the other is famous British nurse Florence Nightingale(1820-1910) .

Du Fu (710-770) was one of the most famous poets in Tang dynasty of China. Before 35 years old, he travelled in East China, met with some intimate friends, as famous poet,. Li Bai (李白). In his age of 35-44, he lived in Changan (长安),capital of Tang . He was suffering and poor at all. In 755-763, the disturbance of An and Shi (安史之乱)happened. Both An and Shi were regional high governors and soldiers. They rebelled against the central government. This disturbance caused great suffering of people. Du Fu experienced deeply the misery of people and wrote a series of famous poems .In his age of 48, he transferred to Chengdu (capital of Sichuan province) and lived in a brief cottage. In 770, he died in a boat returning to the east

Du Fu began to write poetry in 7 years old. In 15 year old, his poetry was famous in many cities. In his whole life, he had been writing more than 3000 poems. His poetry attained the highest level in Chinese history of poetry.

The most important character of his poetry is the deep concern and love for poor people. I take his famous poem "Leaving of the old" as an example.

Leaving of the Old

In all the country there's no peace.  
How can an old man live with ease?  
Sons and grandsons all died in battle,  
Why should my old body remain?  
Taking my stick away, I go;  
My companions compassion show.  
Fortunately my teeth are remained,  
But in my bones no marrow is found.  
As soldier clothes in armor now,  
To officers I make bow.  
By the roadside cries my old wife,  
So thinly she clothes in winter cold.  
Who knows if we can meet again?  
Seeing her shiver, I feel pain.  
Once gone, I can't come back, I fear;  
She still asks me to eat more.  
I tell her the fortress is strong,  
To cross the stream takes a time long.  
Unlike the siege of days gone by,  
It's not so soon for me to die.  
To meet or part is fate in life,  
How can we select the fortune or misfortune?  
Remembering when I was young and strong,  
How can I not sigh deep and long!  
War is raging in all country;  
Fire is burning at all mountains and hills.  
Grass and trees smell of dead bodies;  
With blood the streams and plains turn red.  
Where can I find a happy land?  
How can I dare to tarry somewhere?  
Leave completely from my humble home   
And march away with broken heart!

The whole poem expresses the deep sadness of an old man who leaves his humble home and sad wife. His wife has only thin cloth, suffering in the cold winter, but still asks her husband to eat more. Both of them do not know whether he could be alive or not

If Du Fu did not love for the miserable people deeply, it is impossible for him to write this touching poem. Du Fu's deep love for people has been influencing countless intellectuals generation by generation in China, which becomes a strong energy for them to push forward the progress of country so as to help people have peace and happiness.

Now, let us talk on the story of Nightingale.

The great woman in 19 century, Florence Nightingale (1820-1910), is the founder of modern nursing career. She was born in Italy. Later, she, accompanying her parents, moved to England. She studied in Paris University and learned several languages: English, French, Italian and German. Her family was rich. Her parents hoped her to heritage their family business. But she herself was willing to be a nurse working for people.

She went to many countries to investigate hospital and to a German school studying nursing. In 1853, she was a supervisor of association of nursing in England.

In 1854, the Crimean War broke out. For the control of Balkan Peninsula, England, France and Turkey declared war against Russia.

At that time, the conditions and management of field hospital were very bad. Death rate was high up to 50%. Nightingale led 38 nurses to the front, overcoming various difficulties, to take care of the wounded. Within half a year, death rate decreased to 2%.

In 1856, she was assigned as the director of nursing department in army hospital. Next year, she established military medical school. In 1860, she donated 4400 British pounds rewarded by government to establish the first regular Nurse School in the world --- Nightingale Nurse School. She made excellent devotion to the nursing career of the world.

In 1856, due to her care of the wounded day and night for long time, her went blind. In 1907, she was awarded the meritorious service medal from the King.

After her death, the international society took her birthday---May 12 as International Nurse Day.

The love for the wounded and patients of Nightingale has been benefiting all people in the world.

From the deeds of Du Fu and Nightingale, we may see that Love for people has some characters:

  1. Love for people comes from two sources.

Love for lover, for spouse, for children and for parents come from human nature and inborn emotion. Everyone has those emotions.

Mencius said:

The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of Kindheartedness

The feeling of commiseration has the same meaning of sympathy or love for others. So, according to Mencius , love for others also comes from human nature.

But Love for people is a jump up of love for others. So love for people is not only based on human nature, it is also based on education, idea and belief.

Chinese tradition of Kindhearted Love, modern Chinese education of "serving the people", the doctrine of Christianity : "Love others as love yourself", and the touching stories of many great politicians , poets, writers, scientists, doctors, etc. all of these motivated man creating the love for people.

So, Love for people is a very noble emotion which has two sources: one is human nature; the other is education, idea and belief.

2) Love for people is not a thinking or spirit of "must be", but of "should to be". So Love for people belongs to a kind of high level morality.

Love for people is non-conditional. It does not ask any reward.

Du Fu made great contribution to Chinese poetry, but his whole life is poor and sufferable. He did not obtain corresponding rewards from his 3000 excellent poems in his life time.

Nightingale gave up the opportunity to heritage her father's business. She was willing to do hard job of nursing in the front of war to serve for the wounded.

But both of them obtain great reputation in human history.

A good and reasonable society could not ask everyone to have love for people, but it should have more and more people to have love for people.

3) Love for people has no difference of professions. All persons who has love for people must obtain the respect and love from people

Mencius said:

He who loves others is constantly loved by them

(Mencius, Chap.8)

An officer who loves people and does his best for people is constantly loved by people.

A doctor or nurse who loves patients and does his (or her) best for patients must be loved by them.

A scientist, artist or writer who loves people and does his best in his research or literary works for people is certainly loved by them.

In the spring festival of 2010, there is a photo shown on the newspaper. In the photo, a woman sanitation worker is changing her socks. Through reporter's inquiry, people know that she left home 4 o'clock in the morning. She was doing hardly and tried to clear snow before working time of people. She has already changed three wet socks. Her deed touches everyone. People call her "the most lovable lady".

This story shows that, even a very common worker who has love and responsibility for people. She will be loved by people.

Chapter 2-10 Love for Career

Everyone in a modern society, after certain age , will have a special profession (or job): worker , farmer, teacher, doctor , officer or entrepreneur.

Different person has different attitude of his job. Someone might muddle along his job and satisfied to obtain his salary each month. But someone loves his profession and does his best in his job. There are also persons who take their job as their career and love deeply his career.

A teacher might love his education career. A doctor might love his medicine career. A scientist might love his science career. An entrepreneur might take his company as his career.

One who loves his career must do his best in his work, play his creativity as much as possible so as to serve the society and people.

So, love for career is a noble emotion and morality. It is also an important pushing force of the progress of society.

In this chapter , I like to introduce two examples: one is famous Chinese educator and scientist Zhu Kezhen (竺可桢) and the other is the founder of Microsoft Company, Bill Gates.

Zhu was the president of my alma mater ---Zhejiang University of China. His whole life devoted to two careers, one was science and the other was education.

In 1890,he was born in Shao Xing (绍兴)of Zhejiang province ,China. He studied diligently in school. In his young age ,he admired the patriotic poet, Lu You (陆游), in Song dynasty , the philosopher Wang Yangming (王阳明)in Ming dynasty and the patriotic general Zhang Cangshui (张苍水) who fight against invader in late Ming . From then, he had strong patriotic thinking in his whole life. He knew that the foundation of China is agriculture and agriculture is closely related with climate. So, he devoted to Meteorology in his life. (In this aspect, I myself have very similar experience with him)

He got the financial support of American returned compensation fee (due to the war in 1900 between China and 8 foreign countries) and went to USA to study in Agricultural College of Illinois University. After graduation, he transferred to Geology Department of Harvard University and studied Meteorology. In 1918, he got the doctor degree, refusing invitation of many American universities, returned China. After then, he took the pushing forward Meteorology and Geography in China as the career of his whole life.

In 10 yeas after he returned China, he had been a professor working in Nanjing Normal University and Nankai University at Tianjing. He cultivated many famous meteorologists and geographers in China.

In1927, he was assigned as the director of Meteorology Institute of Chinese Central Academy of Science. He established the central meteorological observing station at Nanjing and presented the plan of National Observing Network of whole China which is the foundation of modern meteorological system of China.

In 1937, he was assigned as the president of Zhejiang University. From 1937 to 1949, he devoted himself to education career.

1937 was the beginning of Anti-Japan War of China. For avoiding the war fire and insisting on education, he led the whole university to have a great West March. The whole university was moved four times forwarding the West South province Guizhou (贵州) for more than 1000 kilometers, passing several provinces. In the classrooms at poor countryside houses or temples, professors taught the newest knowledge of the world for students. He did his best to invite many high level scientists and scholars to be professors. In very poor laboratories, those professors and students accomplished many world level scientific achievements.

While famous British Biochemist , Dr. Joseph Needham( Joseph Li,李约瑟,1900-1995) sent by British Cultural Association to visit Zhejiang University at Guizhou , he introduced to the word that Zhejiang University was the Cambridge University of China!

In 13 years as the president of Zhejiang University, Zhu loved and concerned all students. In 1942, students held a street parade to against the corruption of officers; he walked in front of the parade to protect his student. In 1947, the leader of student association Yu Zisan (于子三) was killed in the jail and the authority declared that Yu suicided himself . While Zhu went to jail seeing the dead body of Yu, Zhu refused to sign his name for recognizing the suicide of Yu .He said that the condition of jail is impossible for a prisoner to suicide.

Zhu's spirit of justice and love for students obtained the comprehensive respect and love of all students in Zhejiang University.

The whole life of Zhu expressed deep love for careers of science and education of an upright scholar.

Now, let me introduce briefly the story of Bill Gates, who is the founder of Microsoft Company, a worldwide famous enterprise.

In 1955, he was born in Seattle at west seashore of USA. While he was a middle school student, he was interested in computer, which was a large and heavy machine at that time. He is talent in mathematics. He and his classmates were obsessed with computer. They designed a computer program for managing the school courses.

He was born in a rich family. Both his father and mother had high income. Bill was not worried about living. But from young age, he was interested in earning money. He told his friend: I prepare to earn 1 million dollars before my age of 25.

Just after he entered Harvard University, he and his friend created a computer company---Communication Data Company. They concerned carefully the progress of computer science. In 1974, while Intel Company delivered a high efficient microprocessor---8088, he predicted that a new age of family computer is coming. He gave up his study in university and devoted all effort to manage his company.

In 1975, he presented the first computer programming language---BASIC .Due to the simplicity, clearness and easiness to study. BASIC became the basis of a series of other application software in the world. In 1975, he and his friend created Microsoft Company.

In 80th of last century, IBM company--- the largest computer company in the world, decided to create micro-computer. Microsoft developed the program of MS-DOS which is especially adopted for micro-computer. As micro-computer is popularizing quickly, the products of Microsoft is also popularized rapidly.

In 1990, Microsoft entered the stock market. Opening price was $ 25.17. A year later, it rose to $90.75. Bill was 31years old, becoming a billionaire.

Though Bill becomes rich, but he does not pay much attention to personal property. He donated huge assets to Charity. In 2000, he and his wife established Bill and Melinda Foundation, which is largest foundation for Charity in the world..

From the story of Zhu Kezhen and Bill Gates, we might have the following understanding of the Love for Career:

  1. Love for career is a very strong spiritual motive force of human life.

A person, if he has deep love for his career, he must like to devote his full wisdom, talent and enthusiasm to his career. He will bear the sacrifice for his career. In the moving to West of Zhejiang University, Zhu's beloved wife and his youngest son died from the disease of Dysentery. After buried them sadly, Zhu continued to lead the university to move. He was pushed by the deep love for the career of education

  2. Love for career, usually, is combined with a special unit or specialty.

Zhu's love for education career was combined with Zhejiang University. His love for science was combines with Meteorology and Geography.

Bill Gates' love for career is combined with his Microsoft Company.

This character makes the love for career different from love for people and love for motherland. But man , through his love for special career, expresses his love for people and for their motherland

  3. Love for career has the character of utility.

Many kinds of love introduced above do not certainly link with utility. As love for children or love for parents, these loves come from human nature and do not ask any reward or utility. But love for career requires the result, achievement or utility.

Zhu's love for meteorology pushed forward the progress of meteorological career in China. He also made many valuable achievements of his own meteorological researches. The most important achievement of his research is the historical climatic changes in 5000 years of China.

Bill Gates's love for career helped him become the richest man in the world. But he himself is not interested in his own property. He concerns the great amount of poor people in Africa. He and his wife's foundation has helped countless poor people. This is the utility and also motive force of his love for his career.

Chapter 2-11 Love for Motherland

Motherland means one's own country. Generally, one's motherland is the country where he was born and grew. For someone, it may be the country where his father or mother was born and grew. Nationality has rigorous rule of law. Motherland is mostly relates to one's emotion.

Why one has love for his motherland?

Motherland links with one in many aspects. The place where he was born and grew is his hometown. The mountains, rivers, landscapes, trees, houses, fields, schoolmates in kinder garden and primary school are his earliest memories of him and the beginning of his life. The speaking and language that he studied in childhood is the civilization of his country. The rule of behaviors that his parents and teachers taught him is the moral tradition of his motherland. His cloth ,food and the holidays that he spent are the customs of his motherland ,......, anyhow, not only the blood flued in his body came from his motherland (from the genetic of his parents and grandparents),the substantial and spiritual nutrition of his growth are all from his motherland. So , one must have deep love for his motherland, just as for his mother.

Love for motherland is a noble moral sentiment which is praised by people in all country in the world.

In Chinese history, there were many famous persons whose deep love for motherland has been educating people generation by generation.

Qu Yuan (屈原,340-278 BC ) was the first patriotic poet in Chinese history . He had been the prime minister of Chu(楚)。 When Qin(秦) was invading Chu, Qu suggested King of Chu to unite with Qi(齐) for protecting Chu. But it was refused. Due to calumny of traitors, Qu was expelled from his country. Finally he sunk himself into river and remained his famous patriotic poetry of Li Sao (离骚)

In late South Song dynasty, patriotic general Wen Tianxiang (文天祥)led army fighting against the invader of Yuan (元)。He was captured by enemy army. King of Yuan persuaded him to surrender and agreed him to be the prime minister of Yuan. His refused. Before he was killed, he wrote a famous poem. Two sentences of the poem are:

Since no one lives forever, why not leave my loyal heart, gloriously recorded in the history.

His patriotic poem has been educating the later people through generation after generation.

In modern China, a patriotic scientist Deng Jiaxian (邓稼先,1924-1986) is worthy to be introduced.

Deng's father was a professor of philosophy of Qinghua University. Influenced by his father, Deng had strong patriotic emotion from his young age. He got doctor degree in Purdue University in USA. In 1950, he refused the position of high income in USA and returned China.

In 1958, while he was asked to take part in the research of nuclear weapon. He knew that this would let him separated from outside world completely and be not able to care for his family. He agreed without hesitation.

He was assigned as the head of theoretical department of Institute of nuclear weapon and then the director of the Institute.

In the early few years, the research got some help from SU (Soviet Union). After the rupture of Sino-Soviet Relation in 1959, all theoretical and practical difficulties should be overcome by Chinese scientists.

In the starvation year of 1959-1961, he eat only little amount of sweet potato every day.

He worked very hard and was very responsible in the design and manufacture of atomic bomb.

In October 16 of 1964, while a mushroom cloud was rising up in the sky in the west of China. The world was astonished and Deng was tearing.

After then, he was responsible in the research and creation of hydrogen bomb. In 1967, hydrogen bomb was success in China. From atomic bomb to hydrogen bomb, France spent 8 years, USA spent 7 years, SU spent 10 years; China spent only 2 years without any help from other countries.

Since the long time contact with radioactive material, in 1985, he was diagnosed getting Rectal Cancer. In July 29 of 1986, he left the world

Famous physicist Yang Zhenning (杨振宁) was a classmate of Deng in middle school and university. In 1972 , while Yang visited China, he asked Deng whether Hanchun(寒春, a American scientist friendly to China) joined the research in China . Deng answered: let me confirm it. Some day later, Yang received a letter from Deng. Deng told that before 1959, China got very little help from SU. After then no any foreigner took part in the engineering of atomic weapon in China. Yang said he himself was tearing at that time. Since he knew how great the difficulties his friend, Deng, had met.

What force pushed Deng and many other Chinese scientists overcoming so great difficulties to get success of the engineering of atomic weapon? The only answer is: it is the deep love for their motherland! Their effort and contribution raised the national strength and the international position of their own country.

Love for motherland does not only belong to Chinese. All people in the world have love for their motherland. All upright politicians, scientists, artists, etc. love their motherland.

Let me introduce an extraordinary representative of them, the former American president Roosevelt.

Franklin Roosevelt, 1882-1945) was the 32th president of USA and was the only president of four sessions continuously (1933, 1937, 1941and 1945). He is regarded as one of three greatest presidents in the history of USA. The other two are Washington and Lincoln.

He was born in a high level family and was the cousin of the 26th president of USA, Theodore Roosevelt (1858-1919)

He studied in Harvard University in 1900-1903 and then entered Law School of Columbia University.

In 1913, he was assigned as vice Secretary of the Navy and played important role in equipment updating.

In1921, while he was taking a vacation at an inland, for putting out the fire, he jumped in cold sea and got the disease of Polio, which caused him lifelong disability. After continuous effort, he stood up. He sat in wheelchair to be president of USA for four sessions.

He had two most important contributions when he served as American president. One was that he led American people overcoming serious economic crisis and took a series of policies to reform and develop American economy. The other is that he led America to win World War II.

1) Began in 1929, America and the whole world happened great economic depression: workers' unemployment, enterprises' bankruptcy, banks' failures and stocks plummeting, etc.

In 1933, under his urge, the Congress passed a series legislations: Emergency Banking Law, Federal Emergency Relief Act, Agricultural Adjustment Act, Industrial Rehabilitation Act, etc.. The implementation of these Acts is named by people: New Deal of Roosevelt.

At the end of his first session of president, the national income of America raised 50%. Industry and agriculture developed apparently, bank credit was firm. America was showing flourishing.

2) In 1937, Japanese army invaded North China. In 1938, German Nazi army invaded Czech. In 1941, he persuaded Congress to pass the Lend-Lease Act. US supported Britain and the Soviet Union a great amount of weapons. America became the armory in Anti Fascist War.

On December, 7 of 1941, Japanese attacked the American base of Navy-- Pearl Harbor. 18 ships were sunk and 175 Military aircraft were destroyed. Under his leadership America declared war on Japan, Germany and Italy.

Up to the end of war, America enlarged its army to 15 millions soldiers, 70 thousands aircraft and 4500 military ships.

In 1942, he and Churchill decided to take landing in North Africa. In 1943, Italy unconditional surrendered.

In 1943 , he ,Churchill and Jiang Jieshi(蒋介石) had a meeting at Cairo. In 1945, he, Churchill and Stalin had a meeting at Yalta (in Soviet Union) discussing the issues after war. At that time, the world Fascism was certainly failed.

In April 12, 1945, President Roosevelt, while he was painted by a woman painter at White House, he suddenly fell to the ground and died due to cerebral hemorrhage.

The above two great contributions of President Roosevelt ,especially his contribution in World War II make him be respected and remembered in the history of USA and the world .

From above examples, we can see some characters of Love for mother land:

  1. Love for motherland has very high position in one's life

Comparing with love for family member (spouse, parents and children) or love for friends, love for motherland is the more strong spiritual support in human life.

Qu Yuan was willing to sink in the river for awaking people to save the motherland. Wen Tianxiang refused to be the prime minister of Yuan and was willing to die. Such noble spirit must be admired and remembered by all Chinese people.

Deng Jiaqian and Yang Zhenning were classmates in same middle school and university. Yang obtained Nobel Prize and had high reputation in the world. But Deng was willing to be unknown by people and spent a very hard life in North West of China. Only the love for motherland could support his energy of life.

  2. Love for motherland has very strong cohesive force between people

Love for family members has the cohesive force in a family. Love for motherland had cohesive force in all people in a same country.

Qu Yuan's story is remembered by all people in China. Up to now, all Chinese people spent a special festival --- Dragon Boat festival remembering him

In 1937-1945 , Love for motherland had united all Chinese people of all ages , all classes ,all parties and all professions united together to fight against the Japan invaders .

In 30-40th years of 20 century, President Roosevelt 's love for motherland united all people in USA to recover national economy and to fight against the world Fascism.

  3. Love for motherland has the difference of Justice and Injustice. Not all love for motherland is worthy to be praised.

In World War II, Hitler used the slogans of "German elite nation" , "Germanism", etc. to agitate German people invading other countries. Japanese militarism used the slogan of "Greater East Asia co-prosperity sphere", etc. to agitate Japanese people to invade China, Korea and other Asia countries. These so called Loves for motherland were of Injustice. The result was the great disaster of the world and also the devastating failure of Germany and Japan themselves.

Chu (楚) that Qu Yuan wanted to protect and South Song (南宋) that Wen Tianxiang made effort to defend were weak countries being invaded . So their sacrifice for their countries was of deeds of Justice.

Real Love for motherland must be established on the basis of Justice.

In 50-60th of 20 centuries, PRC was a very weak country, not recognized by most countries in the world. Deng Jiaqian devoted his all effort and life to the manufacture of China's own nuclear weapon, greatly raising the international position of China. Deng's love for motherland is emotion of Justice.

President Roosevelt led American people to overcome great economic crises and led world people to win World War II.

In January 6, 1941, he had a famous speaking and declared Four Liberty of people.

The first is freedom of speech and expression.  
The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own   
way.  
The third is freedom from want.   
The fourth is freedom from fear.

The principle of four freedoms was accepted by United Nations later.

So, Roosevelt' s love for motherland is emotion of Justice.

Chapter 12 Love for Science

Science is the elite of Western culture. During China' s May 4th movement in 1919, the new ideas that the pioneers, as Chen Duxiu(陈独秀), etc. introduced from West to China are just Science and Democracy.

Chinese traditional culture has many precious contents, especially in fields of philosophy, ethics, art, etc. In the fields of medicine, agriculture, architecture, mathematics etc., China also had long and rich traditions. But those traditions, generally, were empirical technologies, which had not attained the level of science.

West ern science began from ancient Greece. Geometry of Euclidean( 325-265 BC)and Dynamics of Archimedes(287-212 BC)had the primary property of science. The real rise of Western science began from the Enlightenment Movement and Scientific Revolution in 15-16 centuries.

In recent several centuries, science has been developing in the world rapidly and pushing forward rapid progress of industry, agriculture, medicine, energy, transportation, communication and aerospace, etc. The modernization of the world gets the benefit firstly from science.

Why science could have rapid development? Of course, it is due to Industrial Revolution and enlightening thinking. But as to Science itself, the main motive force comes from the creative thinking and hard exploration of many scientists. Why scientists are willing to pay their wisdom and effort to science? What is the spiritual motive force? This is the problem discussed in this chapter: Love for Science.

For explaining Love for Science, I like to introduce the stories of two extraordinary scientists, one is Copernicus and the other is Einstein.

Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) was born in a rich family in Poland. His parents died early. He was fostered by his uncle Watzenrode, who was a pioneer in Enlightenment Movement in Poland. He loved science and gave Copernicus great influence.

From Copernicus's childhood, he liked to watch the sky and to observe the stars.

In 1491, he entered  University of Kraków and studied astronomy, mathematics, geography, philosophy, etc. He decided to devote himself to astronomy.

At that time, in astronomy, the authorized theory was presented by Ptolemaeus (90-168 AD). According to his theory, all cosmos is moving around the earth.

Ptolemaeus's theory could explain part of the facts in astronomy, but many facts could not be explained.

Later, Copernicus studied 7 years in Italy obtaining a very wide basis of knowledge.

In 1503, he returned to Poland and was assigned as the secretary of regional bishop (his uncle). In 1510, he was served as the priest in Frombork. He was working there until he died in 1543.

His main interest was in astronomy. He lived and worked in a watchtower of the church, where he had been making astronomic observation for 30 years.

In 1515, he began to write his famous work of Theory of Celestial Movement. After 28 years, this work was published.

In his work, he used a great amount of facts to prove that the theory of taking earth as the center of the cosmos is incorrect.. He praised the sun: Sun is center of the cosmos and domination of the cosmos.

Later astronomy knows that sun is center of solar system , but not center of the cosmos. But Copernicus using a great amount of facts to prove the Heliocentric theory was a great issue in the whole history of Science

The Heliocentric theory overturned the theological theory which governed the West world for thousands years. It also began a new period of using scientific observation and mathematical demonstration to cognize the great nature.

At the time of Copernicus, his theory was a hypothesis. After then astronomers have found a great amount of facts proving the correctness of his theory.

Due to the religious authority, the theory of Copernicus was prohibited to be known by people for a long time. Copernicus had not got any personal profit from his great contribution. Not to mention that his job was a priest, to do scientific research was not his duty. Why Copernicus was willing to devote his whole life to the new theory of astronomy? The only answer is his deep love for Science.

The story of Einstein is introduced briefly below.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) is recognized as the greatest scientist after Newton.

He was a German Jews with American citizenship. In 1879, he was born in a small town nearby Munich, Germany. His father ran an electrical factory. After closure of the factory, their family moved to Italy and life was very hard.

In his childhood, he seemed as a retarded boy. He began speaking in third year. But he was full of curiosity. His father gave him a compass. He found that it always pointed to a same direction. He was pondering for several days to find something in the compass.

He was a fancy of mathematics. In the age of 12-16, based on self study, he understood all advanced mathematics.

In 1896, he entered Swiss Federal University studying mathematics, physics, philosophy, etc. From 1902, he had been working in a patent office in Swiss as a technician. In 7 years there, he created scientific miracle astonishing the world.

In his whole life, his main achievements are the followings:

  1. Light Quantum theory

In 18th century, Newton presented the Particle theory of light , which could explain the phenomenon of direct emission , reflection, refraction . In 19th century,Maxwell(1831-1879)found that light speed is equal to speed of electromagnetic wave. So, light is also an electromagnetic wave. Then the Wave theory of light was established. Enlightened by the theory of Quantum, Einstein presented the theory of Light Quantum, which could explain all phenomenon of light,

  2. Special Relativity theory

Newton's physics was established on the concepts of Absolute Time and Absolute Space.

In 19th century, scientists found that the speed of light is constant, which means in any cases, light speed is the same.

How to explain this phenomenon? Based on the creative thinking of Einstein, he presented the theory of Relativity, which points out that there is no Absolute Speed and Absolute Space at all. The time is becoming slower while the speed is becoming faster.

So, he combined time, space and speed together. There are only relative time and relative length. His theory of Special Relativity astonished the whole world.

  3. Mass energy relation

In 1905, he presented a famous equation:

E=m c2

or △E=△m• c2

Here, E is energy, m is mass, c is light speed.

This equation expresses the mutual relationship between energy and mass.

  4. General Relativity

In 1907, he presented Equivalent Principle of different forces. The gravitational field and the acceleration field are equivalent.

In 1916, he published his paper: Basic theory of general relativity , which proved that all physical laws are equivalent.

According to his General Relativity, the space in the cosmos is curved

In 1919, two observing teams sent by British Royal Astronomical Society declared that in South America , the observed data shows that , the light has a curve angle of 1.98±0.12 arc-second . While this news opened, the name of Einstein was known in the whole world.

From the stories of Copernicus and Einstein, we may see that Love for Science has some characters:

1) Love for Science comes from curiosity and creative thinking of scientist.

Where does Love for Science come from? From the stories of Copernicus, Einstein and many other scientists, it should be said that it comes from the curiosity.

Curiosity belongs to human's wisdom and human nature. Every child likes to ask his parents many problems: Why birds can fly but I can't? Why the sun always rises at east?

Some one who has strong curiosity and also has creative thinking, he will have Love for Science. If he has good education and professional conditions, he might be a good scientist.

Copernicus, in his childhood, he was full of curiosity to watch stars in the sky. Later he accepted the education in universities and got the possibility to observe the astronomic phenomenon. Based on his strong creative thinking, through observation and analysis in more than 30 years, finally, he presented the great Heliocentric theory.

Einstein, in his childhood, had strong curiosity for everything. A small compass, perhaps many children are not interested in it. But Einstein liked to think the secret within it for a long time. Einstein, in his whole life, the most important character making him different from others was his habit of strong creative thinking.

In his mind, there is no any scientific theory of conclusion which could not be suspected or overthrown. From Newton to Einstein, there had been more than 200 years. No anyone was brave enough to suspect the dynamic theories of Newton. Only Einstein, based on his extraordinary courage and wisdom, presented his new theory, overthrowing the basic concepts of Time, Space, Energy, Mass, etc. established by Newton and other great scientists. Einstein opened up a new era of science.

2) Love for Science does not take utility as its object, but it makes benefit for all mankind.

Copernicus had not got any personal profit from his research. His great work published just before he died. What he could do was only to touch his book by hand.

Einstein's theory of Relativity, at his time, was only understood by very few persons. An American senator said: there are only two persons understanding the theory of Relativity, one is Einstein himself, and the other has already died.

But the Heliocentric theory presented by Copernicus began the great Scientific Revolution in 16-17th centuries and also the Enlightenment Movement in 18th century and changed the history of mankind.

The theories presented by Einstein is the important basis of modern science of atomic energy utilization, laser technology and space technology, information technology, etc. making great benefit to all people in the world.

3) Love for Science is combined with Love for people

Both Copernicus and Einstein did not only have love for Science, they also have deep love for people

In 30 years when Copernicus severed in Frombork, Poland, besides his formal profession of priest, he also served as a doctor. In 1519, there was a serious plague outbreak happened in North Poland. He led rescue personnel going to the inpatient region, taking all measures to control the disease. He was respected by all people in the region.

Einstein was not only a great scientist; he was also an active public intellectual. In his whole life, he had made his contribution to maintain justice and peace of the world

During World War I, he joined 92 German famous intellectuals making declaration against war. During World War II, he insisted on standing against Fascism.

Both Copernicus and Einstein made respectful example for all scientists.

Chapter 2-13 Love for Literature and Art

Literature and art are different from science. Science belongs to whole mankind. Literature and art, generally, belong to different nations and civilizations. Of course, the most excellent literature and art also belong to whole mankind.

Literature and art come from the emotional requirement and love for beauty of mankind. So, love for literature and art, originally, comes from human nature. The origin of art was very early. In the Old Stone Age, there were original painting and sculpture. Songs and myths in ancient times were the earliest music, poetry and literature.

Along with the development of human civilization, literature and art differentiated into many kinds. In literature, there are poetry, essay, novel, etc. In art, there are music, painting, calligraphy, sculpture, photo, drama, dancing, movie, etc.

In the history of Chinese and world civilization, there were many famous writers and artists, who made excellent contribution to literature and art. What is the motive force pushing them to create the great works of literature and art? From their biography, it may be seen that they all have deep love for literature and art. A hot heart of love for literature and art pushed them willing to devote effort of their whole life to the career of literature and art.

Here , I like to introduce two representatives, one is Chinese famous writer, Ba Jing (巴金) and the other is famous German musician Beethoven.

Ba Jin (1904-2002) was born in an officer family at Chengdu, Sichuan province. His family had more than 100 members of several generations.

In his age of 16, he studied in a foreign language school in Chengdu and published poems while he is 18 years old. In 1927, he went to France for study and read many Western works of literature and philosophy. He wrote his first novel—Cold Night, which describes the story of a young revolutionary and his girl friend. This novel was published in Novel Monthly and got high evaluation by young readers.

In 1928 , he returned Shanghai and translated works of Kropotkin,Tolstoy and Gorky. He spent great effort to write his famous novel ---Family. In this novel, he took his own family as background, through sad fate of some young men and ladies, to criticize the darkness and sins in a federal big family. His novel is recognized as one of the most successful novels in modern China which has been touching countless young people for several generations.

Later, he wrote a great amount of novels, as Spring, Autumn, Dead Sun, etc. All of them are welcomed by readers of different ages.

After 1949, he wrote some novels, but not successful as before.

In the period of Cultural Revolution, he became the main sinner in the circle of literature and art in Shanghai. He had been criticized and denounced countless times and then sent to countryside to join field labor. In 1972, his beloved wife died by cancer in her age of only 55, which was the great attack to him. His hair suddenly became white.

After Cultural Revolution, he returned home and wrote again

His main works in this period were 5 volume of Random Thoughts Rerecording (《随想录》). He made series review and rethinking of his own experiences after 1949 and criticized the unreasonable political system, even mildly.

The whole story of Ba Jin explains what Love for Literature is.

The life and achievements of German musician Beethoven is the best example of Love for Art.

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) was born in a poor family at Bonn, Germany. His father was a singer in the court, but liked excessive drinking enable to maintain the family.

In the childhood of Beethoven, he expressed his musical talent. In his age of13, he created his first music work of Variation. In 1787, he was sent to Vienna to study from Mozart. He worshiped Mozart for his whole life.

Later he was a student of Haydn. But he was not satisfied of the traditional style of Haydn.

From 1795, he began to play his own piano music and obtained high praise from audiences. In 1800 (his age of 30), he held his first solo in Palace Theatre and obtained great success, becoming a first rank musician.

But he appeared the early signal of deaf. Even so, he continued his music creation.

In 1803, he played his first and second Symphony. He accomplished his third Symphony in 1804, fifth Symphony (Fate Symphony) and Sixth Symphony (Pastoral Symphony) in 1808, In 1823, he accomplished his greatest musical achievement ---Ninth Symphony.

In 1824, while he played his Ninth Symphony, he got 5 times applauses from audiences. But he could not hear it.

In 1827, he died in Vienna

His music has been popularizing comprehensively in all place of the world, touching heart of all people.

From the life and contribution of Ba Jin and Beethoven, it may see that Love for Literature and Art has the following characters:

  1. Love for literature and art of writers and artists is the origin of brilliant human civilization in the fields of literature and art.

The Complete Works of Ba Jin has 26 volumes which accumulated his deep love for literature and his total effort and contribution to Chinese literature.

Nine worldwide famous Symphony of Beethoven and many other music works involved his hot love for the career of music.

Their contributions are immortal in the history of human civilization.

  2. Love for literature and art is combined together with love for people and mankind

Literature and art are led to human heart. All excellent works of literature and art serve for all people and mankind.

The figures in Ba Jin's novels are mostly kind intellectuals. He described their sad fate and their suffering in life in the old feudal society. What he emphasized was their kindness, conscience and love, which all come from human nature. He, through his novels, devoted his deep love for people.

Beethoven created his music for all mankind. He said: music should let the spirit of mankind bursting light. His immortal Symphonies have been encouraging all people to overcome difficulties in their life.

  3. Love for literature and art could not be separated from love for truth.

Love for truth of scientists is expressed in their effort to explore the truth of nature. Love for truth of writers or artists is expressed in their effort to reveal the real situation and real story of human society.

In the late time of Ba Jin, someone said: we should forget the passed events. But Ba Jin disagreed this opinion. In his famous work ---5 volume of Random Thoughts Rerecording (《随想录》) , he reviewed his sad experience during Cultural Revolution. He spoke out the real thinking in his heart. The most often opinion he expressed was: we should tell the truth. His opinion has been getting comprehensive agreement in China's society, which pushes forward the progress in many aspects in modern China.

  4. Popularities of love for literature and art.

Love for science, sometime, is understood only a part of people. As introduced above, Einstein's theory of Relativity, even though is very important in science, but it had been understood only by a few people in his period.

But excellent works of literature and art must be accepted by a great amount of people. Ba Jin's novels have been read and moved by most of people of different ages in modern China.

Symphonies of Beethoven have been enjoyed and moved by people all over the world.

Chapter 2-14 Love for Liberty

The object of love, generally, is Man, as oneself, lover, spouse, parents, children, friend, people, etc. or an entity, as motherland, career, etc. or a kind of civilization, as science, literature and art. But in love for Liberty (or Freedom), the object of love is neither Man or entity, nor civilization, but an abstract idea or value. So, it is a kind of special love.

But this kind of live does really exist and is a very important kind of love.

In fact, there is not only love for Liberty. Many ideas or values could be the objects of human love, as Equality, Fraternity, Justice, Democracy, Harmony, etc. Among these, Liberty is the kernel one.

In the history of Chinese and World history, there were many persons whose stories of love for Liberty are very moving and reminded in heart of people

Here , I like to introduce two examples, one is Hungarian patriotic poet Petofi , and the other is modern Chinese ideologist Gu Zhun(顾准)

As to love for Liberty, the most famous poem is: Freedom and Love, which was written by Petofi

Life is precious,

Love is more precious,

But for the sake of freedom

Both of them could be given up

Sandor Petofi(1823-1849)was born in a small city in Hungry. His family was at the lowest layer in society. From 17th century, his motherland---Hungry was ruled by Austria Empire. The stories of national heroes of Hungry were printed deeply in his heart.

From childhood, he expressed his talent in languages. He read a lot of books of the French Revolution and books written by Classical writers of Hungry.

At his age of 23, he met and fell in love with a beautiful girl Yulia, who was daughter of a rich count. The obstacle of their love was great. He wrote many love letters to her which moved her. They got married. But he still joined the fight for freedom of his nation .The poem of Freedom and Love was written in the next year after his marriage.

1848 was the year of revolutions of Europe. Petofi wrote many poems encouraging people to fight for Freedom. He wrote:

Do we must be slave generations by generations?

Do we could not have freedom and equality for ever?

In March 15 of 1848, the famous March Uprising happened. He recited his famous poetry of Song of Nation .at the conference of more than 10000 insurgents.

The first several sentences are:

Rising up! Hungarians!

Motherland is calling you!

You like to be a free man, or a slave,

You select by yourself!

There was bursting thunderous cheers. The insurgents occupied Budapest quickly. In April of next year, Hungary declared independence.

The Austria Empire sent an army of 340 thousands soldiers attacked Hungary. Petofi joined the fight bravely and sacrificed at his age of only 26.

In 1918, at the end of World War I, Hungary finally realized independence

The poetry of Petofi has important position in European literature. Famous Chinese writer Lu Xun (鲁迅) appreciated his poetry very much and introduced to Chinese people.

The deed of Chinese ideologist Gu Zhun (顾准) is introduced below.

Gu Zhun (1915-1974) was born in a common family at Shanghai, China. After graduated from junior middle school, he entered an accounting firm as a trainee. He studied hardly and worked there for 14 years. In 1934(19 years old), he took part in revolution and joined CCP (Chinese Communist Party). In 1945, he went to Yanan (center of CCP during the period of Anti-Japan War). After surrender of Japan, he was assigned as Finance Director and Director of Tax Bureau in Shandong province and Shanghai.

He insisted on a scientific method of financial and tax management, which did not conform to the method of mass movement and democratic appraisal that asked by his upper leader. In 1952, he was criticized for violating the party's policy and withdrawn all duties.

Two years later, he was assigned as deputy head of Sino Soviet border survey. Due to his argument with the Soviet representative, in 1957, he was attacked as a Rightist. He was sent to Institute of Economics in Beijing. He wrote many important works there.

Later, he was sent to countryside in Henan province to do physical labor in the field.

During Cultural Revolution, he was criticized as an utmost rightist so that all his wife and five children suffered also. His wife asked divorcement with him and what he could do was only agreement. After then, he did not go home anymore. While Cultural Revolution was upgraded, his wife suicided and all his children stopped relation with him. In the great suffering, he got lung cancer. No any of his children was willing to see him. He died alone in 1974.

Why I select Gu Zhun as an example of Love for Liberty? Since in his suffering life, he insisted on his free thinking and belief. The facts are:

  1. He insisted on the scientific principle and method of financial and tax management

  2. He insisted on protecting the reasonable benefit of his motherland in the relation between China and Soviet Union.

  3. In the theory of Economics, he was the first man who presented the opinion that China's economy must follow the Rule of Value and implement the principle of market economy.

  4. He had deep research in the history of ancient Greece. He did not agree with Direct Democracy of ancient Greece, but he praised strongly the rational thinking of ancient Greece. He insisted on the principle of Science and Democracy and opposed any authorities.

  5. He advocated the Pluralism in philosophy and said: scientific spirit is just Pluralism. He opposed any thinking of Ultimate Purpose in human history.

In any terrible suffering of his personal life, he insisted on his freedom of thinking. He is a great ideologist in modern China worthy to be respected by all Chinese intellectuals...

From the deeds of Petofi, Gu Zhun and many other great writers, scientists, philosophers and ideologists, it may be seen that Love for Liberty has the following characters:

  1. Love for liberty comes from human nature

Why does Man have love for liberty or freedom? The primary reason is: it comes from human nature. Freedom is a nature which makes Man different from any other animals.

### Rousseau (1712-1778) wrote in his famous work---The Origin of Inequality among Men, about Freedom. His explanation of Freedom is: animals are controlled completely by nature. But man has the freedom to obey or disobey, Since man has the freedom, man shows his spiritual soul.

Rousseau gave an example: while a group of deer meets a tiger, all deer will escape. But while a group of man meets a tiger, different man has different liberal will. Some one might escape and some one might fight with the tiger by stone or wood stick. So, having or not having the liberal will is the important difference of man and other animals

  2. Liberty is the most important factor of the progress of human society.

In economic field, liberty of property ownership, liberty of management, liberty of competition in market, etc. are the most effective force pushing economics towards prosperity. This principle has been proved correct in all countries in the world, including China.

In cultural field, liberty of research, liberty of creation, liberty of publication, etc. are the basic guarantee of cultural development.

In political field, liberty of speaking, liberty of media, liberty of political voting, liberty of expressing different opinions, etc. are the basis of political progress

  3. Liberty is the kernel of other modern political values

In modern society, there are a series of very important political principles or values, as Democracy, Equality, Justice, Rule of Law, etc. But in my opinion, the kernel values are only two, one is Man orientation, and the other is Liberty. These two are combined together, since Liberty (or Freedom) is the basic nature of human requirement.

The basic function of Democracy and Rule of Law is to guarantee people's liberty. The basic requirement of Equality and Justice is that all people have the same liberty.

  4. Even though Liberty belongs to human nature, but people's liberty is limited by many factors, especially political factor.

So to obtain liberty was a hard task in the history, Quite often, fighting for liberty requires people to pay great effort and suffering, up to one's life.

The stories of Petofi, Gu Zhu and many other great politicians , scientists , ideologists has been proving the above conclusion.

Chapter 2-15 Love for Nature

The objects of all kinds of love introduced above are different for different persons. Different persons have different parents, children, spouse, friends, careers, motherlands, etc. As to love for literature and art, someone likes poetry, someone likes music, someone likes movie.

As to love for nature, all persons in the world have love for a same object--- the great Nature. Nature is the common home of mankind, the common mother of mankind and the common object of love of mankind.

Love for nature belongs to human nature. All children like small dog and cat, like to see monkey, peacock in zoo and flowers in garden. All people in the world like to take tourism to see natural scene. Many people like to raise flowers or animals (dog, bird or sea fish) in family so as to be close to nature.

From the history of Chinese and world civilization, we may understand love for nature at a deeper layer.

  1. Man pursues philosophy from nature.

In ancient Greece, Tales regarded that Water was the essence of all things. Anksimandros regarded that Gas was the essence of all things. Heraclitus regarded that Fire was the essence of all things.

Water, gas, fire are all things in the nature. So their philosophy thinking came from nature

In China, the earliest book of philosophy is Yi Jing(易经). In this book , the basic elements are two Yao(爻) : Yin(阴,moon ) Yao and Yang(阳,sun)Yao. Three Yaos form a Trigram. There are 8 Trigrams as follows: Quan (乾,Heaven) , Kun(坤,Earth), Zhen (雷,Thunder), Li(离,Fire) , Xun(巽,Wind,), Dui (兑,River), Kan (坎,water), Gen(艮,Mountain)

You may see that all elements and trigrams are things in the nature.

So, either in the West, or in China, the earliest philosophy thinking came from the Nature.

  2. Man appreciates beauty from the Nature

Ancient Chinese philosopher Zhuang Zi (庄子,369-286 BC ) wrote about the music of Nature.

It was a conversation of Zi Qi (子綦) and his student Zi You (子游)。

Zi Qi told Zi You: you may have heard the music of man, but not the music of earth; you may have heard the music of earth, but not the music of heaven.

Zi You said: I like to ask what is the music of heaven?

Zi Qi replied: the winds as they blow differ in thousands of ways, yet are all self–produced. Why should there be any other agency to excite them?

Zhuang Zi, through the speaking of Zi Qi, told us: the best music is from the nature itself.

  3. Man explores truth in the Nature

It should be said that all truth of natural sciences comes from the nature itself. What scientists do is to find the truth from the nature.

In the aspect of exploring truth in the nature, a good example is the story of famous British Biologist Darwin

Charles Darwin (1809-1882) was born in a doctor's family in west England.

From his childhood he loved nature very much. He liked to do hunting and collected plant specimens. In his age of 19, his father sent him to study in Theological College, Cambridge University. But he spent his most time to study natural sciences especially botany, zoology, geology, etc.

In1831, as a natural scientist, he joined a global survey for 5 years. In 1832, he crossed the Atlantic Ocean arriving Brazil. In 1833, he arrived at east seashore of Latin America Continent. In 1834, he arrived at Chili and Peru. From 1835 to 1836, he crossed the Pacific Ocean and returned England.

He was astonished by the miracle natural scenes everywhere. He got a sea shell at the top of a high mountain. He saw a great amount of seals lied on the sea shore.

He saw various organisms; trees, shrubs, flowers, herbs, birds, beasts, insects, etc.

Finally, he found the rule of biological evolution: Natural selection and survival of the fittest. In 1859, he published his great work---The Origin of Species. This book changed whole biology, geology, geography, etc. His Theory of Evolution made a basic improvement of Man's cognition of the Nature and the mankind itself.

The great achievement of Darwin came from his deep love for the Nature.

  4. Man should love and protect nature

Nature gives man living, beauty, truth, but how does man treat his mother--- Nature?

In 19-20 centuries, as industrialization had been developing rapidly, man made great destruction of the nature.

The first one who gave this warning was an American woman scientist Rachel Carson (1907-1964). She was born in a farmer's family in Pennsylvania, USA. Her kind mother gave her love for the nature and the expectation of her to be a scientist. After she graduated from Pennsylvania Woman University and got master degree in Johns Hopkins University, she worked in American Fisheries and Wildlife Management Committee. She wrote many articles on nature protection.

In 1962, she wrote her most famous work ---Silent Spring. In this book, she used a great amount of facts to show that over-utilization of DDT killed a lot of insects and animals, producing serious destruction of the nature. Her opinion in the book was opposed by the chemical enterprises and some ministries of government. The great argument attracted the notice of President Nixon. In 1963, a Presidential Hearing Meeting toke place. Carson's opinion obtained agreement of most members at the meeting. Carson asked the government to make a new policy to protect natural environment.

In 1964, Carson died from cancer.

Her book of Silent Spring began the worldwide movement of natural protection. Her contribution is eternal. .

From the above introduction, some problems on man's love for nature may be discussed:

  1. What is the relation between Man and Nature

From the view of natural science, human being is only a high animal in a very small planet---Earth in the cosmos. Man and cosmos is not corresponding relation.

But, from the view of philosophy, the relation of man and nature is the kernel problem of philosophy.

In Chinese traditional philosophy, the Unity of Heaven and Man is a long lasting thinking. Even today, this thinking still gives us important enlightenment helping man to cognize that protection of the nature is just protection of man himself.

In Western philosophy, Existentialism has been rising in 20 century. Its pioneers ,Soren Kierkegaard(1813—1855)and Martin Heidegger (1889-1976),all regarded that the starting point of philosophy is Man .

In the later period of Heidegger, he presented a theory of Tetragonal Structure: Heaven, Earth, God and Man. In the Tetragonal Structure, Man is not the master of the nature, but the watcher of the nature.

This thinking is very similar to the Chinese thinking of Unity of Heaven and Man.

In these thinking, man should not only utilize or reform the nature, but also love and protect the nature.

  2. Mutual Love between Man and Nature

Nature is the mother of man. She loves man and gives man all living conditions, gives man beauty and truth.

So, man must love the nature just as children must love their mother. Hurting the nature is just hurting man himself.

Today, protection of natural environment becomes the universal cognition of people in all countries in the world.

All people in the world should united together to protect their common mother---the natural environment of Earth so as to have a sustainable development of mankind.

Chapter 2-16 Love for Mankind

Coming to 21 century, the world population increases to 6 billion. It is a very great group. Every man is only a tiny drop of water in the great sea.

For this giant group, is it possible for a man to have love?

The answer is: yes. Man should have love for mankind.

The reason is: if nature is the mother of man, then mankind is the father of man. Man couldn't exist without Nature. Also, man could not exist without mankind.

Nature provides all materials and energies for human living. Mankind provides all genes for all men and also provides all civilizations, including material civilizations, as foods, houses, clothes, etc. and spiritual civilizations, as words, literatures, arts, sciences, etc.

A single man, even thought is very tiny, but his behaviors will have certain influence (no matter big or small) upon mankind.

In the myths of West and East, there are stories about heroes who loved mankind.

The story of Prometheus has been introduced in Part.1 of the book.

In Chinese myths, there is a story about a goddess ---Nuwa. She used clay to produce mankind. While two gods fight with each other, the failed god got angry and broke the column of Heaven causing serious water lodging and great suffering of people.

Nuwa was worried about mankind. She spent 9 days and 9 nights to go to East Sea taking back 36500 colored stones for filling the vacancy of Heaven and releasing the mankind.

The stories of Prometheus and Nuwa show the spirit of loving for mankind.

From ancient to modern period, there were many great philosophers, politicians, writers, scientists who devoted their whole life to the welfare of mankind.

A good example is French scientist Madam Curie (1867-1934)

Her parents were both teachers in middle school with limited income. Her mother died while she was only 10 years old. Her father had deep love for science, which gave her important influence.

She studied very hard in primary and middle school and got good record. She entered Paris University and obtained two undergraduate degrees of mathematics and physics. She became the first female lecturer in the university. She met and loved another lecturer Pierre Curie and got married with him.

In 1896, Antoine Becquerel (1852—1908) discovered the phenomenon of radioactivity of element Uranium.

Madam Curie was very interested in radioactivity. She decided to find the secret in it. When she knew that the total amount of radiation is larger than that of Uranium ore, she guested that there must have an unknown element in Uranium ore.

She and her husband decided to discover the unknown element. They worked in a poor shanty. They poured the heavy slag into the pot, stirred it and then poured out, day by day. They met countless failure and finally one gram of blue colored pure Radium appeared. Tears filled the eyes of both of them.

They discovered a new element---Radium with very strong radioactive ability. Radium is an element which could be used in diagnosis and treatment of cancer.

At that time, Pierre Curie died in a car accident suddenly. Madam Curie stood up again with great sorrow continuing her teaching and experiments.

Some friends persuaded her to apply patent, which would give her great amount of income. But she refused. She was willing to devote her discovery to the whole mankind. In less than 10 years, she obtained Nobel Prize twice. She devoted the funding to people who required help. She herself still lived in a simple life.

Due to contact with radiation for long time, she got many diseases and died in 1934.

From the story of Madam Curie, we can understand that love for mankind is the thinking of many scientists, philosophers, artists, etc.

Some problems might be discussed on Love for Mankind:

  1. Is there eternal object of human love?

We have discussed many kinds of human love in above chapters. Most of the objects of human love are not eternal. Oneself, one's parents, spouse, children, teachers, friends are not eternal. Science, literature, career, etc. may be changing in different period. Your motherland had been changing its dynasty or politics in different historical periods.

Among all objects of human love, only the great nature and mankind are eternal.

Up to now, no scientific theory could affirm that the great nature and mankind would be eliminated in the future,

The eternity of nature and mankind is an important theme in philosophy. The reason of many people believing religion is that religions could give people the eternity: God, Heaven of Christianity. West Sky of Buddhism, Eternal life of Daoism, etc.

Based on rational thinking, the great nature and mankind are eternal. These two objects of human love are eternal.

  2. Do common people could have love for mankind?

Of course, it is not necessary to ask everyone having the love for mankind.

But today's world is a globalized world, and today's age is an information age. The activity of individual will have effect upon the whole world.

If you are a common worker or a common farmer, your products are very possible to be exported to other countries. If you are a common teacher, your students are very possible to have contributions (no matter big or small) to the world. If you are scientist or a writer, your achievements will have influence (no matter big or small) upon the world.

So, love for mankind is a noble thinking that will help everyone to do his best of his work.

There are some other kinds of love, as love for reading, love for games, love for your pet (as dog) , etc. have not discussed in this part of this book. It is not necessary to talk on all kinds of human love in this book.

Part 3 Western Philosophers' Views on Love

In Part 2 of this book, we know that Love has very comprehensive objects. And we know that Love is a very important content in human life.

Then, how to understand Love? What is the meaning of Love for human life? What is the relation of Love and man's other pursuits, as Truth, Good and Beauty? Those problems had been concerned by many famous philosophers in the West and in China.

In Part 3-6, we'll discuss the opinions of Western philosophy, Chinese philosophy, science and religion on human love respectively.

In this Part, the opinions of Western philosophers on Love are discussed.

Chapter 3-1 Plato's View on Love

In 300-400 years before Christ, there were three great philosophers appeared in ancient Greece. They were Socrates(469-399 BC), Plato (427-347 BC ) and Aristotle(384-322 BC)

Socrates did not remain his own works in the world. His thinking was mainly introduced by his student Plato. In Plato's Dialogues, there are many sayings of Socrates (or his friends). It is difficult to distinguish which thinking were from Socrates (or his friend) and which from Plato. But from the works of Aristotle, we know that the remarks on Love were mostly from Plato.

In Plato's Dialogues, the Chapters related on Love are mainly two: one is Symposium, and the other is Phaedrus.

Symposium is an article introducing a meeting of Socrates and his some friends. The topic what they talked were mainly about Love. Phaedrus is an article recording the talk of Socrates and his friend Phaedrus. The topic of the conversation was mainly Love..

Both of these two articles are quite long. The main views on Love are summarized as below:

  1. Love is the oldest and the greatest human nature. Love is the highest human happiness.

In Symposium, Phaedrus said:

Eros* is the oldest of the gods. He confers great benefits, inspiring a lover to earn the admiration of his beloved.

( * Eros is god of Love)

And as he is the oldest, we have him as the cause of the greatest goods

Of his parents there is no memorial.

  2. Love is the best , the fairest , the most blessed and the youngest

Agathon said:

He is the fairest and most blessed and the best of the gods and also the youngest.

From the statements of friends of Socrates, we may see that Plato gave Love a very high position and evaluation.

This is an important problem worthy to be noticed. In the history of more than 2000 years of Western philosophy, usually, there are three main contents: Ontology, Epistemology and Axiology. Although Axiology has certain relation with Love, but in modern Western philosophy, Love does not have an important position. The main Western philosophers (as Kant, Hegel, Marx) did not have many sayings on Love

But in ancient Western philosophy, the greatest philosopher ---Plato gave Love a very high position. He said that Love is the greatest, the fairest, the most blessed and the best.

This is a problem which has to be thought deeply: what position that Love should have in philosophy? This is the reason that I write this book.

From the saying cited above, we see that there are two opinions on Love: one is that Love is the oldest god; the other is that Love is the youngest.

It seems that there is contradiction, but really, there is no. "Love is the oldest god and Love has no parents" means that Love was born at the same time of the birth of human being. Love is the inborn nature of human being. "Love is the youngest" means that Love is always young, is full of vitality and is developing forever.

From the far ancient to far future, Love has been and will be accompanying with man for ever.

  3. Love has various objects

In Symposium, Doctor Eryximachus said:

Not only medicine in every branch, but the arts of gymnastic and husbandry are under his (means Love's) dominion.

This is an important view of Love. In the opinion of ancient Greek philosophers, Love does not only mean love between man and woman. Man has the Love for many objects, including medicine, gymnastic, agriculture, etc.

This is also the starting point of the discussion of Love in this book.

  4. Love is a process , not a result

In Symposium, there is saying:

(Love) is clearly something which is a mean between ignorance and wisdom.

Love is a mean between good and evil, between fair and foul.

It means that Love is not a final result, but a process of effort.

Love is a process from ignorance to wisdom, from evil to good, and from foul to fair.

In human life, you may see that the love of parents for child is to raise their child from a baby to an adult. Love of teacher for students is to teach them from ignorance to wisdom

  5. Love is a power

In Symposium, there is a saying:

Such is the power of love, and that love which is just and temperate has the greatest power and is the source of all our happiness and friendship with the gods and with one another.

Love is a power. In my view, this is a very important opinion on Love. In Part 1 of this book, I have imported this view in my understanding of "What is Love?"

Love is a power, which makes Love different from man's other pursuits, as Truth, Good and Beauty.

Since Love is a power, so Love could be the source of all happiness of mankind which shows the great importance of Love for mankind.

  6. Two Loves

In Symposium, Pausanias said:

There are two loves. It should have distinguished the heavenly love from the earthly.

The first of two loves has a noble purpose and delights only in the intelligent nature of man, and is faithful to the end

This is a famous view of Plato on Love which points out that there are two kinds of Love, one is Spiritual Love (Heavenly Love) and the other is Body (or Sexual) Love (Earthly Love).

Spiritual Love is often called by people the Plato's Love.

In love between lovers or spouses, of course, body love or sexual love is important and indispensable. But in most kinds of Love introduced in Part II of this book, spiritual love is the most important.

All the above contents are from Symposium. In the Dialogue Phaedrus, there is an argument between Socrates and his friend, Phaedrus.

Phaedrus' opinion was: the relation of men with no love is better than the relation of men with love. Socrates disagreed with Phaedrus' opinion. Socrates said: either in the time of friends with strong love or in the time of them with weak love, they are friends, since both of them believe the oath they have exchanged.

I think most readers might agree with Socrates' opinion. You may have intimate classmates in your middle school. Even though you have seldom met with him, but it does not change you concern and love for him.

In summary, the theory of Love of Plato has far reaching influence upon the West and world civilization.

.

Chapter 3-2 Aristotle's View on Love

Aristotle(384-322 BC)was the most important philosopher after Plato in Western history. He presented the theory of Substance and Formal Logic which began the researches of natural and social sciences in the world.

His statements on Love were mainly in his two works: Nicomachean Ethics and Eudemian Ethics, especially the first one.

In Books 8-9 of Nicomachean Ethics, he wrote on Friendship, involving his main opinions on Love as follows:.

  1. Love has broad objects

The term Friendship in Aristotle's work does not mean only love between friends. It involves love between lovers and spouses, love for parents, for children, love of the old for the young, love of leader for people, etc. Even more, he said: all artists love their works and all poets love their poems, just as they love their children.

So, his remarks on Friendship were the same as his statement on Love.

  2. Three kinds of Love

He said that there are three different goals of love between friends: 1, for better living of friend; 2, for mutual benefit; 3, for pleasure of oneself.

He said that only the first kind of love is real and lasting love.

If love is only for mutual benefit, then love will stop while benefit does not exist. If love is only for one's pleasure, then there must be no more love while there is no more pleasure.

So, he regarded that real love is non-utilitarian. Love is a property of Good. Love is a kind of Virtue. His opinion is: love of a kind person is perfect and is close to virtue. A real friend must hope your friend being happy. Such friendship could be lasting eternally.

3) Love is giving, not taking

Aristotle's opinion was: Love is in loving, more than in being loved. Mother regards that loving her children is her great pleasure. She does not ask any reward of her love. Even in some case, child does not know she is his mother, but she still love them.

Using many facts, Aristotle presented a very important opinion on Love: love is giving, not taking. Love is paying, not getting

This is a very important spirit and principle of Love. Leaving this spirit and principle, there is no real love.

  3. The nature and motive force of love

Love is giving, not taking. Then why does man have love? What is the nature of love? What is the motive force of love?

Aristotle's opinion is:

Everyone hopes his own happiness. He treats his friend just as treats himself.

This saying is very similar as the saying of Confucius:

Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself.

Confucius saying is regarded in the world as the Golden Rule of morality.

This is the nature of Human Love.

Aristotle said that love is non-utilitarian. Then what is the motive force of love?

He said: pleasure or happiness is a factor forming friendship.

So, pleasure in inner heart is the motive force of love.

6) On love between family members

In Nicomachean Ethics, there is special chapter of Love for Family Members

Aristotle wrote:

Parents love their children as being a part of them selves, and children love their parents as being something originating from them

Brothers love each other as being born of the same parents; for their identity with them makes them identical with each other

Aristotle's remark on love between family members is very similar to the thinking of Filiality in Chinese Confucianism

7) On Self Love

As to Self Love, Aristotle had detailed discussion. His main opinion is:

He wishes for himself what is good and what seems so, and does it (for it is characteristic of the good man to work out the good), and does so for his own sake (for he does it for the sake of the intellectual element in him, which is thought to be the man himself).

Man is the best friend of himself. Whom he loves most is himself.

Aristotle classified Self Love into two kinds. One is that someone considers only his own benefit, not any others. The other is that one loves himself and at the same time loves the others. He is willing to have sacrifice of his own benefit for the good of his friends. The second kind is the real Self Love.

From the comparison between remakes of Plato and Aristotle, we may see that Plato' s thinking in more deep and abstract. Aristotle's thinking is more close to human life.

# Chapter 3-3 Views of Philosophers in European Middle Ages on Love

The Middle Ages was a very long period in European history. It began from 476 AD and ended in 15th century, about 1000 years long. Before 11th century in this period, it was usually called Dark Ages, when the ruling ideology was Christian Theology. All rational thinking, scientific research and literature creation were limited seriously .After then, situation was getting better.

Philosophy of the Middle Ages was closely linked with the doctrines of Christianity. So, it is named Christian philosophy which has lasting influence upon modern West philosophy.

It also has an important position in the discussion on Love in this book.

The main philosophers in the Middle Ages were Augustine and Aquinas.

  1. Augustine's View on Love

Aurelius Augustine (or Augustinus,354-430)was the pioneer philosopher in the Middle Ages. His had a lot of works, as The Confessions, The Trinity, The City of God, etc. His opinions on Love were expressed mainly in his Handbook on Faith, Hope and Love.

1) Trinity and Agape

Trinity means the unity of Holy Father (God), Holy Son (Christ) and Holy Spirit. This is a very important philosophy thinking of Augustine.

Augustine said: God is Love. God Love has a special term in Christianity: Agape.

For Christians, his theory is acceptable. Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Spirit, all of them are dominator of the world, are benefactor of mankind and are the eternal existence.

For Non- Christians, is it meaningless? I don't think so.

For them, dominator of the world is the great Nature. The benefactors of mankind are the nature and mankind self. Nature and mankind will exist for ever. Both nature and mankind love man.

Nature, mankind and their love, there three are united together. This is the rational meaning of Trinity.

2) Love is more important than Faith and Hope.

Ancient Greek philosophers (Socrates, Plato, Aristotle) regarded that Man has four virtues: abstinence, piety and courage and justice.

Augustine regarded that for Christians, they should have three more virtues: Faith, Hope and Love.

Faith means believing God. Hope means hoping God's giving. Love means loving God and loving others.

Augustine's opinion is: among thee three virtues, Love is the most important one.

He said:

Without Love, Faith is no benefit to Man. Without Love, Hope does not exist.

If no Love, even what you believe is truth, even what you hope is real happiness, it is useless.

So, in Augustine's opinion, Love is higher than Faith and Hope.

This opinion is also important for Non- Christians

A scientist, if he believes Truth and he hopes to get achievements in science, but he does not love science and people, it is impossible for him to get success.

3) Love is the basis of all commandments.

In Christianity , there are ten Commandments, as 1) Believe only one God; 2) Leave all Idolatry; 3) Do not curse and deceive others; 4) Do not commit adultery; 5)Do not steal and rob , etc.

Augustine said:

Love is the basis of all commandments.

In modern society, of course, rule of law is necessary. But only depending on law is not enough, the education of morality and love is also indispensable. Only when the spirit of Love is popularized, the behaviors disobeying law will be decreasing.

2. Aquinas' Views on Love

Thomas Aquinas(1224-1274)was the most important philosopher in the late period of the Middle Ages. He was born in an Italian noble family. In 1244, he was sent to Paris for high education. In 1252-1259, he was a professor of Theology in Paris University. In 1259-1269, he served in church. After then, he returned to Paris University and died in 1274.

Since he worked in university for a long time, his philosophy is named Scholasticism.

The philosophy of Augustine accepted mainly the theory of Plato. The philosophy of Aquinas accepted mainly the theory of Aristotle. Due to the combination of Christian doctrines and Greek philosophy made by them, Christian doctrines got strong systematic and theoretical characters. This is an important factor for Christianity popularizing comprehensively in the world.

Aquinas wrote a lot of works in his whole life. The total number of words is up to 15 millions. His main work is Summa Theologica ( Complete Collection of Theology)

In five chapters of this book, he expressed his opinions of Love as follows:

  1. Love is the life of Soul

Aquinas' opinion is: God takes Virtue of Love as the life of soul, and takes soul as the life of body.

All Greek philosophers regarded that man is composed of body and soul. The reasonable meaning of Soul is human spirit which is man's virtue, thinking, creation, contribution, etc. While man is alive, his soul and body are combined together. After man dies, his body is dead, but his spirit does not disappear. What composes the meaning of man's life is not his body, but his spirit or his soul.

This is the meaning of Aquinas' saying: soul as the life of body.

He also said: love is the life of soul. This saying shows that in man's spirit, love is the most important factor.

  2. Love is the highest virtue.

Aquinas said: virtue of love is nobler than virtue of Faith and Hope. It is the noblest virtue in all virtues.

This view is same as the view of Augustine. Aquinas presented a more forceful reason: he regarded that both virtue of Faith and virtue of Hope have their own goals, but virtue of Love has no goal. Since Love itself is the highest goal.

People usually say that Truth, Good and Beauty are the highest goals of Man. From the theory of Aquinas, we may understand that Love should also be one of the highest goal of man.

This is a main opinion of this book.

  3. Will is the subject of Love

Aquinas said: there are two kinds of Desire: Sensible Desire and Rational Desire. Rational Desire may be called Will. The subject of Love is not Sensible Desire, but Rational Desire.

Here, Aquinas presented an important view: Love does not come from Sensible Desire, but from Rational Desire.

All people know that Love is an emotion. And also Love is a rational activity. From the theory of Aquinas, we know that Love is a rational desire and a will. Will involves both emotion and wisdom .So Love is a combination of emotion and wisdom. This is a basic opinion of this book.

  4. Order of Love

Aquinas's opinions on order of love are:

  1. The virtue of love should have an order.

  2. Loving God should be higher than loving yourself

  3. Loving one self should be higher than loving your closed men.

  4. Loving people who have blood relation with you should be higher than loving people who don't have blood relation with you.

  5. Loving parents should be higher than loving children

He said: since your children have intimate relation with you. Naturally father loves his own children. But from the view of more noble Good, children should have more love for parent.

Besides the view that put love for God at the first position (this is the doctrine of Christianity). His other views are very similar to the view of Chinese Confucianism. From this point you may see that there are common opinions of Western and Chinese philosophy on Love. Since those views are from the same human nature. , .

Chapter 3-4 Views of Spinoza and Hume on Love

The Middle Ages of Europe ended as the rising of the Renaissance, which began in Italy in 14th century and was prosperous in 15-16th centuries. In the period of Renaissance, there were Scientific Revolution, Religious Reformation and the creation and development of Capitalist industry and commerce. All of those gave a great attack to the ruling of religion in the Middle Ages,

After the Renaissance, there appeared two schools of philosophic thinking in the West: one was Rationalism of West Europe (France, the Netherland) and the other was Empiricism of Britain.

The main philosophers of Rationalism were Descartes, Spinoza, etc. The main philosophers of Empiricism were Bacon, Hobbes, Berkeley and Hume, etc.

The kernel thinking of Christianity is God Love--- Agape. Christian philosophy made the concept of Love becoming sacred and mysterious to a certain degree.

Both Rationalism and Empiricism, inheriting the thinking of Aristotle, took rational thinking on Love. They combined the concept of Love and that of man's emotion, will, liberty, etc. together so that pushed forward the philosophy of Love in both directions of depth and width.

. In modern West philosophy, there were many famous philosophers. I select two of them as representatives: one is a representative of Rationalism--- Spinoza and the other is representative of Empiricism--- Hume.

  1. Views of Spinoza on Love

Baruch de Spinoza(1632-1677)was born in a family of Jewish businessman. At first, he lived in Spain and later moved to the Netherland. He served in business, but his main interest was in philosophy and science. He read the works of Bacon, Hobbes, Descartes, etc. and formed his own philosophy thinking, which did not conform to the religious doctrines. So, in 1656, he was expelled by the church. After then, he was living on grinding mirror and died in 1677.

He was a man of high morality living simply and had not married in his whole life

His main works are: The Principles of Descartes's Philosophy, Ethics, On the Improvement of Understanding, etc.

His views on Love are summarized as below:

  1. Natural theology: God is the Nature.

"God is the Nature" is a very important philosophy thinking of Spinoza.

He wrote:

That eternal and infinite being we call God, or Nature, acts from the same necessity from which he exists." (Ethics, Part IV, Preface)

In Spinoza's philosophy, there is no personification of God. God is not a kind old man as believed by Christians. God is the Nature itself. The Nature is the first reason, is eternal and all-mighty.

So, loving God in Christianity is the same as loving the Nature. Love for the Nature is an idea which could be accepted by all people.

  2. Man's thought ( or mind, spirit) comes from God

He wrote:

PROP. I. Thought is an attribute of God, or God is a thinking thing.

(part II ,Ethics)

Love is Man's emotion and thought. The above statement means that Love comes from the Nature. It also means Love comes from human nature.

  3. Relation between Man's body and mind

He wrote:

PROP. II. Body cannot determine mind to think, neither can mind determine body to motion

(Part III , Ethics)

He also wrote:

PROP. XII. The mind, as far as it can, endeavors to conceive those things, which increase or help the power of activity in the body.

(Part III , Ethics)

Combining the above two statements, it may be understood that his opinion on the relation between man's body and mind is: (1) Body and mind are independent; (2) Body and mind are mutual promoting.

In real life, we may see both cases that he mentioned..

In Chapter 2-14 of this book, I introduced the story of Gu Zhun, When Gu was sick seriously, he still love liberty, his people and his motherland.

And in normal case, an active spirit of love for one's family member and one's motherland is beneficial to one's health, as the story of Li Rui, who had daily physical exercise in the jail that I introduced in this book.

  4. The object that gives you pleasure may create you love for it

He wrote:

PROP. XVI. Simply from the fact that we conceive, that a given object has some point of resemblance with another object which is wont to affect the mind pleasurably or painfully...we shall still regard the first—named object with love or hate.

(Part III, Ethics)

This statement explains why man has love for some special objects. He pointed out that because the object gives you pleasure, so you will have love for it.

If we observe the objects of love introduced in Part 2 of this book, we may affirm that the opinion of Spinoza is correct.

Why parents love their children? It is because that their children are created by them. All the growth, health and progress of their children give them the greatest pleasure.

Why Man loves his motherland? Since all the mountains, rivers, language, civilization and progress of his motherland give him great pleasure.

From the above brief introduction of Spinoza's views on Love, we may see that even his opinions have some relation with religion, but , apparently, his basic opinions are separated from religion.

  2. Hume's Views on Love

David Hume(1711-1776)was an very important philosopher in the West. He was a representative of Empiricism philosophy.

### He was born in a declining noble family in Edinburgh, Scotland. He studied Law in University of Edinburgh. Due to the reason of economics, he stopped his study, but continued self-study. In his age of 21, he started writing his main philosophy work: A Treatise of Human Nature, and accomplished in three years. In 1731, he rewrote Book I of the above work and titled:  An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and rewrote Book III and titled:  An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. In 1763 he was invited to be a secretary in British Embassy in France. He got to be friend of many famous French philosophers, as Rousseau, Diderot, etc. In 1766, he returned to Scotland to be the assistant of Secretary of State. He died in 1776.

### On Love, he presented some opinions that are worthy to be highly noticed.

  1. ### Understanding, Emotion and Morality

### In the period of ancient Greece, philosophers had made classification of human spiritual activities.

### Pythagoras (580-500 BC)classified Man's spiritual activity into three: Reason, Wisdom and Desire.

Plato (427-347 BC) classified Man's spiritual activity into three: Understanding, Emotion and Will.

In 1739, Hume published his work, A Treatise of Human Nature. This work has three Books:

Book I Of the Understanding

Book II Of the Passion

Book III Of Morals

Hume classified Man's spiritual activity into two: Understanding and Passion (same meaning as Emotion). He regarded that Morals is determined by the combination of Understanding and Emotion.

In Book II, he wrote a special part---Of Love and Hatred, which shows that he paid high attention on Love.

In Book III, he wrote a special part---Of Goodness and Benevolence.

The term of Benevolence is the same as Kindhearted Love in Chinese philosophy.

In 1751, he wrote his work:  An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals. In this book, he wrote the second Section (after the first Section on Principle): On Benevolence (love for others and for people) which put Benevolence at a more important position than that in his formal work.

From the above introduction, it may be seen that in Hume's view, Benevolence (Love for others and people) is the combination of Understanding and Emotion

It also can be seen that Hume--- a very important philosopher in the West paid high attention to Love (or Benevolence).

  2. ### Love( or Benevolence) is the highest value of human nature

### Hume wrote in his work \---An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of Morals:

It may be esteemed, perhaps, a superfluous task to prove, that the benevolent or softer affections are estimable; and wherever they appear, engage the approbation and good-will of mankind. The epithets SOCIABLE, GOOD-NATURED, HUMANE, MERCIFUL, GRATEFUL, FRIENDLY, GENEROUS, BENEFICENT, or their equivalents, are known in all languages, and universally express the highest merit, which HUMAN NATURE is capable of attaining.

(An Enquiry concerning the Principle of Morals, Chapter 2 Of Benevolence),

This paragraph shows that Hume gave Love a very high evaluation---the highest value of human nature.

Hume's thinking on Benevolence is quite close to the Confucius' thinking of kindhearted love. Confucius regarded that kindhearted love is the highest principle of Man's morality. It shows the similarity of Chinese and Western philosophy in their source

  3. Principle of Benevolence.

In the Section of Conclusion of the book, Hume wrote:

Personal Merit consists altogether in the possession of mental qualities, USEFUL or AGREEABLE to the PERSON HIMSELF or to OTHERS

It might be expected that this principle would have **... been received from its own evidence, without any argument or disputation.**

In Hume's philosophy, this is the principle of human morality and of Benevolence. In this principle, there are four important points:

  1. Useful for oneself. ②Useful for others;③Agreeable for oneself;④Agreeable for others.

Hume's principle of morality and Benevolence expresses his opinion of Empiricism philosophy.

His theory told us: Love is useful and essential for man himself and also for the society. It also told us Love gives man great pleasure.

Usefulness is the result or effect of love. Pleasure is the reason or motivation of Love.

This is a deep thinking on Love

The above thinking of Hume gave us important instruction for understanding the basic meaning of Love.

Chapter 3-5 Philosophy of Kant and Love

In 17-18 centuries, the Enlightenment Movement was rising in Europe. It began with Hobbes and Locke in Britain and attained its peak in France. The most important philosophers, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Rousseau, etc. were all from France.

The main contents of Enlightenment Movement are: 1) opposing religious monopoly and advocating reason and science, 2) opposing feudal autocracy and advocating democracy and liberty.

In 18-19th centuries, West philosophy came to its summit in Germany, there appeared some great philosophers, Kant, Hegel, Schopenhauer, Feuerbach, Marx, etc. Among them, Kant is the most important one.

Immanuel Kant(1724-1804)was born in a family of a handicraftsman in East Prussia. He graduated from Department of Philosophy in University of Konigsberg. After 9 years as a family tutor, he worked in the university for a long period. He had not married and was living in a plain life until his death.

Before 1770, his main work was scientific research. After then he contributed to philosophy research. He had written many works. His main works on philosophy were:

  1. The Critique of Pure Reason (1781), discussing problems of knowledge.

  2. The Critique of Practical Reason(1788),discussing problems of morality

  3. Critique of Judgement (1790), discussing problems of aesthetic and emotion.

His philosophy has great influence upon the whole world.

In fact, the direct statement on Love by Kant is not too much, but the philosophic thinking of him has very close relation with Love. So the title of this chapter is: Philosophy of Kant and Love.

The main views of Kant related to Love are summarizes as below:

  1. What is Aesthetics?

Love is Man's very important emotion.

Did Kant's philosophy not discuss emotion?

No.it is not the case.

The important work of Kant is Critique of Judgement, which is his philosophy of Aesthetics

What is Aesthetics?

According to Hegel (see his work: Aesthetics) Aesthetics is a science of Appreciation of Beauty and Emotion.

In Kant's Critique of Judgement, he wrote:

Now taste is at bottom a faculty for judging of the sensible illustration of moral Ideas [...] ; It is from this faculty also and from the greater susceptibility grounded thereon for the feeling arising from the latter (called moral feeling),

Hence it appears plain that the true propaedeutic for the foundation of taste is the development of moral Ideas and the culture of the moral feeling.

Here, "Taste" means the appreciation of Beauty. In Kant's view, the foundation of Taste is both moral ideas and moral feeling. (or emotion)

So, Aesthetics has the meaning of appreciation of beauty which is based on moral ideas and moral emotion. In Kant's view, appreciation of beauty, human emotion and morality are closely connected together.

  2. Relation between knowledge, morality and emotion

As introduced above, three main philosophic works of Kant discuss the problems of Knowledge, Morality and Aesthetics (including Emotion)

According to Kant's opinion, Aesthetics (including Emotion) is the bridge between Knowledge and Morality.

If we compare the opinions of Hume and that of Kant, we may find their difference and sameness.

Hume's view is: Morality is the combination of Reason (Knowledge) and Emotion.

Who is right?

From the modern scientific research on human brain (see Part 5 of this book), there are two special parts of brain controlling Man's wisdom and emotion respectively. But there is no special part of human brain controlling Man's morality. So .from the view of human brain, Hume's opinion is more correct than Kant.

But in practical human life, appreciation of beauty and also emotion of love is always an Intermediary between man's knowledge and Man's morality. We may see many cases that the emotion of Love and appreciation of Beauty helps man to use their knowledge (wisdom) for moral goals.

For example, Love for one's motherland and appreciation of the beauty of his motherland's civilization will certainly help him to contribute his knowledge for serving his motherland (morality)

So, from human's spiritual process, Kant's view is also correct.

  3. Love and Morality

Kant paid much attention to human morality. His work The Critique of Practical Reason discussed specially on human morality.

As discussed above, in Kant's view, human morality is closely related with human emotion---Love.

So, Kant's many views on morality are also related closely with Love.

  1. Moral command and Love

In the First Part of The Critique of Practical Reason, Kant wrote:

The moral law is an imperative, which commands categorically, because the law is unconditioned..

Kant's thinking is: moral law is a command of human nature.

This thinking is very similar to the thinking of Chinese ancient philosopher Mencius. Mencius said:

The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of kindheartedness. The feeling of shame is the beginning of righteousness. The feeling of modesty is the beginning of propriety. The sense of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom. Man has these four beginnings just as he has four limbs. (Mencius, Book 3)

Both Mencius and Kant regarded that both morality and love are inborn coming from Man's nature. So, both morality and Love are unconditioned for everyone. Moral command and emotion of love comes from Man's inner heart, not from other source.

In Kant's view, Morality with love is more perfect than morality by command.

  2. "Man is the Goal " and Love

"Man is the goal" is a very important and creative philosophy thinking of Kant. This thinking is the basis of modern humanity.

In his famous work Foundation of the Metaphysics of Morals, he wrote:

This principle, that humanity and generally every rational nature is an end in itself (which is the supreme limiting condition of every man's freedom of action),

The thinking of "Man is its own goal" is a great philosophic breakthrough in the Enlightenment Movement.

In the Middle Ages, according to Christian doctrine, all men have their original sin. Everyone's behaviors have the purpose for getting rescuing by God. So, man himself becomes a tool, or a measure, but not a goal.

All objects of Love are Man (as parents, children, friends, etc.) or something beneficial to Man (science, literature, liberty, etc.)

So, Kant's thinking of "Man is the goal" conforms to the all kinds of Love. It is also the principle of Love.

  4. Man's Common sense and Love

Common Sense is an important idea presented by Kant .

In Critique of Judgement, Kant wrote:

Therefore they must have a subjective principle, and one which determines what pleases or displeases, by means of feeling only and not through concepts, but yet with universal validity. Such a principle, however, could only be regarded as a common sense.

What is Common Sense? According to Kant's explanation, Common Sense is the common emotion of Mankind.

Love is just a common emotion of Mankind. All men have the emotion of Love. Even a slave or a poor peasant, he has his love for his parents, spouse and children.

Kant's thinking of Common Sense is the same as the thinking of Mencius.

As the saying of Mencius introduced above, all men have the feeling of kindheartedness (same meaning as Love) , just as all men have four limbs.

So, Kant's thinking of Common Sense gives us deep understanding of Human Love.

Chapter 3-6 Views of Schopenhauer and

Feuerbach on Love

After Kant there were several famous philosophers with great influence upon the world. They were Friedrich Hegel(1770-1831), Arthur Schopenhauer(1788—1860) , Ludwig Feuerbach(1804-1872), Karl Marx,(1818-1883), etc. Among them , philosophies of Schopenhauer and Feuerbach have close relation with Love .

  1. Schopenhauer's Views on Love

Schopenhauer was the creator of Philosophy of Will and also the pioneer of Philosophy of Irrationalism in the West.

He was born in Danzig (in Poland now). His father was a rich banker. In 1809, he got the doctor degree of philosophy from Jena University. Began in 1920, he was a lecturer of philosophy in Berlin University. But he failed in competing with Hegel. Afterwards, he had been writing books as his main work.

The most important of his work is The World as Will and Presentation.

The relation between his philosophy thinking and love is as follows:

  1. What is Will?

Will is the kernel idea in his philosophy. Then, what is Wil?

Plato classified Man's spiritual activity into three parts: Understanding, Emotion and Will. So Will was a very ancient idea.

Both Hume and Kant had talked on Will. Hume emphasized the emotional factor of Will. Kant emphasized the rational factor of it.

But the understanding of Will of Schopenhauer was quite different from that of Hume and Kant.

He regarded that: Will is the essence of a subject (Man or other substances), the meaning of its behavior, and the inner motive force of its activity.

Kant presented a thought that only the presentation of a subject could be cognized by man. Thing-in-itself or noumenon of subject could not be cognized by man

But Schopenhauer regarded that Will of subject is just its Thing-in-itself or its noumenon.

He regarded that Will of man is the motived force of man's life and is the Thing-in-itself or Noumenon of man.

He emphasized that Will is a strong emotion, which pushes all activities of the subject. So his realization of Will is more close to Hume's idea. But he regarded that man's Will is also controlled by man's reason,

  2. Will and Love

What is the relation between Will and Love?.  
Human Love is very similar as the Will in his philosophy:

  1. Both Love and Will are man's active spiritual activity.

  2. Both Love and Will are closely related to man's emotion

  3. Both Love and Will are controlled by man's reason

  4. Both Love and Will are the inner force of man's living..

In summary, in his opinion, Love is basically the Will of man.

Of course, Love and Will is not exactly the same thing.

Man' s Will may be good or evil. But Love is certainly man's Will of Good.

  3. All Loves are Sympathy

In his book, there is a special chapter discussing Love.

His opinion is:

All Loves (fraternity, benevolence, etc.) are Sympathy.

Human love is to combine the fate of others and the fate of oneself.

This is a deep thinking of his philosophy.

Confucius had a saying:

Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself.

(Analects of Confucius Chap.15)

Thinking of Schopenhauer on Love is very similar to the thinking of Confucius.

2. Feuerbach's View on Love

Ludwig Feuerbach(1804-1872) was an important German philosopher after Hegel.

He was born in a family of law professor on south Germany. He studied theology in his early ages, but he was not satisfied. Then he studied Hegel's philosophy and became a member of Young School of Hegel. In 1828, he graduated from Berlin University and worked in Erlangen University. Due to his propaganda supporting atheism, he suffered persecution. Began in 1837, he lived in countryside in 20 years

His main works are: Towards a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy (1839),The Essence of Christianity (1854), Principles of Philosophy of the Future (1843),etc.

In the West, he is famous in advocating Love. His main views related with Love are as follows:

  1. Essence of Man

His theory of Essence of Man includes three main views:

  1. Natural essence of Man

His opinion is: both Man's body and spirit come from nature.

  2. Social essence of Man

His opinion is: the reason that man could be man is that man lives in society. Without other men, man is not able to do anything. So, every man could not be separated from other men. All cultures and science are created by common activities of mankind.

  3. Spiritual essence of Man

He said: a perfect man must have thinking force, will force

and heart force. Thinking force is the light of cognition.. Will force is the energy of virtue. Heart force is Love. The combination of these three forces is the absolute essence of Man.

He presented the concept of Species Essence, which means the basic character of mankind, not the special character of individual.

2) Love is the highest essence of Man

His opinion is:

The highest and the most important essence of man must be Love for man.

His reason of the above saying is:

If a man who has thinking force and will force and does not have heart force (Love), he is not a real man. If he wants to be a real man, he must have social life and be a member of society. He must have mutual love between men.

After Feuerbach, Marx presented an idea:

Man's essence is the summation of all man's social relations.

The view of Feuerbach is different from that of Marx. The reason of their difference may be that in the period of them, class struggle was apparent. Based on the Class Struggle Theory of Marx, Marx did not emphasize Love.

But if we observe the long history and the future of mankind, we may confirm that the view of Feuerbach is more correct.

  4. Love is God

Feuerbach said: Love is God himself. Besides Love, there is no God. Love makes man to be God .and makes God to be man. Love is the unity of God and man and the unity of spirit and nature.

In his famous work---The Essence of Christianity, he criticized the thinking of Theology. He regarded that the essence of God is just the spiritual essence of man. This spiritual essence, while separated from man, becomes an independent existence---God.

His opinion is: the God whom man believes or imagines is just the Will of man himself. Man concentrates his own will on God.

Then, what is the main will of Man? It is being beloved by others. The spirit of God is loving man, recuing man from suffering, and pardoning man's sin.

So, he regarded that Love is the unity of man and God. Love is God.

His thinking on Love and on God has great influence upon people in the West and also in the world.

His thinking is the basis of the unification of people believing religion and people without religious beliefs.

.

Chapter 3-7 Views of Freud School on Love

In the time of 19-20 century, there appeared a famous psychoanalyst –Freud. His research on psychoanalysis involves deep philosophic meaning. His research on sexual desire and love has great influence upon the world and forms Freud School. Marcuse and Fromm were two important philosophers in Freud School. This chapter introduces thinking on Love of these three philosophers.

  1. Freud

Sigmund Freud(1856—1939)was born in a Jewish merchant family in Austria. In 1860, his family moved to Vienna. He lived there for 78 years. In 1882, he entered Vienna General Hospital. In 1896, he created the method of Psychoanalysis. His main works are:

 The Interpretation of Dreams(1900),  Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality(1905),  Three Essays on the Theory of Sexuality(1917),  Beyond the Pleasure Principle(1920), Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego (1921), New Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis (1933), etc.

His theory on human psychology has great influence upon the world.

His theory has close relation with human love, which is introduced as follows:

  1. Subconscious and Love

Subconscious is an important discovery of Freud. He himself regarded that this discovery may be as important as Copernicus's Heliocentric Theory and Darwin's Theory of Evolution.

Subconscious is truly an important concept in human psychology. Man has three spiritual activities: wisdom, emotion and morals. Subconscious is the low layer of emotion (or desire). At this layer, Man only has fuzzy desire with no apparent cognition attaining the level of wisdom and morals.

As explained above, human love is a high level of emotion, which combines emotion and wisdom together.

So Subconscious and Love is not the same thing. But Subconscious comes from man's inner heart. It is the psychological basis of Love.

The theory of Subconscious tells us: ① Human Love comes from man's inner heart. So Love has deeper psychological source than wisdom and morals; ② Love is higher than Subconscious, since Love combines emotion and wisdom together, but Subconscious does not.

Taking an example, a married man may have intimate feeling with a lady (other than his wife) whom he meets. This is a subconscious. But his wisdom and morals tells him not to fall in love with her so as to overcome his subconscious.

Subconscious is not a derogatory term. In fact, the beginning of Love often comes from subconscious. Love of a baby for his mother comes from subconscious, not from consciousness.

  2. Sexual instinct and Love

Besides the concept of Subconscious, another important discovery of Flued is: Libido, which is the sexual instinct of man

According to Freud, Libido is man's motive force or will for satisfying his sexual desire. Sexual desire is the basis of human love between man and woman, between lovers, and between spouses. Theory of Freud tells us: human love is different from human wisdom and morals. Human love does not only an activity of human brain, it is related with man's physical instinct, probably with special biochemical substance. This is the reason that Love could be a life force of human being which pushes man to have certain activity. This character makes Love different from Truth, Good and Beauty. .

Theory of Libido explains Schopenhauer's Theory of Will. Human Will is also a motive force of human activity

  3. Love in Human Collective

In late ages of Freud, he wrote a book,  Group Psychology and the Analysis of the Ego, which elaborated deeply the problem of Human Love in collective.

. In this book, he pointed out that there is relationship of love between people in collective. He said: the essence of collective is the link of Libido in the collective.

Here, his cognition of love exceeded his early understanding on love. He expanded sexual desire of individual to love desire in human collective.

So, Freud explained the statement of Feuerbach that Love is the essence of man using his scientific theory.

2. Marcuse

Herbert Marcuse(1898-1979)was a German American philosopher. He was born in a Jewish family in Berlin. In 1922, he got doctor degree at University of Freiburg. In 1933, he entered the Institute for Social Research at Frankfurt and cooperated with Max Horkheimer (1895-1973).Then he went to USA and got American citizenship in 1940. He was a professor in some American universities, as Columbia University, Harvard University and UCLA. In 1965, he was a professor in Free University of Berlin. He was the spiritual leader of student movement in 60s last century. In 1979, he died in Germany

His main works are: Reason and Revolution(1941), Eros and Civilization(1955),Soviet Marxism: A Critical Analysis (1958),One-Dimensional Man (1964).,An Essay on Liberation (1969),etc.

His philosophic thinking got the influence from Heidegger, Freud and Marx.

He had important statements on human love:

  1. From sexual desire to love desire

In theory of Freud, the concept of sexual desire means mainly the body desire between man and woman.

In theory of Marcuse, he regarded that in an a civilized society, Sexual desire must raise to Love desire

He wrote in his work Eros and Civilization

Moreover, nothing in the nature of Eros justifies the notion that the extension of the impulse is confined to the corporeal sphere. [...] In so far as the spiritual sphere becomes the direct object of Eros and remains a libidinal object, there is change neither in energy nor in aim.

This statement means that the nature of love (Eros) must not be limited to sexual desire (corporeal sphere). Love and Libido must have its object in spiritual field.

So, in the theory of Marcuse, Love has much wider extent of its object. He raised the concept of sexual desire which Freud emphasized to the concept of love desire

2) Love and Non-repressive civilization

In Introduction of his work Eros and Civilization, he wrote:

Sigmund Freud's proposition is that civilization is based on permanent subjugation of the human instincts.

He pointed out that Freud's theory is that civilization is a repressive force upon human instinct or human nature.

Marcuse did not agree Freud's opinion. He regarded that civilization may become a Non-repressive force for mankind.

He wrote:

Under non-repressive conditions, sexuality tends to "grow into" Eros , that is to say, toward self-sublimation in lasting and expanding relations (including work relations) which serve to intensify and enlarge instinctual gratification. (Chapter 11)

This statement shows: he regarded that civilization will help people to raise man's sexual desire towards love desire. And human love will help man to overcome the substantial and spiritual suffering and have self-sublimation of mankind.

This is a great progress of Freud's theory and also a deep thinking of the relation between human love and human civilization.

3. Fromm

Erich Fromm(1900—1980)was born in a Jewish family at Frankfurt, Germany. He studied law in University of Frankfurt, studied Sociology in University of Heidelberg and studied Psychoanalysis in University of Munich. In 1934, he worked in Columbia University in USA. After then, he was a professor of Psychology in Michigan State University and New York University.

In his whole life, he made important contribution to combine Psychoanalysis and Humanity. He was the creator of Psychoanalytic Sociology.

He wrote many works as: Psychoanalysis and Religion (1950), The Art of Loving (1956), Socialist Humanism (1965), The Nature of Man (1968), To Have or to Be? (1976), For the Love of Life (1986), The Art of Being (1993), etc.

His main views on Love are in The Art of Loving

  1. Love is the true answer of Man's existence

The first chapter of this book is titled:

Love: The Answer to the Problem of Human Existence.

He wrote:

The full answer lies in the achievement of interpersonal union, of fusion with another person, in Love

He explained his above statement as follows:

The deepest need of man, then, is the need to overcome his separateness, to leave the prison of his aloneness.

This is a strong affirmation of Love by a Western philosopher.

  2. Love is giving

He wrote:

Love is an activity, not a passive affect. It is "standing on", not "falling for" in the most general way .The active character of Love can be described by starting that Love is primarily giving , not receiving.

Love is giving, not receiving. This is an excellent explanation of the character of Love.

If you only want to receive from your beloved and not to give to your beloved, there will be no Love at all.

"Love is giving, not receiving" is the basic principle of philosophy of Love affirmed in my book.

  3. Self Love and Love for others

On the problem of Self Love, he wrote:

Generally, these premises are as follows: not only others, but we ourselves are the 'object' of our feelings and attitudes; the attitudes towards others and towards ourselves, far from being contradictory, are basically conjunctive.

So, Fromm's opinion is: there is unity of loving oneself and loving others. If you do not love others, then you must not love yourself, since you lose your virtue and pleasure.

In summary, the theories of Freud, Marcuse and Fromm had made great contribution to the philosophy of Love in 20th century.

Chapter 3-8 Singer's View on Love

Irving Singer(1925-2015)was an American contemporary philosopher. He worked in the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for 55 years. He had wide research fields, but Sex and Love are his main research problems.

He wrote more than 20 works. His main works are:

Modes of Creativity, Meaning in Life, Philosophy of Love--,

A Partial Summing-Up, The Nature of Love, Reality Transformed: Film as Meaning and Technique, etc.

His main views on Love may be summarized as follows:

  1. Elaboration of some important philosophers' theories on Love

  1. Plato

Singer regarded that Plato was the creator of researches on Love in the West.

In Singer's opinion, Plato's view on Love in the early period was mainly Love between man and woman or young man. But in Plato's later period, Plato opposed Homosexuality and advocated the marriage of one husband and one wife. In The Republic, Plato had wider understanding of Love: Love is pursuit of Good, appreciation of Beauty, searching of ideal society and finding of Truth. Plato regarded that these Loves are higher than sexual Love.

  2. Hume

Singer pointed out that in the philosophy of Hume, Love may be classified into two kinds: one is sexual love and the other is benevolence. Hume supported sexual love, but he insisted that sexual love is only one kind of love. Benevolence is a higher kind of love, which concerns human happiness.

  3. Schopenhauer and Nietzsche

Singer introduce that in Schopenhauer's philosophy, love is a will of man to continue the life of mankind. Love is only sex. Man should refuse his own will so as to have man's dignity.

Singer pointed out that Nietzsche had different view. Nietzsche asked man to accept his own will. Nietzsche had an important opinion on love which was named Love of Fate, which means to love the object according to the nature of object. Such man may be named Superman, who is the master of his own will. Superman is able to realize the nature of his beloved object. He took those great artists as example.

  4. Freud

Singer pointed out that Freud classified Love into two kinds: True love and "Falling in love". True love is linked with marriage. Spouses live together and concern each other. Sexual happiness is not the most important. True love and sexual love are separated. Singer said this is the Dualism of Freud' s view on Love.

  2. The History of Love in the West.

Singer elaborated the historical development of Love in Western society. He pointed out that, in Western society, there has been three periods of Love: Aristocratic love, Romantic love and Democratic love. .

1) Aristocratic love

In the Middle Ages of Europe, Agape (God love) was the kernel idea of Christianity .Agape is the love giving by God.

Aristocratic love was the humanization of Agape. Man could love Nature and another person (especially person of opposite sex) , just like loving God.

Aristocratic love existed in very small circle, especially in elite circle, not including common people in low class.

2) Romantic love

Romantic love began with Puritanism and Rationalism rising in 17th century. Puritanism advocated that sexual love should be limited within the framework of religion, which means in a family. Rationalism regarded love should not be only based on passion, but must have rational cognition.

The dramas of William Shakespeare(1564-1616)was the best representative of Romantic love.

In 19th century, French Revolution brought the idea of Equality, Fraternity and Liberty which encouraged people to love anyone he was willing to love.

Romantic love improved the position of women apparently.

Jean Rousseau (1712-1778) was an important philosopher to advocate Romantic love.

3) Democratic love

Democracy is the product of French and American Revolutions .So, Democratic love and Romantic love are mutual influencing. According to the idea of modern Democracy, everyone has the right to love whom he is willing to love. So, Homosexuality is allowed and legalized.

Today, Democratic love is popularized in the world.

3) Bestowal and Appraisal of Love

Singer's view is: Love is bestowal (giving) and appraisal. In true Love, bestowal is more than appraisal.

In his opinion," Appraisal" means appreciating the appearance, virtue and wisdom of love object. "Bestowal" means giving, concerning and contributing the object of love. True love is not only appraisal, but also bestowal.

Singer regarded that the thinking of Bestowal came from the concept of Agape (God Love).Agape is the love of God for mankind; and is God's salvation of mankind.

  5. Love's function of creativity

In late age of Singer, his important thinking is the relation of bestowal and creativity.

In his opinion, in Man's bestowal of love, it may produce the creativity.

Even though this thinking had not been elaborated much in his work, but I regard that this is a very important principle of Human Love.

In summary, Singer's statement on Love, even though, is mainly related to sexual love, it gives much help for us to understand the views on Love in the West.

# Chapter 3-9 Overview on Love in Western Philosophy

Western philosophy, from ancient Greece to today has been developing more than 2000 years. On the problem of Human Love, not every philosopher had statement, but some extraordinary philosophers had their important theories or ideas, which gave great influence upon the world.

The main opinions of Western philosophers on human love are summarized as below:

  1. Process of cognition of Love in Western philosophy

Although from 17-18th centuries, Western philosophers mainly concerned Epistemology, they did not talk too much on Human Love. But the pioneer philosopher of the West---Plato gave Love a very high position in his philosophy. This is a problem worthy to be deep thought by us.

Plato said:

He (Love) is the oldest; we have him as the cause of the greatest goods

He (Love) is the fairest and blessedest and the best of the gods and also the youngest.

Such is the power of love, and that love which is just and temperate has the greatest power and is the source of all our happiness and friendship with the gods and with one another.

Plato's thinking on Love is the precious property in Western philosophy, which gives us very valuable enlightenment even today.

In 17-18th centuries, the main philosophic school in the West were British Empiricism and Rationalism in France and Holland. Both of them took epistemology as their main theme.

In such environment, the direct statement of Love was decreased.

But, in the Enlightenment movement, Western philosophers advocated the ideas of Liberty, Democracy, Equity, Human right and Rule of Law, etc. Kant presented the idea of "Man is the goal".. These ideas provided a good background of Human Love

In 19th century , Feuerbach(1804-1872) presented his important thinking of "Love is the essence of Man". Although his opinion was criticized by Marx who regarded Feuerbach's thinking is an unrealistic dream, but Feuerbach's theory had great influence upon the West.

In late 19th century and 20th century, Freud's school including Freud, Marcuse and Fromm etc. had important contribution to philosophy of Love.

In contemporary period, the importance of Love is recognized again.

But, we have to say that philosophy of Love has not obtained a suitable position in Western philosophy that it should have.

  2. Agape (Love of God ) and Love of Nature

Agape is the basic thinking of Love of Christianity. Agape means Love given by God and also loving God by Man

The thinking of Agape has great influence upon the circle of Christianity; The Christians take it as their belief of life.

In 17th century , Spinoza(1632-1677)presented the thinking of " God is Nature". His theory could explain all function of God. For example, "God created Man" means "Nature created Man"

In modern period, most Western scientists were Christians. Many of them (especially scientists) accept the idea of "God is Nature".

The thinking of "God is Nature" also unites the great amount of religion believers and the great amount of non–religion believers in the whole world.

  3. The broad and narrow sense of Love

In Western philosophy, there are two understandings of Love: one is the narrow sense of Love, which is sexual Love; the other is broad sense of Love, which has very extensive objects of human love.

In Plato's theory, Love means both sexual love and broad sense of Love. In Aristotle's work his used the term "Friendship" to represent the broad sense of Love.

In Freud's works, Love mainly means sexual love. But in the works of Marcuse and Fromm, the concept of Love is extended to broad sense of love

In modern period, the book Philosophy of Love written by Irying Singer, the concept of Love many means sexual love or love between man and woman.

Generally speaking, the broad sense of Love, which may be named Human Love, has not paid enough attention in modern Western philosophy. The theme of this book at your hand is not sexual love, but broad sense of love. The title of this book is Philosophy of Human Love shows the difference from the book written by Singer: Philosophy of Love.

4, Some valuable views of Love in Western philosophy

  1. Love is higher than Belief and Hope

Belief, Hope and Love are the theology thinking of Christianity , which was presented and supported by Christian philosophers Augustine(354-430)and Aquinas(1224-1274).

In the doctrines of Christianity, these three are all relations between Man and God

The meaning of "Love is higher than Belief and Hope" is that: you must have love for God, for others and for people, that is more important than that you belief God and you hope God's giving.

The thinking of "Love is higher than Belief and Hope" is not only meaningful for Christians, but also for all persons. If you are a scientist, if you do not have love for science and for people, your scientific research will be meaningless and will not be successful.

Madame Curie discovered Radium and other radioactive elements. This was her great contribution to mankind. What is the force pushed her to have this discovery? The answer can only be her deep love for people and for science, not others.

  2. Love is giving , not taking

In the period of ancient Greece, Aristotle's opinion is: Love is in loving, more than in being loved.

In 20th century, philosopher Fromm said:

The active character of Love can be described by starting that Love is primarily giving, not receiving.

Contemporary philosopher Singer presented an opinion: In true Love, bestowal is more than appraisal.

The thinking of that Love is giving, not receiving, or giving is higher than receiving, appeared from ancient time to today. This thinking of Love is worthy to be paid high attention.

  3. The character of Creativity of Love

In ancient Greece, Plato wrote:

Such is the power of love, and that love which is just and temperate has the greatest power and is the source of all our happiness and friendship with the gods and with one another.

Contemporary philosopher Singer presented the opinion that in Man's bestowal of love, it may produce the creativity.

The creativity of Love is one of the most important views on Love introduced in this book.

:

Part 4 Chinese Philosophers' Views on Love

This book introduces Western philosophers' views on Love before introducing Chinese philosophers' views on Love. The reason is that Western philosophy has the character of clear concept and logical analysis, which helps us to understand the meaning of Love clearly in philosophy

But from the view of content, Chinese traditional philosophy paid more attention on Love. Since the main content of Chinese philosophy is Ethics (human nature, virtue, etc.) And Love is just a very important concept in Ethics.

There are some characters of remarks on Love by Chinese philosophers:

  1. In Chinese traditional philosophy, sometimes, the term of Love was used in very important place, as Confucius said:" Kindheartedness means loving men", Mo Zi advocated "Universal love".

But generally speaking, the word "Love" used in Chinese traditional philosophy was not too much. Many other terms were used instead of the word "Love".

  2. In Chinese traditional philosophy, the concept of Love was refined and classified according to different objects. For example, Love for the ruler or one's motherland was named Loyalty. Love for parent was named Filial piety. Love for teachers was named Respect. Of course, in those terms, there involves not only the emotion of love, but also moral meanings.

  3. Comparing with Western philosophy, Chinese traditional philosophy emphasized the relation between Love and ontology, cosmogony, political philosophy, moral philosophy, etc. So it may be said that Chinese traditional philosophy cognized Love at a higher level and wider view comparing with that in Western philosophy. .

The above characters will help us to understand the views of Chinese philosophes on Love.

Chapter 4-1 Lao Zi's View on Love

Lao Zi was a very important philosopher in ancient China The birth and death year of him is not clear. Most modern Chinese philosophers regard that Lao Zi lived in the same period of Confucius and was elder than Confucius.

The main work of Lao Zi is The Book of Dao and De(《道德经》). Dao means Principle. De means Virtue. It is a philosophy book with very high academic value. Confucius' philosophy was mainly related to ethics and politics. But The Book of Dao and De was mainly related to ontology, which is the kernel part of philosophy. This book has comprehensive contents: ontology, cosmogony, outlook of the nature, of the world and of human life , political philosophy, military philosophy, etc.

The views of Lao Zi related to Human Love are summarized as below:

  1. "Dao is the Mother of all things" and Love

Lao Zi said:

There was a thing formed as a whole,

It was born earlier than Heaven and Earth.

Silent and empty,

It relies on nothing,

Moving around for ever

We may regarded it as the mother of all things

I do not know its name,

So I name it as Dao.

(Chapter 25 , The Book of Dao and De)

This remark of Lao Zi means that Dao is earlier than Heaven and Earth. Dao is the creator of all things.

In Lao Zi's philosophy, the cosmos was not created by a personalized God, but by Dao. Using modern words, Dao may be regarded as the Nature it self and the essence and rule of the Nature.

Lao Zi's cosmogony obtains very high evaluation by many Western famous scientists.

"Dao is the mother of all things" is an emotional sentence, which expresses the motherly love of Nature for all things, just like a mother loves her children.

According to this remark, Nature loves all things, of course, loves all people. So the great Nature must be loved by all men.

This thinking is similar to Agape (God Love), but the great Nature is instead of God.

2, "Dao covers all things as their cloth" and Love

Lao Zi said:

The great Dao is felt everywhere

Extending in all directions

All things grow on it and it never refuses them.

It accomplishes its great task without claiming to merit.

It covers all things as their cloth without claiming to be their master

(Chapter 34, same book)

This remark expresses fully the deep love of Dao for all things. It protects all things, just like a cloth covering man's body. The love of Dao is selfless. It does not claim anything for his love, just like a mother does not claim anything for her love towards her children. This is real kindhearted love.

3, Inactiveness and Love

Lao Zi said:

Dao always remain inactive,

Yet it acts upon everything in the world.

If lords and kings can keep it,

All creatures will grow and develop naturally.

(Chapter 37, same book)

Inactiveness is a very important philosophic thinking of Lao Zi.. It is also his political thinking.

As to the Nature, Inactiveness means not do much Interference upon the Nature. This thinking conforms to the modern thinking of environmental sustainability.

In political philosophy, Inactiveness means giving and protecting more freedom of people.

In the view of Love, Inactiveness means that the great Nature does not only create all things, but also allows all things to grow freely and naturally.

Here, Lao Zi presented an important principle of Human Love. As to any objects of your love, you have to respect them, not to have much interference upon them and to help them to develop freely and naturally.

4, "Dao begets all things and De rears them" and Love

Lao Zi said:

Dao begets all things;

De (virtue) rears them.

Dao gives them shape,

De accomplishes them

So all things respect Dao and honor De.

(Chapter 51, same book)

In Lao Zi's philosophy, Dao means the principle and rule of the cosmos. De means the realization of Dao. De has the meaning of Virtue or Morality.

Introduced above, Dao is full of Love .The combination of Dao and De means that Love must be united with morals. This is a deep thinking of the philosophy of Human Love. In the society, your any love must conform to social morality.

5, "Perfect Goodness is like Water" and Love

Lao Zi said:

The perfect Good is like water,

Water is beneficial to all things, but is not contenting with them.

(Chapter 8, same book)

This is a very famous saying of Lao Zi.

Everyone knows that water is beneficial to all things. Water raises all crops in the field. Water rears all husbandry animals.. Water is essential for Man's daily life........

But water does not claim any merit of her kind giving.

Human Love is very similar as the character of water. Human Love gives anything to its beloved object, but it does not claim any reward.

So, according to Lao Zi's philosophy, Human Love is the perfect Good, just like water.

In the history of world philosophy, Christianity advocates Agape (God Love), Confucius advocated Kindhearted Love. And Lao Zi advocated the love of Dao, which has the similar meaning as Love of the great Nature.

More than 2000 years later , Western philosopher Baruch Spinoza(1632-1677)presented his theory---God is Nature . Spinoza's thinking is close to the thinking of Lao Zi.

We have to say that Lao Zi's thinking on Human Love was quite advanced in the history of world philosophy..

Chapter 4-2 Confucius' View on Love

Confucius was the most important philosopher in ancient China. He established the philosophy of Confucianism, which had great influence upon China's politics and culture in Chinese history. Even today, his theory still has influence upon all Chinese in the world.

His living period was 551-479 BC , about 80 years earlier than Socrates(469-399 BC ).

He was born in Qufu(曲阜), Shandong province. His father was a general and died when Confucius was only 3 years old. He was cultivated by his mother. He got good education from his mother and grandfather. He was very clever and loving study in his childhood.

While he was young, he was a lower officer. When he was 30 years old, he established a private school. He had about 3000 students, among them, 72 students had outstanding achievements.

When he was 50 years old, he was the mayor of capital of Lu (鲁国). Later he was promoted as the minister of administration and then the minister public security. But King of Lu pursued personal pleasure and ignored the affairs of state. Confucius was disappointed and led his students to travel to many states advocating his own theory for 13 years. But his opinion was rejected by those Kings. In his late ages, he returned to his hometown and engaged in education.

Confucius' philosophy was mainly remained in the book--- Analects of Confucius, which recorded his talking with his students. This book has very high position in Chinese philosophy.

Confucius' opinions on Love are summarized as follows:

1, Kindheartedness Love and Love for Man

Kindheartedness(仁) is the kernel idea in Confucius philosophy. In Analects of Confucius, the word "Kindheartedness" appears more than 100 times, which shew that Confucius paid high attention to Kindheartedness.

What is Kindheartedness? There are many explanations in Analects of Confucius. Among them, some important explanations are as follows:

  1. Fan Ci (a Confucius's disciple) asked: "What is Kindheartedness?" Confucius answered: "Loving men."(Chap.12)

  2. Desiring to sustain oneself, one should sustain others. Desiring to develop oneself, one should develop others.(Chap.6)

  3. Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself.(Chap.15)

  4. Is Kindheartedness remote and difficult? If a man wish to have Kindheartedness, then Kindheartedness will come to him .(Chap.7)

  5. Men need Kindheartedness more than the necessaries of life ,such as fire and water(Chap.15)

"Kindheartedness means loving men" was the kernel idea of Confucius moral philosophy

"Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself". This sentence is recognized worldwide as the Golden Law of Morality.

Sentence 4) is important. It shows that Kindheartedness comes from Man's inner heart and from human nature .Everyone has the instinct to love others.

2000 years later, Kant's thinking of Moral Command is close to the thinking of Confucius

Sentence 5) shows that people require Kindheartedness or Love is just like that they require water and fire. So, human love is essential for people. The main hope of people is to have a society of Love

2, "In Sympathy with all men" and Love for people

In Analects of Confucius, there are many Confucius sayings on love for people

Confucius said:

A young man should be in sympathy with all men (chap.1)

Without the confidence of the people, there will be no governance. (Chap.12)

When directing the affairs of a great nation, a ruler must retrench the public expenditure, and love all people. (Chap.1)

Zi Lu (a student of Confucius) said to Confucius:" We would like to hear your aim in the conduct of life." Confucius replied:" My aim would be to comfort old people at home; to be found trustworthy by my friends, and to love and care for young people.(Chap.5)

All these sayings show that the love for people is a very important principle in the philosophy of Confucius.

In Confucius opinion, a good ruler must love his people in the state. As to himself, his main goal of life is to love and help the old people be comfortable, to love and take care of young people and to love and be trustworthy by his friends.

3, "How virtuous is Hui" and Love for students.

Confucius created the first private school in ancient China. He had deep love for his student. He gave wisdom and knowledge to his students. He is praised as the Greatest Teacher in China's history.

Here we take his love for his most satisfactory student---Yan Hui (颜回) as an example .

In Analects of Confucius, there are many introductions about his love for Yan Hui.

he praised his student Yan Hui (颜回):

How virtuous is Hui ! Living in a single meal day, with water for his drink, and living in the lowest hovel of the city. No man could have stood such hardship, but he did not lose his cheerfulness.

(Chap.6)

After Yan Hui died, Confucius cried sadly and said:

Yi! Heaven has forsaken me! Heaven has forsaken me!

(Chap. 11)

4, "Pleasure to acquire knowledge" and Love for knowledge

Confucius had a famous saying:

Men of intellectual character delight in water scenery; men of moral character delight in mountain scenery.

(Chap. 6)

It means that: Morals is firm without changing. It has the character as mountain. Knowledge is developing continuously. It has the character as water.

So, Confucius paid equal attention to morality and to knowledge.

Confucius also said:

It is indeed a pleasure to acquire knowledges and to review them frequently

(Chap.1)

He took acquiring knowledge as his great pleasure. It shew his deep love for knowledge.

5,"Excellence of Beauty" and Love for art

Confucius was a man not only interested in reading books. He appreciated music and poem very much.

He talked about the ancient music , Shao(韶):

It has the excellence of Beauty and also the excellence of Good!

(Chap.3)

He loved music deeply. In Analects of Confucius, there is a introduction:

Confucius travelled to Qi (齐) and heard the ancient music , Shao. In three months, he forgot the taste of delicious meat. He said:" I should never have thought that music could bring me to such pleasure!"

I think, today's music fancy probably will not have attained the degree of loving music as Confucius: forgetting the taste of delicious meat for three months.

6. "Like to have refined food" and Love for Life

Confucius was not a scholar who only loved knowledge; he was also a man loving daily life

In Analects of Confucius, there recorded the daily life of Confucius. It wrote:

Confucius liked to have refined food. He also liked to eat meats cutting in small pieces.

From above introduction, we may understand that Confucius was a man full of love: love for man, love for people, love for his students, love for knowledge, love for music and poem and also love for daily life.

In the view of Human Love, Confucius was a perfect man. This is the reason that he was and is respected by all Chinese through more than 2000 years' history in China.

Chapter 4-3 Views of Mo Zi and Zhuang Zi on Love

1, Views on Love of Mo Zi(墨子)

Mo Zi' s name was Mo Di(墨翟) . He lived in 468-376 BC ,83 years later than Confucius. He lived in the period between the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period. He was born in a family of handicraft industry. He had the technology of handcraft and also wide scientific knowledges of geometry, physics, etc. This was seldom to be seen in Chinese ancient philosophers.

He had travelled to many states. Later, he established a school of part-study and part-work. This school had the character of association with strict discipline.

The philosophy of Mo Zi represented the thinking of middle and low class in the society.

Mo Zi had special view on Love. His main view was Universal Love. In the book--- Mo Zi, which was edited by his students, there is a special chapter--- Universal Love. There are also other chapters related to Love.

  1. Universal Love

The main opinions expressed in the chapter---Universal Love are as follows:

  1. Peace and chaos in the world are related to Love

Mo Zi said:

When there is universal love in the world, the world will be peaceful, and when there is mutual hatred in the world, the world will be chaotic

(Chap. 14)

Mo Zi pointed out: the chaos of the world come from no mutual love. Son only loves himself, but not loves his father. Officers only love themselves, but not love the king. Then the world must be in chaos.

If all people have universal love and they love others just like love themselves, the world must be in good governance and peaceful.

(2)Conflict and harmony in the society are related to Love

Mo Zi said:

All people in the world love one another, the powerful do not control the vulnerable, the many do not loot the few, the wealthy do not bully the poor, the honored do not disdain the humble, and the cunning do not deceive the simple minded[...]all these come from mutual love.

(Chap.15)

So, in Mo Zi's view, the harmony of society is based on universal love.

(3)Loving each other and benefiting each other

"Loving each other and benefiting each other" is a very important principle in Mo Zi's philosophy of Love.

Some one said to Mo Zi: Universal love is very good, but people are difficult to do so .Mo Zi answered: it is because that people do not know the benefit of Universal Love. In fact, the mutual love will bring mutual benefit to people.

He said:

If a man loves others, the others must love him. If a man benefits others, the others must benefit him.

This thinking of Mo Zi is quite close to the thinking of famous British economist Adam Smith (1723-1790)

In the opinion of Smith expressed in his famous work An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. Smith pointed out that everyone pursues his own benefit will finally benefit all people

Today, Xi Jinping (习近平),the leader of China,advocates the thinking of "Cooperation and Mutual Win" in the international relationship. The basic thinking is close to the thinking of Mo Zi.

2. No Attacking and Love

In the book of Mo Zi, there is a special Volume titled: No Attacking. The basic thinking of his idea of No Attacking is as follows:

Killing one person is unjust, which must be punished penalty of death one time. Killing ten persons is ten times unjust, which must be punished ten times penalty of death. But today, attacking a state (or country) is recognized just. It shows that people do not know the difference of just and unjust.

So, Mo Zi opposed all war attacking other state or country. He pointed out the unjust war attacking other country is a great disaster for people in the world. In his opinion, if you have love for people, you must oppose all unjust war.

Mo Zi's thinking of No Attacking conforms to the political principle in modern world. No Attacking means Peace of the world, which is the great love for all people in the world.

2. Talks of Zhuang Zi on Love

.Zhuang Zi (庄子)'s name was Zhuang Zhou (庄周)。 He lived in 369-286 BC, in the middle of the Warring States Period, the same period of Mencius. In his whole life, he had never held important position in government. He was only a low manager of a Lacquer tree garden. He was poor in life, some times was lack of food. King of Chu(楚) tried to invite him to be prime minister , but he refused. He liked to be happy in poor life.

He inherited the philosophy thinking of Lao Zi and presented his own special philosophic thinking. In the book Zhuang Zi, there are three parts: Inside, Outside and Miscellaneous. Scholars recognized that the Inside part was written by himself and the other two parts were edited by his students. The introduction below was mainly from the Inside part.

The word "Love" appeared not too much in his book. Love in Confucius and Mo Zi's philosophy mainly means love for men or people. But the object of Zhuang Zi's love was mainly Nature and Freedom. In Chinese language, such kind of love usually was not expressed by the word---Love. But in modern language, the concepts of "Love for Nature" and "Love for Freedom" are acceptable

In Zhuang Zi's philosophy, Love for Nature and Love for Freedom are joined together.

  1. "Happy Excursion" and Love for Nature and Freedom

The first chapter of the book Zhuang Zi is titles Happy Excursion. Zhuang Zi described a big bird:

In the Northern Ocean there is a fish named Kun, which is many thousand Li* in size. This fish transformed into a bird named Peng, whose back is many thousands Li in breath. When the bird rouses and flies, its wings obscure the sky like cloud. When the bird moves itself in the sea, it is preparing to start for the Southern Ocean, the Celestial Lake*.

(Li is the Chinese length unit. Celestial Lake means the lake of Heaven)

This first paragraph of Zhuang Zi, in my opinion, is the praise for the Nature and also Freedom.

In this short paragraph, he talked about sky, sea, ocean, fish and bird. All these are things in the Nature. Especially, he praised the spirit of Freedom of the big bird Kun. Kun prepares to move to every where as he likes.

  2. "Equality of Things" and Love for Nature and Freedom.

At the end of Chapter 2 of the book Zhuang Zi, there is a very famous paragraph:

Once a time, Zhuang Zhou dreamed that he was a butterfly flying about, enjoying itself. It did not know that it was Zhuang Zhou. Suddenly he awoke, and veritably was Zhuang Zhou again. I did not know whether it was Zhuang Zhou dreaming that he was a butterfly, or whether it was the butterfly dreaming that it was Zhuang Zhou. Between Zhuang Zhou and the butterfly, there must be distinction. This is the case of what is called the transformation of things.

This paragraph may be said as the elite part of the book. The kernel thinking is the phrase of "transformation of things (物化).", which means the fusion of all things in Nature and also the fusion of Man and Nature..

It is worthy to notice that he enjoyed his dream to be a butterfly. It means that he felt very happy that he united with the Nature together, which shows his deep Love for Nature and also for the Freedom of the unification with Nature

  3. "Cultivation of Life" and Love for Nature and Freedom

In Chapter 3—Cultivation of Life, Zhuang Zi said:

The pheasant in marsh gets a peck once in ten steps, a drink once in a hundred steps. Yet it does not want to be fed in a cage. In the marsh, its spirit is healthy. In a cage, it seems fine, but there is no pleasure.

This story of analogy shows clearly Zhuang Zi's idea of Freedom. In traditional Chinese philosophy, there were only few philosophers advocated the idea of Freedom. Among them, Zhuang Zi was the most important one. Freedom of life is the life in Nature, but not in a cage.

So, the above statement expresses Zhuang Zi' s Love for Nature and Freedom

  4. "Human World" and Love for Nature and Freedom

In Chapter 4—The Human World, Zhuang Zi told a story of Oak tree.

Once a stonemason came to Qi (齐). He saw a very big oak tree. The stonemason did not look at it. His apprentice asked him: why don't you look at it? He answered: this is a useless oak. If you use it to make a boat, the boat will sink in the river. If you use it to build house, the house will be destroyed by moth.

In the night, the stonemason dreamed to see the big oak. Oak told him: I tried to search a method for maintain my self for a long time. I found that Useless is the best usefulness for myself. If I am useful , can I live for such long time?

This story tells us: Man should not to reform the nature too much for man's usefulness. Man must let the nature maintaining its own nature so as to protect the nature.

Zhuang Zi' s view conforms to the modern principle of Ecology. Man must protect the Nature so that man could have a sustainable environment and economic development.

In summary, Zhuang Zi's idea of Love for Nature and Freedom is very valuable for mankind.

Chapter 4-4 Views of Zeng Zi and Mencius on Love

1, Views of Zeng Zi on Love (Filial Love)

Zeng Zi (曾子)' s name was Zeng Cun (曾参). He lived in the year of 505-435 BC, late period of the Spring Autumn Period. He was one of the most satisfactory students of Confucius.

His most famous work was The Classic of Filiality (《孝经》). According to the book \---Confucian Filiality written by Wangzhi Gao, this book was accomplished by the cooperative effort of Zeng Zi and his student

In The Classic of Filiality, the main content is the taught of Confucius on Filiality, and also the views of Zeng Zi himself.

From Han dynasty, this book was the elementary classic which all students must study.

What is the relation between Filialness and Love?

Confucius said:

They reverenced those whom the honored, and loved those whom they regarded with affection,[...]this is the uppermost principle of Filialness.

(The Doctrine of Mean)

So, Filialness is just man's love for parents. In my book, it is named Filial Love.

The main opinions of Zeng Zi on Love expressed in The Classic of Filiality and The book of Rites by Da Dai (《大戴礼记》) are as follows:

  1. Filialness is the great principle of the world

Zeng Zi said:

Filialness is the great principle of the world

(The book of Rites by Da Dai)

Confucius had said:

Filialness is the beginning of Virtue.

Filialness is the uppermost virtue in Humanity.

(The book of Rites by Da Dai)

So Zeng Zi's thinking on love inherited completely from Confucius.

Confucianism takes Filialness (or Filiality) as the earliest and the highest human morality.

This opinion is different from the view of Christianity, which takes Agape (God Love) as the uppermost virtue. It is also different from Daoism, which take Love for Nature as the uppermost virtue.

In modern society, Zeng Zi's opinion (representing Confucianism) is more rational. Love for parents is truly the earliest emotion of man and the most important and basic factor of the harmony in family and also in society. If a man does not love his parents, how can he loves others and people?

  2. Respect and Filial Love

Zeng Zi said:

The principle of people is filialness. The behavior of filialness is supporting parents. Supporting parents is possible, but respecting parents is difficult.

A student asked: is there principle in treating with parents: Zeng Zi answered: Love and Respect

(Book of Rites by Da Dai )

The meaning of Zeng Zi's saying is that to support your parents is rather easy, but to respect your parents is more difficult. The correct attitude towards your parents is loving and respecting them

Here, Zeng Zi expressed his opinion clearly: Filialness must be based on Love. In other words, Filialness is not only a responsibility for your parents,, it must be your love and respect for them.

  3. "Making them pleasant" and Filial Love

Zeng Zi said:

A filial son who supported his parents should make them pleasant in their heart, not disobey their will and let them enjoy their eyes and ears

(Book of Rites by Da Dai)

The statement presented rather completely the contents of Filial Love: 1, to support parents with living condition; 2,to make parents feel pleasure;3, not to disobey parents' will ; 4,to satisfy the interest of parents.

This statement also shows that the primary requirement of Filial Love is to have the emotion of love with parents. Only when you have the emotion of Love, you will look your parents' pleasure as your own pleasure.

2. Views of Mencius on Love (Kindhearted Love)

Mencius(孟子)'name was Meng Ke(孟轲). He lived in 365-304 BC, in the War States Period.

He was offspring of a noble class family. After the family declined , it move to Zou (邹)。

He was a student of the grandson of Confucius, Zi Si(子思) 。 So he may be said as an indirect student of Confucius. He had wide knowledge and strong personality. At that time , there was an academic center established in Qi (齐) ,he was a famous scholar there.

His life experience was similar to Confucius. He travelled to many states to present his ideas and suggestions which were not accepted. In his late ages, he engaged mainly in education. The book Mencius was accomplished by the cooperation of him and his students.

He was recognized as the main successor of Confucius' philosophy. He inherited the thinking of Kindhearted Love and had important development of this important thinking.

His thinking on Love is summarized as follows:

  1. Kindheartedness is Man

He said:

What is kindheartedness? It is Man.

(Mencius, Chap.16)

It means the distinguishing character of Man is Kindheartedness.

Confucius said: Kindheartedness means loving men.

The basic meaning of the saying of Confucius and Mencius is the same. But there is some difference.

Confucius's saying "Kindheartedness means loving men" is a view of Ethics: Man should love other men.

Mencius' saying "Kindheartedness is Man "is a view of Ontology. He took Kindheartedness as the essence and nature of man. The word "Man" in Mencius' saying is not only pointed to other men, but to Man himself, and also to people.

Kindhearted Love in Mencius philosophy is not only a thinking in Ethics, but also a basic thinking in the theory of Human Nature and Political philosophy.

So, Mencius' thinking on Kindhearted Love was a very important development of Confucius's philosophy.

  2. Human Nature and Kindhearted Love

Mencius was the creator of the theory of Good Human Nature in China.

He said:

The tendency of man's nature to Good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards. There are none who does not have the tendency to Good, as all water flows downwards.

The feeling of commiseration belongs to all men[...]The feeling of commiseration is kindheartedness

(Chap.11)

Feeling of commiseration is the beginning of kindheartedness.

If one does not have commiseration, he is not a man.

(Chap. 3)

Here, Mencius combined Kindhearted Love with Human Nature. This was a very important development of Confucius philosophy. It helps us to raise the understanding of the concept of Love to a higher level.

  3. Righteousness and Kindhearted Love

In the book Mencius, there are many places where Mencius talked on Kindheartedness and Righteousness together.

What is the relation between Kindheartedness and Righteousness?

Mencius said:

Kindheartedness is Man's heart and Righteousness is Man's road

(Chap.11)

In Mencius' opinion, Kindheartedness is the kindness in man's inner heart. Righteousness is the road that man must pass so as to attain the goal of kindheartedness.

Kindheartedness is man's morals and Righteousness is man's behavior. Morals must be combined with behavior. If there is no Righteous behavior, there is no way to express the moral mind.

In the book at your hand, Love is not only a human emotion. Love must be also realized in behavior. Love without behavior is not real Love.

  4. Kindhearted Love and People Orientation.

In Political philosophy of Mencius, he combined Kindhearted Love with politics of People Orientation,.

Mencius said:

When a ruler rejoices in the joy of his people, people also rejoice in his joy. When he grieves at the sorrow of his people, people also grieve at his sorrow. In such a case, he will attain to the imperial dignity.

(Chap 2)

There is a way to get the empire;—get the people and the empire is got. There is a way to get the people; —get their hearts, people is got.

(Chap.7)

The people are the most important element in a nature; the land and grain (means the country) are the next; the sovereign is the lightest.

(Chap.14)

All these remarks shows that in Mencius opinion, all rulers must have love for people, must put the benefit of people as the primary position in policy.

Even though Mencius' theory of People Orientation is different from the theory of Democracy coming from the West, but Mencius' total theory of Kindhearted Love and People Orientation is beneficial to all people and the country. So it is worthy to be paid attention to even today.

Chapter 4-5 Views of Philosophers in Han Dynasty on Love

Pre Qin Period (Period before Qin dynasty, including Spring and Autumn Period and War State Period) was the most glorious period in history of Chinese philosophy. Coming to Han dynasty, philosophy had certain development, but it also experienced a tortuous process.

Why was the case?

Qin (秦) won six states and united whole China. It did not depend on the theory of Confucianism, but on the theory of Legalism. After the success of Qin, there were many criticisms in the society on Qin's tyranny. In this situation, Emperor of Qin accepted the suggestion of prime minister Li Si(李斯):Burning all books (except those books of medicine, divination and tree planting) and killing men talking on the books of Confucianism. Under such tyranny, Confucianism and other valuable philosophic theories was destroyed seriously.

Qin's tyranny aroused fierce resistance of people. Qin Empire only maintained 15 years (221-206 BC).

After the establishment of Han(汉) dynasty, the first several emperors, Hui(惠),Wen(文),Jin(景) and Wu(武)asked scholars to reedited the Classic books of Confucianism , which developed the Study of Confucian Classics (经学).

In Han dynasty, there appeared an important book, Book of Rites. (《礼记》)In this book , there were two very important Chapters--- The Great Learning(《大学》) and The Doctrine of Mean(《中庸》)。 These two articles attained very high level of philosophy.

The contents of these two books related to Love are summarized as follows:

1, Views on Love in the book: the Great Learning

The Great Learning was only an article in Book of Rites. But famous philosopher Han Yu(韩愈) in Han dynasty looked it as same important as Mencius. In Song dynasty, some important philosophers, as Chen Hao, Chen Yi , Zhu Xi , all praised it and rearranged its structure.

The kernel thinking of it is Kindhearted Love. This thinking was expressed in a complete goal of human life, which presented the idea of Three Principles and Eight Catalogues

  1. Love in Three Principles.

Three Principles are:

A. To illustrate bright virtues: it means to carry forward the great morals.

B. To renovate the people: it means to let people have new spirit and knowledge.

C. To end at the upmost Good: it means to attain the highest morality.

What is the upmost Good?

It explained:

As a king, he rested in kindhearted Love. As a minister he rested in reverence. As a son, he rested in filial love. As a father, he rested in kindness. In communication with people, he rested in faithfulness.

In summary, the upmost Good rested in the word "Love", which includes: kindhearted love, respectful love, filial love , kindly love and friendly love.

  2. Love in Eight Catalogues

It said:

Things being investigated, knowledge becomes complete. Their knowledge being complete, their thoughts are sincere. Their thoughts being sincere, their hearts are rectified. Their hearts being rectified, their persons are cultivated. Their persons being cultivated, their families are regulated. Their families being regulated, their States are being governed, Their States being rightly governed, the whole world are made peaceful and happy.

So, the Eight Catalogues are:

(1)To do investigating

(2)To complete your knowledge

(3)To be sincere in your thought

(4)To rectify your heart

(5)To cultivate your personality

(6)To regulate your family

(7)To govern well the State

(8)To make the whole world peaceful and happy

From the view of Love, the first and second catalogues are love for knowledge and Truth. The third, forth and fifth catalogues are love for your own cultivation and morality. The sixth catalogue is love for your family members. The seventh catalogue is love for your motherland. The eighth catalogue is love for peace and for all mankind

Although the three principles and eight Catalogues presented in The Great Learning had the function of consolidating the Monarch system at that period. But if we eliminate the element of this function , what it advocated were love for knowledge , for personal morality , for family members , for motherland and for world peace., All of those love are beneficial to people and the world today.

Some valuable views in it are: 1) Love for life should begin from love for pursuing knowledge. Without knowledge, one's love will remain at a low level. This thinking is quite similar as the thinking of Socrates: "Knowledge is virtue". 2) Pursuing knowledge must be combined with raising personal morality. 3) A moral man should have love for his family and also for people, motherland and the world.

2, Views on Love in the book: The Doctrine of Mean

The Doctrine of Mean is a book with very high philosophy meaning. The most important sentence in it is:

The Mean (or Equilibrium, 中) is the great root from which grow all human acting in the world. The Harmony(和) is the universal road which all should pursue.

Let the states of Mean and Harmony exist in perfection, a happy order will prevail through Heaven and Earth, and all things will be nourished and flourish.

The first paragraph shows the basic cognition of the world. The Mean(中) means the equilibrium or synthesis of opposite factors in all things .In another book written by me---On Synthesis Philosophy, I presented the view that all things in the world are Synthetic Bodies of its different (or opposite ) factors. The Mean is the best state of the synthetic body. The process to attain the Mean is the Harmony.

The second paragraph shows the importance of the Mean and the Harmony for mankind and the world. Only when all things are in the state of Mean and Harmony, the whole world will be peaceful and in order, and mankind will have happiness.

Even though there is no the world "Love" in the above statement, but Love is the basic spirit and relation in the state of Mean and Harmony. Only when man has love for the Nature, the relation between Man and Nature will be harmony. Only man has love for each other, the whole society will be harmony.

3, Philosophy of Dong Zhongshu and Love

Dong Zhongshu (董仲舒) was the most important philosopher in Han dynasty. His thinking had great influence upon ancient China for a long time.

He lived in 179-104 BC, the early period of Han dynasty. The Imperial court established supreme college and the position of Doctor to teach the Classics. Dong was a doctor teaching the New Text Gongyang's Spring and Autumn(《公羊春秋》). Spring and Autumn was a famous book of history written and edited by Confucius. Gongyang was one of the interpreters of this book

The early Emperors of Han (Wen and Jin) supported the political theory of Inactiveness presented by Lao Zi, which helped the people to recover their production and life. Emperor Wu, accepted the suggestion of Dong, reestablished the authority of Confucianism.

Dong presented some important thinking, which consolidated the Imperial autocracy, but disobeyed the spirit of Human Love.

  1. Thinking of Three Guides

Dong presented the thinking of Three Guides, which was: King is the guide of officers; Father is the guide of sons; Husband is the guide of wife.

His theory began with the traditional Chinese theory of Yin and Yang. Ying means moon, Yang means sun. So Yang is the dominant factor and Ying is the dependent factor. In the Imperial court, King is Yang, officers are Yin. In a family Father and husband are Yang, son and wife are Yin. So officer, son and wife must obey the will of king, father and husband.

Thinking of Three Guides had great influence upon ancient China for more than 2000 years.

But this thinking did not conform to the spirit of Human Love. In real Love, the subject and object of Love should have the equal position; there are no dominant one and no dependent one. Father and son should have mutual and equal love. Husband and wife also should have mutual and equal love. Only mutual and equal love could build harmonic family.

The thinking of Three Guides was criticized by many modem philosophers (as Chen Duxiu, 陈独秀) of China in the famous May 4th movement in 1919

  2. Excluding all other schools and respecting absolutely Confucianism

In the suggestion to Emperor Wu, Dong presented a policy of "Excluding all other ideological schools and respecting only Confucianism."

This policy was adopted by many emperors in China's history that gave negative effect to the progress of China's civilization. The thinking in this policy did not conform to the spirit of Love for Liberty which is the main pushing force of the progress of philosophy and all civilization.

3) Theory of Theology (谶纬神学)

.Dong presented a curious Theory of Disaster. Its main content was that all natural disasters came from the incorrect actions or policies of Emperor.

This theory did not conform to the spirit of Love for Truth and Science. It was only a kind of Superstition.

In Summary, Dong's philosophy had its important function in consolidating the imperial autocracy in China for a very long period. But his main thinking did not conform to the idea and spirit of Love. His philosophy was a retrogression of the theory of Kindhearted Love presented by Confucius and Mencius.

Chapter 4-6 Views of Philosophers in Wei, Jin and Tang Dynasties on Love

1, Views of Philosophers in Wei and Jin Dynasties on Love

From Qin to Han, China had 440 years of unification. East Han ended in 220 AD. After then,China came to the period of Three Countries(220-265): Wei (魏) in the north , Wu (吴) in the south east , and Shu(蜀)in the south west. Since then was a short period of West Jin(西晋). After then , China came to the period of South and North Dynasty(南北朝) . All the period after Han, China was is in a separated and war state until the establishment of united Sui (581-618) dynasty.

Due to the separation of country and the loss of central autocracy, there appeared a great fusion of different cultures and an active period of civilization.

In philosophy, there appeared the school of Metaphysics(玄学),which had higher level than the philosophy in Han dynasty.

Two representatives of the philosophers in that period are introduced below:

  1. Philosophy of Wang Bi(王弼)and Love

Wang Bi lived in 226-249 AD. He was very clever in his childhood. In his teenage, he discussed philosophy of Lao Zi with others.

In his short life, he wrote many book of high level on The Book of Changes and Lao Zi

Relating to Love and Ethics, he presented the idea of " Adapting ethical code with nature".

So called "Ethical code(名教)"was the Confucian doctrines emphasizing man's position (as king , officer; father , son ,etc.) and the Confucian principles(as Dong Zhongshu's Three principles).

But, human love comes from human nature, does from those doctrines.

In the period of Wei and Jin, there was an argument on the relation between Ethical Code and Nature.

Wang Bi's theory was: let ethical codes adapt to Nature.

Some Confucian ethical codes did not conform to human nature. For example, Dong Zhongshu's doctrine was that in a family, husband is at dominant position and wife is at dependent position. Such doctrine did not conform to the human nature of equity.

So, Wang Bi's theory was progressive in that period. His idea was more close to human love.

  2. Philosophy of Yuan Ji and Ji Kang on Love

Both Yuan Ji (阮籍) and Ji Kang(嵇康)were famous writers and philosophers in Wei and Jin dynasties.

Yuan lived in 210-263 AD. Ji lived in 224-262 AD. Both of them were among the famous Seven Sages in the Bamboo Forest (竹林七贤) .

The main opinion of them was: following the Nature and transcending the ethical codes.

Their thinking was that: the rulers used ethical codes to control the thinking and behaviors of people so as to consolidate their ruling power.

Ji Kang said: I like to stroll in mountains and around rivers, to see birds and fishes. It is my great pleasure. If I become a officer, all pleasure will be stopped

The modern opinion of Love is more close to the opinion of Wang Bi. In modern society, human love should conform to human nature. And at the same time, human love also should conform to the law. In the extent of law, human love should have complete freedom, not be limited by man's position, property and class.

The thinking of Ruan Ji and Ji Kang were very valuable in Chinese traditional philosophy. Their basic thinking was Love for Freedom and for the great Nature, which was the scarce ideological resource in traditional philosophy of China.

3, Views of Han Yu in Tang dynasty on Love

After a short period of Sui(隋) dynasty , Tang , the strongest dynasty in China' history was established .

Buddhism came to China at the end of West Han dynasty. Comprehensive introduction of Buddhism to China was in the period of Sui and Tang. Daoism was also established in the same period. There appeared a great fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, which had great influence upon China's civilization.

In Tang dynasty, the most important writer and philosopher was Han Yu.

Han Yu (韩愈) lived in 768-824 AD , the middle period of Tan .He wrote many important articles on philosophy , as The Origin of Dao (《原道》),The Origin of Human Nature(《 原性》), , The Origin of Man(《原人》), etc.

As introduced above, in Han dynasty, Dong Zhongshu had led Confucianism to a path of deviation. The main contribution of Han Yu was to recover Confucianism to the real tradition of Confucius and Mencius.

His main contribution to the philosophy of Love was his following saying:

Fraternity is Kindheartedness. The appropriate behavior is Righteousness. Dao(道) is the path towards Kindheartedness and Righteousness. De(德) or Virtue is that one has Kindheartedness and Righteousness in his mind

The important meanings of the above saying are as follows:

  1. He presented a very important concept in Chinese philosophy: Fraternity.

Fraternity was one of three demands of the great French Revolution: Freedom, Equity and Fraternity. French Revolution happened in 18 century. 1000 years ago, Han Yu had already presented this concept.

Fraternity means Comprehensive Love or Love for all people. It is a very high ideological level of Love.

Kindheartedness was the kernel idea of Confucianism. Han Yu's saying: "Fraternity is Kindheartedness" showed that he put Fraternity—Comprehensive Love at the highest position of human morality. This was an important development of Love philosophy in China.

  2. He combined Fraternity (Comprehensive Love) and Righteousness together, which means that Fraternity should not remain only in one's heart. It should be seen in human behaviors.

According his theory, human love must be combined with appropriate behaviors. If your love destroys the family of others, it is not real love.

  3. He combined Comprehensive Love with the main principle of Humanity (Dao) and also with human morality (De).

So, in his opinion, Love (or Fraternity) is not only man's emotion. It relates to the principle of the world and humanity and also to morality.

In summary Han Yu raised human love to a very high level in his philosophy and combined human love with human behavior, with the principle of humanity and morality.

Chapter 4-7 Views of Philosophers in Song and Ming Dynasties on Love

The period of Song dynasty was 960-1279; Yuan, 1271 -1368 and Ming, 1368-1644. This long period was coincident with the European Middle Ages (5-15th century). In this period of Europe, there was serious religious control in all fields of civilization. But in China, the dominant philosophy---New Confucianism expressed more rational. This was a starting point to understand the philosophy in Song and Ming.

New Confucianism had its backgrounds of economics, civilization and ideology:

  1. The economy had apparent development in Song and Ming dynasty. Agricultural land had been increasing greatly, especially rice production in south China got success. The technology of productions of tea, textiles, porcelain and ship were famous in the world. Some cities as Suzhou, Hangzhou, Yangzhou, Quanzhou, etc. were quite prosperous.

  2. Civilization had much progression. Some famous discovery, as compass, gunpowder, printing plate appeared in Song. Song's poetry , Yuan and Ming's drama attained high level

  3. In philosophy, there was a great fusion of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism. Based on this fusion, New Confucianism was established

  4. In the period of Song and Ming, many academies were established. There were free arguments between different academic schools, which pushed forward the progress of philosophy.

Confucianism in Pre-Qin period mainly discussed Ethics and political philosophy. New Confucianism in Song and Ming discussed problems in wider extent, as ontology, cosmogony, epistemology, human life, morals, psychology, etc.

In view of Love, comparing with Pre-Qin philosophy, New Confucianism had closer relation with human love. It combined human love with ontology and raised the philosophy of love to a higher level.

The views on love of some important philosophers in Song and Ming period are introduced as follows:

  1. Zhang Zai (张载)

Zhang Zai lived in 1020-1077. He was one of the earliest scholars of New Confucianism. In his young age, he had studied theories of Lao Zi and Buddhism, but he was unsatisfied. So, he turned to study Confucianism and established his own philosophic system.

His main work was Zhengmong (《正蒙》), in that there was an article, Ximing (西铭), which was praised by Two Chen (see below) as the best Classic of Confucianism after Mencius.

His some important views on Love are as follows:

  1. Two Kinds of Human Nature

He classified Human Nature into two kinds: ①Nature of Heaven and Earth;②Nature of Temperament

Nature of Heaven and Earth is the inborn human nature, as the Goodness of human nature, Kindhearted Love, Righteousness, etc. Those human natures are unchangeable for ever.

But, each person has his Nature of Temperament, which is different from each other. Some one has more love; some one has less love or on love. But as to the later one, if he could often reflect on himself, he could recover his Nature of heaven and earth.

2) "Heart for Heaven and Earth" and Love

Zhang Zai had a very famous saying:

Goal of you should to establish Heart for Heaven and Earth, to establish Dao for people, to continue the diminishing theory for the past sages and to have the peace of the world for ever.

(Quotations of Zhang Zai )

"To establish Heart for Heaven and Earth" means to let all people in the world (Heaven and Earth) have Kindhearted Love in their heart.

"To establish Dao for people" means to let all people understand the principle of Humanity and of the world.

"To continue the diminishing theory for the past Sages" means to recover and continue the theory of Confucianism.

"To have the peace of the world for ever" means to stop all wars and let all people live in a peaceful world for ever.

In these four sentences, you may see that Zhang Zai's philosophy was full of Love: love for nature, love for people, love for truth (Dao), love for civilization, love for peace, etc.

3)" People are my compatriot and all things are my friends" and Love

Zhang Zai had another famous saying:

All people are my compatriot and all things are communicated with me

(Ximing)

"All people are my compatriots" showed his deep love for all people.

"All things are communicated with me" showed his love for all things in the world and in the nature.

This thinking attained a very high level of human love. Even today, it has important meaning for all people in the world.

2, Two Cheng

Two Chen means two brothers in Song dynasty : Cheng Hao(程颢) and ChenYi (程颐)

Cheng Hao lived in 1032-1085. Cheng Yi loved in 1033-1107.Both of them were very important scholars of New Confucianism in Song dynasty. Their theory belonged to the Philosophy of Li (理学) . Li(理) had the meaning of Principle, which means the basic rules in the world and in human society . So their philosophy related to Ontology.

The main opinions of them are:

  1. The Unity of Heaven and Man

Cheng Yi said:

Man and Heaven is one thing.

(Manuscript of Cheng, Vol.11)

In Chinese philosophy, the Unity of Heaven and Man has two meanings: ① Heaven and Man are in a same system. ; ② Heaven and Man has the same essence.

In philosophy of Human Love, the Unity of Heaven and Man means the harmonic relation between man and the great Nature. It also means man's love for and protection of the great Nature.

This view conforms to modern Ecology and beneficial to the sustainable development of natural resource.

  2. Human Nature is the Principle

Cheng Yi presented an opinion: Human Nature is the Principle

He supported the Mencius' theory of Good Human Nature. "Human Nature is the Principle" means that Good Human Nature is the basic principle of Man's world. So it is unchangeable for ever.

Why different men have different expressions? Some persons are kind or wise; some persons are evil or foolish. It is due to different temperament. Their human natures are the same.

Good human nature is the basis of all human love. So according to Cheng Yi's theory, all men have their inborn nature of love

3, Zhu Xi (朱熹)

Zhu Xi lived in 1136-1200 in South Song Dynasty. He was born in Fujian province.

He studied Buddhism and Daoism in his young ages. Later he turned to study Confucianism. He read a great amount of books and had very wide knowledge. Finally, he became a great scholar of Confucianism. He reestablished two famous academies in Fujian and Jiangxi provinces in South China

Relating with human love, his main views are:

  1. Principle is before materials

Zhang Zai presented the theory of "Taking Qi (气,or Material ) as the basis of the world.

Two Chen presented the theory of " Taking Li (理 or principle) as the basis of the world.

Zhu Xi inherited the theory of two Chen and presented the theory of "Principle is before materials".

So, he combined Principle and Material together, and affirmed that Principle is the more fundamental factor.

Chen Yi pointed out that Good human nature is the principle of Man's world; Zhu Xi's theory affirmed that the Kindhearted Love (the most important human nature) is the fundamental factor in human society.

So, Zhu Xi raised human love to the level of ontology in philosophy, not only a factor of ethics

  2. Heart controls Human Nature and Human Emotion

Zhu Xi wrote:

Human nature is the principle of heart. Emotion is utilization of heart. Heart is the master of human nature and human emotion.

Here, he separated man's heart into two factors: principle and emotion.

This theory is not suitable in discussing Human Love. In Kindhearted Love, human nature and human emotion are combined together.

According to his own theory, Zhu Xi presented a demand that Man should give up all human desire so as to recover the principle.

Human love is the combination of human desire (emotion) and human nature. Zhu Xi's idea did not conform to the real character of human love. Normal human desire and emotion is an important factor in human love and also an important pushing force in human life. So Zhu Xi's idea of giving up all human desire is incorrect , which was criticized by modern Chinese philosophers as Chen Duxiu(陈独秀),etc.

4 Wang Yangming(王阳明)

Wang Yangming lived in 1472-1528, in Ming dynasty

He was not only a great scholar, but also an excellent politician and general. Due to his opposition against a high official traitor, he was relegated to Guizhou province far away from the capital. He studied Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism, and established his own philosophy ---Philosophy of Mind..

His main work was Chuanxilu (《传习录》 Instructions for Practical Living)

His main philosophic thinking was: Mind is the principle.

He wrote:

Mind is the principle. If the heart separates from private desire, it attains the principle oh Heaven.

He regarded that the main method to get the knowledge is through your Conscience '

He wrote:

Man could have the mind of right or wrong without consideration or study. This is so called Conscience.

In the field of Ethics, his theory is correct. In 18th century, German famous philosopher Kant presented the view of "Moral rule in inner heart", which is similar to Wang's theory.

Wang's theory could explain the fact that human love is man's inborn nature. Love comes from your heart, not from study or investigation

In summary the theory of philosophers in Song and Ming dynasty in China helps us to deepen the cognition of Human Love Their theory raised the philosophy of Human Love to attain the level of ontology and human conscience.

Chapter 4-8 Views of Modern Chinese Philosophers on Love

In the late period of Ming dynasty, China had great changes in the aspects of economy, civilization and ideology.

In aspect of economy, handcraft industry was separated from agriculture. Textile industry, iron industry and ceramic industry etc. were all well-developed. In Qing dynasty, China's silk, tea and porcelain were all exported well to foreign countries. The development of economy inspired the desire of people seeking improvement of life, which disobeyed the idea of Zhu Xi of "Save the principle of heaven and give up all desires".

In aspects of civilization and ideology, the West civilization, through missionaries, began introduced to China. Xu Guangqi(徐光启) was the first Chinese scientist introduced advanced scientific knowledges to China ,which challenged the Chines traditional ontology in philosophy.

In the early period of ROC (Republic of China) , the famous May 4th New Civilization Movement happened in 1919. In this movement the elite ideas of West civilization ---Science and Democracy were introduced to China. From then, the period of Modern philosophy of China began.

Some important Chinese philosophers in this period, who had remarks related to human love are introduced as follows:

1, Dai Zhen (戴震)

Dai lived in 1723-1777.He was born in Anhui province. He had high achievements in the fields of study of classics, philology, textual research, astronomy, mathematics, etc.

In the early period of Qing dynasty,there were serious contradictions in the society. The emperors were afraid of people's resistance. They advocated the theory of the philosophy of Zhu Xi and suppressed different thinking.

Under such circumstance, Dai wrote many books and presented his own opinions different from Zhu Xi. His thinking had great influence upon the later Chinese philosophers , as Zhang Taiyan (章太炎) , Liang Qichao(梁启超),etc.

In the aspects related to human love, his main opinions are as follows:

  1. Theory of Human Nature

He wrote:

Man has inborn desire, emotion and ration.

(Dai: Notes of the meaning of Words in

Mencius)

His opinion was quite different from Zhu Xi, who asked Man to give up all desires

We know, human love is the combination of Man's desire, emotion and ration.

So, he led Chinese have a complete cognition of human love.

  2. Relation between Principle and Desire

.He wrote:

What is Principle (Li)? Principle is that Man does not lose his emotion. It is impossible that Man does not satisfy his emotion, but he could get the principle.

(Same book)

From the view of human love, according to Dai's philosophy, all human love---kindhearted love, parent's love, filial love, friendly love ,love for nature , love for people, etc. must satisfy Man's desire and emotion. This is the principle of human life and the world.

Dai Zhen's thinking brought to Chinese people a great liberation of ideology to pursuit their proper desire, interest and emotion.

2.Liang Qichao (梁启超)

Liang was a very important politician and ideologist in modern China. He lived in 1873-1929 and was born in Guangdong. He ,following his teacher Kang Youwei(康有为), was one of the leaders of the famous Reform Movement in 1898 in late Qin dynasty. In his late age, he was a professor in Qinhua University and wrote many valuable books, as Outline of Academia in Qing Dynasty, Academic History of Recent 300 years of China, etc.

Relating with human nature and human love , he presented some important opinions:

  1. Pursuit of Liberty

Liang wrote:

To pursue real liberty must begin with diminishing slavery in heart.

(Theory of New People)

Liang advocated that Chinese people should pursue their own freedom. This thinking came apparently from West philosophy. It is difficult to be found in Confucianism.

  2. To Overcome Inertia and to have Adventure Spirit

He wrote:

Our Chinese were lack of adventure spirit. [...]New people must overcome inertia.

(same book)

  3. Be beneficial to oneself and to people

Liang advocated the opinion that to be beneficial to yourself, you must be firstly beneficial to others and to people.

This opinion is similar to the saying of Confucius:

Desiring to sustain oneself, one should sustain others. Desiring to develop oneself, one should develop others.(Chap.6)

(Analects of Confucius, Chap.6)

So, Liang's thinking on Love also had the factor of Confucianism.

4) Fusion of Chinese and Western Philosophy

On the relation between Chinese and Western Philosophy , Liang proposed the theory of Fusion of Chinese and Western Philosophy .He said:

The important point is that If you study Chinese Learning but give up Western Learning, the Chinese Learning must be useless. If you study Western Learning, but give up Chinese Learning , the Western Learning must be no basis . These two cases will be no help to the management of the world.

(same book )

In summary, Liang's thinking on human love was fusion of Chinese and Western Philosophy..,

His opinions of Love for personal freedom and for adventure spirit were scarce to be seen in traditional Chinese philosophy. They are valuable for progress of modern China

3.Sun Zhongshan (孙中山)

Sun Zhongshan lived in 1866-1925 and was born in Guangdong. Sun was the founder of ROC (Republic of China).

He was also a modern Chinese philosopher.

In philosophy of human love, his main contribution was advocating the thinking of Fraternity.

He wrote:

Fraternity is our Infinite hope and the greatest thinking.

Saving the world, saving the people and saving our country , their natures are all Fraternity

To server for the happiness of 400 millions people is Fraternity.

Fraternity is the public love, not private love.

In my opinion the definition of Kindheartedness that Han Yu presented: Fraternity is Kindheartedness, is suitable.

The meaning of Fraternity is closely related to our principle of People's Livelihood.

(Collection of Works of Sun Zhongshan)

From the above sayings , we may see that Sun's thinking of Fraternity has the following characteristics

  1. He combined the Chinese traditional thinking of Han Yu and the West thinking of Freedom, Equity and Fraternity together.

  2. He raised Fraternity to a very high level: the greatest thinking of Mankind.

  3. What he emphasized was public love ---love for people, not limited in private love.

  4. He combined Fraternity with his political idea of the Principle of People's Livelihood.

Sun Zhongshan, due to his great contribution to the establishment of the first republic country in Asia and his active advocate of Fraternity, wins the comprehensive respect in China and in the world.

4, Chen Duxiu(陈独秀)

Chen Duxiu lived in 1880-1942 and was born in Anhui province. He was a man who had special contribution to modern China. He was the leader of famous May- 4th New Civilization Movement in 1919 and the founder of CCP (Chinese Communist Party) in 1921. But in 1929, owing to his independent views, he was expelled from the party .In 1932, he was arrested by the government, but he adhered to integrity. He was released in 1937. He wrote many valuable articles in his late ages. In 1942, he died in poverty.

Relating to human love, his main contributions was as follows:

  1. Making strong criticism at the thinking of Three Guides in Chinese traditional morality (King is the guide of officers; Father is the guide of sons; Husband is the guide of wife).

The thinking of three Guides was established by Dong Zhongshu in Han dynasty and inherited for more than 2000 years in China. This thinking distorted human love seriously in the heart of Chinese people. Chen wrote articles criticizing the thinking of Three Guides strongly and pointed out this thinking is not suitable for modern society completely.

After May 4th movement, Chinese young people have been obtaining the freedom of love and marriage. Woman began to have equal position in family and society as man.

  2. Introducing Idea of Science and Democracy to China

From late period of Qing dynasty, there were some others introducing West civilization to China. Chen's outstanding contribution was to introduce two elite ideas of Western civilization ---Science and Democracy to China. It showed his deep understanding of both the strong points of Western civilization and weak points of Chinese civilization.

He wrote:

Now, we affirm that only two gentlemen: Mr.S (Science) and Mr. D (Democracy) could save China from all darkness of politics, academy and ideology. For supporting these two gentlemen , I am not avoiding all political oppression, social curse , even death

(Collection of Duxiu)

Today, Science and Democracy are essential factors in developing Modern China.

All kinds of modern human love must be established on the basis of social progress (political, economic and cultural). There will be no social progress, if there are no Science and Democracy.

So, Chen introducing Science and Democracy to China has been giving great and far-reaching influence upon various kinds of human love in modern China.

  5. Liang Suming (梁漱溟)

Liang lived in 1893-1988 and was born in Guangxi province. In his young age he studied Buddhism and wrote high level articles about Buddhism. So he was invited to Beijing University to teach philosophy of Buddhism. In May 4th New Civilization Movement of China in 1919, Confucianism was criticized strongly. He decided to turn from Buddhism to Confucianism and became the founder of Modern New Confucianism. During Cultural Revolution of China (1966-1976), he wrote long article to defend theory of Confucius.

One of his main contributions was his book: On East and West Civilizations.

In this book , he wrote:

The basic spirit of Western civilization is the Will of going forward. Hence it produced two excellent civilizational factors: Science and Democracy. The basic spirit of Chinese civilization is the Will of self maintaining, harmony and taking the Mean .The basic spirit of India civilization is the Will of going backward.

On the future civilization, he regarded the desire of substance may be weakened and the desire of art may be enhanced .In social life, the limitation of law may be weakened. Human society may depend more on emotion and ethics, In man's spiritual life, religion may be weakened and philosophy and art may have more important position. The future of mankind may go on the Road of Confucius.

What is Road of Confucius? In my opinion, it is the road of Kindhearted Love. I agree with his opinion, in the future of the world, Kindhearted Love and other human Loves may be the dominant spiritual factor in human life.

6, Feng Youlan (冯友兰)

Feng Youlan lived in 1895-1990 and was born in Henan province. In his young age, he studied Chinese Classics. In the middle school, he accepted new education and began to be interest in philosophy. In 1918, he went to Columbia University, USA to study philosophy. After he returned to China, he was invited to many universities to teach philosophy. During Anti-Japan War he wrote six famous works on philosophy. His contribution to the research in the history of Chinese philosophy was recognized in the world.

In the aspects of outlook of human life which has close relation with human love, he presented his theory of Four Realms of Life. They are:

  1. 1)Realm of Nature

  2. 2)Realm of Utility

  3. 3)Realm of Morality

  4. 4) Realm of Heaven and Earth.

From the view of human love, all four realms may be seen in human love.

  1. 1) Love between family members, as intimate love between couples, love for parents, love for children, all come from human nature. They belong to the Realm of Nature.

  2. 2) All kinds of Human love are not pure emotional. They have their utility. Sun Zhongshan said: Fraternity should be combined with people's livelihood which shows the utility of love.

  3. 3) Human Love itself is human morals. Man should love others, love people and love his motherland. All these love are closely related with human morality and belong to the Realm of Morality.

  4. 4) Human Love is not limited in one's family. All men should love the great nature and take care to protect the nature. Some men (as scientists, philosophers, artists, writers, etc.) who have higher morals will love the whole mankind. Their love attains the Realm of Heaven and Earth.

So, Feng's theory of Four Realms helps us have a deeper understanding of human love.

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Chapter 4-9 Overview on Love in Chinese Philosophy

This chapter will summarize briefly the historical development of idea of human love in Chinese philosophy and make comparison with that in Western philosophy

1, The Process of Cognition on Love in Chinese philosophy

  1. Lao Zi' s "Dao is the Mother of all things"

Lao Zi said: Dao is the mother of all things. This saying expressed the great motherly love of the Nature. This is a very special and valuable love in the world history of philosophy.

This is a rational thinking, not religious thinking. Since there is the great love of Nature for man, Man should have deep love for Nature. So, this thinking conforms to the view of modern ecology and also to the modern idea of sustainability of the world environment.

  2. Zhuang Zi's Love for Nature and Freedom

Zhuang Zi' s philosophy expressed fully his love for Nature .He was very delightful to dream that he becomes a butterfly . His thinking of "transformation of things" showed the Unity of all things (including Man) in the nature. This thinking may be regarded as a deep philosophic thinking of modern ecology.

Today, while we advocate the harmony between Man and Nature, Zhuang Zi's thinking gives us enlightenment.

Zhuang Zi philosophy also involved deep love for Freedom. Such thinking is scares in ancient China and is very valuable for modern China. Today Chinese leaders are emphasizing creativity in economic production. Freedom of thinking is the primary factor of creativity.

  3. Mo Zo's Universal Love

Ancient Confucians (as Mencius) did not agree Mo Zi' thinking of Universal Love.

Of course Confucian Filial love is important to maintain harmony in family. But in the whole society and in the world, Mo Zi's thinking of Universal Love is close to the thinking of Fraternity in the West and also in the thinking of Han Yu and Sun Zhongshan in China. It is a valuable thinking in human society.

Mo Zi's thinking of "Loving each other and benefiting each other" conform completely to modern marketing economics.

Unfortunately, After Han dynasty, under the policy of "Excluding all other ideological schools and respecting only Confucianism", the philosophy schools other than Confucianism were all excluded. So, those very valuable thinking of Lao Zi, Zhuang Zi and Mo Zi had not been developing further.

  4. Confucian Kindhearted Love in China

Kindhearted Love is the kernel thinking of Confucianism. It was also the dominant thinking on Love in traditional Chinese philosophy.

  1. Tortuous development process of Kindhearted Love in China

Confucius was the establisher of the thinking of Kindhearted Love.

He said: Kindheartedness means loving men. He combined the moral idea of "Kindheartedness" and the emotional idea of "Love" together. His cognition of Kindhearted Love was a concept of ethics.

Mencius said:

What is kindheartedness? It is Man.

Feeling of commiseration is the beginning of kindheartedness.

If one does not have commiseration, he is not a man.

So, Mencius raised the idea of Kindhearted Love to a level of humanity and human nature.

This is a very important development of the idea of Kindhearted Love in Chinese philosophy.

In Han dynasty, Dong Zhongshu presented the idea of "Three Guides": King is the guide of officers; Father is the guide of sons; Husband is the guide of wife.

This thinking became a moral code in ancient China. But the spirit of this thinking did not conform to the principle of equity and mutual love between people.

In Wei and Jin dynasties, Wang Bi presented the idea of "Adapting ethical code with nature". Yuan Ji and Ji Kang presented the idea of "following the nature and transcending the ethical codes." Their theory had progressive meaning for cognizing human love.

In Tang dynasty, Han Yu presented the idea that Fraternity is Kindheartedness .He was the pioneer philosopher who advocated "Fraternity" in the world. About 1000 years later, Fraternity was one of three slogans in the great French Revolution.

In Song dynasty, philosophers of New Confucianism--- Two Chen and Zhu Xi presented the theory of "Human nature is the principle". They raised Kindhearted Love to the level of Ontology.

In Ming dynasty, famous philosopher Wang Yangming presented the theory of "Human mind is the principle". He put Kindhearted Love on the basis of human consciousness

In modern China, Sun Zhongshan emphasized Fraternity, which is an idea combining the traditional thinking of Han Yu and modern Western philosophy.

In modern China, especially during and after May 4th New Civilization Movement happened in 1919, Confucian morality has been criticized strongly. It was even more strongly criticized during China's Cultural Revolution (1966-1976).

After the end of Cultural Revolution, as the implementing of Reform and Open Up policy, the spirit of Kindhearted Love is advocated again.

But in modern China, there exist many facts that do not conform to the spirit of Kindhearted Love, as the inequality between rich and poor, the serious problems of corruption and fraud, etc.

So, to popularize the idea and spirit of Kindhearted Love, China still has a long way to go.

(2)How to evaluate the idea of Kindhearted Love?

To say objectively, Kindhearted Love is a very valuable thinking of Chinese philosophy. In my opinion, Kindhearted Love is one of the universal values of the whole world. It is an important contribution of Chinese philosophy to the world.

In Western philosophy, there are not many philosophers emphasized Kindhearted Love. But Famous British Philosopher David Hume(1711-1776)wrote a special chapter in his work: An Enquiry concerning the Principle of Morals., The title is Of Benevolence.

Benevolence basically has the same meaning as Kindhearted Love.

Kindhearted Love means Man's love for family members, for others and for people. It is the emotional basis of harmony in family and in society. In modern society, kindhearted Love is the thinking basis of social justice and equity for establishing a harmonic country and world of peace and common happiness.

2, Comparison between ideas on Love in Chinese and Western Philosophy.

From the comparison ideas on human love in Chinese and Western philosophy, we may see the strong and weak points of both of them

  1. In the aspect of the content of human love

In Chinese philosophy, Kindhearted Love has been the main content of human love.

Chinese philosophy emphasized love for parents, love for children, love for teachers and love for people. All these loves had and have active meaning in the harmony and progress of China's society.

In West philosophy, Love has two understanding: narrow sense of Love and broad sense of Love. The narrow sense of Love mainly means the sexual love. Many modern books written by Western philosophers are mainly discussing sexual love.

The broad sense of Love in the West contains comprehensive objects: Love for freedom, for independence, for science, for art, etc.

As to China today, we have to persist in the traditional Kindhearted Love and at the same time to have a wider understanding of human love: love for freedom, love for creativity, love for science, love for art, etc. accepting the idea of broad sense of human love from the West.

  2. In the aspects of method to understand human love

Traditional Chinese philosophy on human love used mainly the method of abstract thinking. The concepts in Chinese philosophy, as Dao, Kindheartedness, Li (Principle) Mind (heart), etc. have their deep meanings, but are not easy to be understood by modern people.

In traditional Chinese philosophy, human love was refined and classified by different objects, as royal love for the king, filial love for parents, kind love for children, friendly love for friends, respectful love for teachers, etc. This refined classification helps man have deeper love for certain object.

In Western philosophy, discussion of human love has been based mainly on logic reasoning. It also uses more scientific knowledges to analysis problems of human love.

It is wise to combine the strong points in the methods applied in both Chinese and Western philosophy to have a more complete understanding of human love.

  3. In aspect of the relation between human love and religion.

In ancient and Middle Ages of the West, there were strong links between philosophy and religion (mainly Christianism). So Agape (God Love) was the most important love.

In ancient China, began with Lao Zi and Confucius, Chinese philosophy were mainly Atheism.

We have to say that Religion is a very important content in human spiritual life. Human love is expressed much in religion. So, we need to unite the believers of religions and people with no belief of religion together by the common idea of human love.

Part 5 Scientific Basis of Human Love

Philosophy and Science face to a same world. What philosophy explores is the wholeness and essence of the world, especially the relation between man and world. Science has many different disciplines exploring the truth and rules in different fields. As to the methods, philosophers pursue the answer by their macro observation and rational thinking, and scientists must apply special experiments or investigations. Their conclusions must be based on reliable verification.

Human Love is an important problem which is very difficult to be elucidated by scientific method. But more than 2000 years ago, philosophers had already deep elucidations on it.

Even so, the scientific exploration of human love is still important. Only when Man's cognition of human love could be established on scientific basis, man could have a clear and exact understanding on human love.

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Chapter 5-1 Scientific Exploration of Human Love

Man's scientific exploration passed several periods:

  1. Period of Ignorance of Science

More then 300 years ago, French mathematician Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) wrote: Man has ration, but ration is unknown by man.

He was right. Before 19 century, the problem of Human Love had not entered into the field of science. Even though there were great amount of remarks on Love in the fields of philosophy, religion, poetry, drama, etc.

2, From 19 to 20 century

In late 19 century, a few scientists tried to have scientific explanation of human love. Two important scientific schools were:

1) School of Freud

Sigmund Freud(1856—1939)presented a theory that many spiritual or physical phenomenon of man ( as anxiety, premature development , masturbation , etc. ) are owing to abnormality of man's sexual life or desires .

But in medical practices, Freud's theory had not been proved perfectly.

2) School of Behaviorism

Scientists of behaviorism observe man's behaviors only and pay less attention to man's feelings and desires. So, they are not very successful to explain human love.

3 New period of scientific exploration for Human Love

Authors of the book: A General Theory of Love (Thomas Fari, etc. 2000) represented the new generation of scientists making scientific research on human love. They are mainly scientists of neuroscience, but they accepted many research achievements of other scientific fields: as nerve development, theory of evolution, experimental psychology, computer science, etc.

Introduction in following chapters are mainly taken from their research results.

Chapter 5-2 Components of Human Brain

For understanding human love, we have to know where it comes from.

In traditional Chinese word of "Love" (愛), there is a small word--- "Heart" 心)in it. I have bought a T-Shirt in New York. It is printed the big words of:" I Love NY" and "Love" is a picture of heart.

It seems that both Chinese and Western people regard that Love is from Man's heart.

But science has already proved that Love does not come from man's heart, but from man's brain.

Today, physiology of Brain explores the secret of Love.

  1. Brain is composed of Neurons

Brain is a network composing by neurons. The basic function of neuron is the signal transferring between cells. There are both electron signals and chemical signals. The molecules transferring chemical signals are Neurotransmitters. It is difficult to observer the effect of electronic transferring on the change of man's spiritual expression. But it is possible to see the effect of chemical substances on the change of man's spiritual expression. For example, Coffee makes man excited. Prozac (a medicine) reduces man's depression. LSD (a medicine) causes man's hallucinations

The function of signal transferring is to transfer quickly outside information (as animal invading) to nerve center and to react rapidly.

2, Triune of Brain

Paul Maclean (1913-2007) worked in American National Institute of Mental Health. His important contribution is the theory of Triune of human brain. He proved that human brain s composed of three sub-brains .Each sub-brain was formed in different period of biological evolution. Different sub-brains have different chemical components and functions.

3, Reptilian Brain (RB)

RB is the most ancient sub-brain. It controls respiration, heart beat, predation, balance of water and soil content, etc. All reptile and higher animals have this brain

A plant man's life is maintained by RB. For maintaining life, RB is the most important part in brain.

But RB does not have the function of emotion.

Only depending on RB, man has no difference from animals

RB could not create Love.

4, Limbic Brain (LB)

In 1879, French neuroanatomist Paul Broca (1824-1880) published his latest findings: all mammals have a common component in brain. He named it as Great Limbic Lobe .which is an edge layer surrounding RB. Under its smooth surface, there are many small devices with strange names: hippocampus, amygdala, fornix, septum, cinulate gyrus, perihippocampal, etc.

Mammal's period existed 65 millions years ago on the earth. The main difference between mammal and reptile is that there is a new sub-brain appearing in brain of mammal---Limbic Brain(LB).

LB makes mammals have function of concerning their young generation. They take the responsibility to breed and protect their offspring. In some case they are willing to sacrifice themselves for protecting their offspring.

Mammals may play with each other as we often see in the life of dogs and cats.

We may see the bud of human love in the life of mammals.

5, Neocortex Brain (NB)

The newest component is NB. In human brain, it is the largest sub-brain.

In the brain of animals (as kangaroo) in the early evolutional period of mammal, NB is only a very thin layer. It develops in the brain of dog and cat. In Man's brain, NB occupies a large apace.

In Man's brain, NB has two layers: the inner layer has a large volume, as a thick towel; the outer layer has many wrinkles making the whole brain congest in human head.

NB could control man's speaking, writing, planning, cognition,etc.. So, it has the function controlling man's wisdom.

6, Inner Relation between Brain Triune

The evolution makes man's three sub-brains have coordination and also contradiction. So, In human life we often see the contradiction between emotion and wisdom. And we also often see that in one's life, physiology, emotion and wisdom are influencing upon each other.

Human love is basically controlled by the coordination between LB and NB .This is the scientific reason that human love is usually combining emotion and ration together.

In summary, the theory of Triune of human brain has very important meaning in our cognition of human love

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# Chapter 5-3 Meaning of Emotion

Human love is basically an activity of man's emotion, even though it combines with reason. What is the meaning of emotion? How was emotion formed in the long history of biological evolution? The scientific research of emotion is essential for understanding Human Love.

1, Importance of emotion in human life

In the first century, Archimedes(287-212 BC)discovered Law of Buoyancy .

The king asked Archimedes to prove the crown was made of real gold. Archimedes took off his cloth and entered into the bath pool. He put the crown into the pool. At the same time, he put a piece of real gold into the pool. He found the water amounts replaced by the crown and the gold (which had the same volume as the crown) are not equal. So he proved that the gold is not pure. At that time, he was full of excitement and pleasure.

In this story, the important point is not his cleverness, but his enthusiasm for his discovery.

People may not understand his theory, but they could understand his emotion in scientific research.

Man's emotion and love make the world colorful. Even the dullest rational thinking requires the support of emotion

But human society usually pays more attention to wisdom and neglect the function of emotion.

Wisdom may help man to be rich. But without emotion, man will not feel happiness, even he is rich.

In fact, all achievements of science, literature, art, etc. are pushed forward by man's emotion.

So, the importance of emotion should be fully recognized by everyone and also by whole society.

2, History of Research in emotion

The earliest scientist doing research in emotion was Charles Darwin (1809-1882). After he wrote Origin of Species, he wrote other three books on biological evolution. One is The Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals . In this book, he pointed out that emotion is an adaptive ability in biological evolution, just as some changes of body. He regarded that function of emotion is beneficial to existence of animals, so that it was preserved in biological evolution.

It is a pity that Darwin's opinion on emotion has not been paid enough attention by later scientists.

In 20 century, in psychology, Behaviorism was the dominant theory. In spiritual science, Freud's Psychoanalysis was dominant. These two theories are apart from the history of biological evolution.

After 1960, some scientists accept the opinion of Darwin again. Their research achievements updated Man's understanding of human emotion, human nature and human love.

Their main achievements are introduced as follows:

3, Evolution of Emotional Expression

In 70th years of 20 century, two emotion scientists, Paul Eklman and Carroll Izaed, through their researches, proved that human being of different nations have the same facial expression. All men have same facial expression while they are delighted or astonishing.

Man's facial expression came from the evolution of animals. Eklman drew facial expressions of monkey: anger, fear, love, etc. They are very alike to that of Man.

Animals have facial expressions. Does it show that animals have emotion? Contemporary emotion scientists recognize that animals have emotion.

People are familiar with the fact that their dog or cat has emotion towards them.

Scientific achievements of modern neuroscience show that emotion is controlled by LB (Limbic Brain). LB was firstly formed in brain of mammals So mammals have primary emotion.

4, Emotion and Composition of Brain

Introduced in formal chapter, human brain is composed of three sub-brains: RB, LB and NB.

Man's emotional activities (as joy, anger, fear, love, etc.) are mainly controlled by LB. But NB is also important function in communication of emotion.

NB controls Man's abstract thinking, so that speaking is created. Speaking is composed of a series of abstract signals. Even though emotion is controlled by LB, The expression and communication of emotion should be through speaking, which is controlled by NB.

Modern neuroscience has proved that NB has the separation of left lobe and right lobe. In left lobe, there are two speaking centers: one is Wennick's area and the other is Broca's area.

Wennick's area translates the fussy thinking into meaningful thinking. Broca's area translates meaningful thinking into speaking.

Right lobe of NB has mirror-image areas of these two areas. They show the emotion content in speaking. If these two areas are damaged, Man could not receive the emotional content in speaking. .

From the division of function of different parts in brain, it may be understood that human emotion is controlled by both LB and NB .Emotion itself is controlled by LB. And the expression and communication of emotion is controlled by NB.

This scientific discovery could explain why human love is the combination of emotion and wisdom.

5, Limbic resonance and regulation

Man's LB has a social feeling system which is Limbic resonance and regulation function between men. Limbic resonance makes man like to get along with family members and friends. Limbic regulation makes man have good treatment of contradiction in men's relationship and promote the intimate relation between men. ,

# Chapter 5-4 Man's Memory and Human Love

Not only man has memorial ability. Pigeons can remember the flight path. Dog can remember its master. But among all animals, only human being has the strongest memorial ability.

Man's memorial ability provides the possibility of speaking and thinking and raises greatly man's existence ability.

1, Memory is Essential for Human Love

Memory has also very important meaning in man's emotional life. It may be said that there will be no love, if there is no memory.

If there is no memory of mother, it is impossible for infants and young children to have love for mother. If there is no memory of the appearance and manner of your sweat heart, you are impossible to have love for her (or him). If there is no memory of your children, you are impossible to love them. If there is no memory of scenery, customs, language of your motherland, you are impossible to love your motherland.

So, memory is the prerequisite and necessity of human love.

2, Memory and Brain's Structure

In human brain, there are two parts controlling memorial function: one is Hippocampus and the other is NB

Hippocampus locates in the middle of LB. Its function is control of recent memory. It can save the memory for several weeks or months. It has the function of converter. While neurons in brain receive information, they will transfer the information to Hippocampus and form a temporary network (temporary memory) there.

If a memorial fragment repeatedly appears in Hippocampus, it will be transferred and saved in NB and form a permanent memory.

If the memorial fragment in Hippocampus is not utilized for a time, the network formed there will disappear automatically (be forgotten). If the information saved in NB is not utilized for a long time, it will be deleted there.

In 1985, an American, his Hippocampus was damaged due to over drinking. He remembered that the president of USA was Ronald Reagan. He also remembers the name of his wife. But he cannot remember all new things and new men.

Why is the case? Since the part controlling formation of memory is Hippocampus. And the part saving the memory is at the other part---NB

3, Implicit memory and Explicit memory

Modern science proves that there are two types of human memory: Implicit memory and Explicit memory.

A patient (whose Hippocampus was damaged) learned the skill of weaving cloth before he lost memory. He could not say how to weave cloth , but he still had the ability to weave cloth.

This example tell us: he lost his explicit memory, but he remained his implicit memory.

Neuroscientist proved that explicit memory is a function of Hippocampus. Implicit memory is a function of a part in NB.

I regard that this is a very important discovery for understanding human love. It shows that man has strong ability of explicit memory, but explicit memory is controlled by LB, which is the main sub-brain controlling emotion. So Man's strong memory is connected and supported by emotion. It affirms that human love is a combination of emotion and strong memory. At the same time, Man also has implicit memory controlled by NB, which is the sub-brain controlling wisdom.

This is the scientific basis of human love. It shows that human love is a combination of emotion and wisdom. .

Part 6 Religion and Human Love

Chapter 6-1 Love is the Foundation of all Religions

1, Religion and Human Life

Religion is a civilization which has great influence upon mankind in the whole world.

According to formal statistics, up to 1997, the percentage of religious believers in world population is 81%. Survey report of the US Census Bureau showed, in 2009 world population is close to 6.77 billion. Based on the calculation of 80%, total number of religious believers in the world is about 5.4 billion.

According to Chinese White Paper of Religion---Freedom of religious belief in China in 1997, number of religious believers in China is 0.1 billion.

In fact, it is difficult to have a correct statistics about the real number of religious believers in China. The reasons are:

  1. In Chinese history, the dominant belief was Confucianism. We could not say that Confucianism is a religion, but it has some religious thinking, as ancestor worship and worship of Heaven.

  2. In China, there are many folk beliefs, as worship of Mazu ( a woman relieved many fishermen ), worship of Guanyu ( a brave hero in Chinese history), worship of Kitchen god, worship of Door god, etc.

In recent years, the number of religion believers in China is increasing quickly,

So, even Atheist is the dominant thinking in China, religious belief is still very popular in China.

In the West, since Scientific Revolution (represented by Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, etc.) there was an attack upon religion, but astonishingly, number of religious believers has not been decreasing. Some great scientists still believed religion.

Albert Einstein regarded that there is firm connection between science and religion. His famous saying is: "The cosmic religious feeling is the strongest and noblest motive for scientific research. "

USA is a country owning the most progressive science in the world. But every President elected has to face to God and take the oath.

It may be said that from the original time to contemporary era, man has not been separated from religion

2, Ultimate Existence: the Common Belief of Religions

West religious scholars induced the characters of different religion into 4 C: Creed, Code, Cult and Community. In the aspects of thee 4 C, different religions have great difference and conflicts.

But if we make investigation on the essences of the belief of different religions, they are very similar.

All religions have a common belief: Ultimate Existence

What is Ultimate Existence? It is the highest object of belief

Ultimate Existence may be divided into two types: Personalized and Non-personalized.

Personalized Ultimate Existence: as God in Christianity, Judaism and Islam, Yahweh in Hinduism, etc.

Non-personalized Ultimate Existence: as Empty in Buddhism, Dao in Daoism, etc..

Even though there is difference between above two types, but their essences are the same. The sameness is as follows:

  1. All Ultimate Existences are the highest dominate of the world and cosmos.

②All Ultimate Existences are the highest dominates of human fate

③All Ultimate Existences could not be seen by man, but they exist truly.

The concept of Ultimate Existence does not exist only in religion. It also exists in philosophy. Ontology in philosophy also discusses the problem of Ultimate Existence. The final truth (as the united force in cosmos) that modern science is searching for has also the meaning of Ultimate Existence.

Since all religions have the belief of Ultimate Existence, there is the possibility to have mutual communication between different religions.

3, Common Foundation of all religions: Human Love

Different religions in the world, besides the sameness of having a Ultimate Existence, they also have a common foundation: Human Love. The reason and situations are as follows:

1) The origins of different religions were similar. In the original regions of different religions, people were suffering great disasters, or their country was invaded by other nation. Under such backgrounds, people were eager to have the appearance of the Savior to rescue them. People were eager to have the love from the Savior, jest like a baby is eager to have love from his mother.

2) At that time, there appeared prophet (as Jesus, Mohamed, Shakyamuni, etc.) and Classics of Divinity taught by those prophets ( as the Bible, the Koran and the Buddhist Scripture, etc.) . Then religions were created. The missions of those prophets were to rescue their believers.

3) The main requirements of all religions are: love for the Ultimate Existence, as God of Christianity, Allah of Islam, Nirvana of Buddhism, etc. and also love for the representatives of Ultimate Existence, as Jesus, Mohamed, Buddha, Bodhisattva, etc.

4) All religions ask their believers to have love for them selves. All religions have their disciplines, which are the requirements of self love. In fact, all believers of religion begin from self love. They hope to get rescue from religion.

5) All religions ask their believers to love others, to love neighbors and to love people.

Famous Christian philosopher Augustine said:

Among three virtues, Love is the most important one.

From his saying and above analysis, It may be understood that Love is the foundation of all religions.

Chapter 6-2 Love in Christianity

1, Origin of Christianity

Christianity is a religion that has faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior. It is the common term of Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism. Today, Christianity has 2.1 billion believers in the world. It is the largest religion in the world.

Christianity was separated from Judaism. Judaists firmly believe that they are the specially chosen people of God. God only save Jewish people. So Judaism has a certain degree of closure property.

At beginning of Christian era, Jewish people was conquered by Rome Empire and suffering under its cruel oppression. They launched resistance many times, but all failed. They hoped to have a Savior who could save them from suffering.

The founder of Christianity was Jesus. He began missionary in Palestine region and had great influence upon people. He was arrested by the ruler and died on the cross.

After his death, his disciples actively promoted the teachings of Jesus. They declared that Jesus is the Savior sent by God to save all people. Christianity was formed. Its faith was mush more attractive for people than that of Judaism.

Number of Believers of Christianity had been increasing rapidly and accepted by upper class. In 313 AD, Rome Emperor decreed the legitimacy of Christianity. In 380 AD, Rome Emperor declared that Christianity was the State Religion.

2. Christianity and Love

The main contents of Love in Christianity are: 1) Agape; 2)Love for God; 3) Love for others.

  1. Agape (God's Love)

Agape is God's love for mankind. This is the main faith of Christianity. Jesus is son or representative of God. He was sent by God to save people.

In middle ages of Europe, Christian philosopher Aurelius Augustine ,354-430)presented a theory of Trinity, which meant that the Father(God), the Son(Jesus) and the Holy Spirit are united together. So all sayings, behaviors and sacrifice of Jesus represented the Will of God and Love of God for people.

There are following sayings in Bible which show Agape:

He has given us the hope of great rewards highly to be valued

(Peter, Second. 1.4)

 | |

This is the word which came to us from him and which we give to you, that God is light and in him there is nothing dark.

---|---|---

(John, First, 1.5)

If we say openly that we have done wrong, he is upright and true to his word, giving us forgiveness of sins and making us clean from all evil

(John, First, 9)

  2. Love for God

There are three relationships between Man and God: Faith, Hope and Love. Both Augustine and Aquinas pointed out that Love is the most important one among the there. If there is no Love for God from your heart, you could not have real Faith and your Hope will be in vain. Of course, Faith and Hope are also essential to support your Love for God.

There are many sayings in Bible related to Love for God:

And he said to him, have love for the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with your entire mind.

(Matthew, 22, 37)

For from the first making of the world, those things of God which the eye is unable to see, that is, his eternal power and existence, are fully made clear..

(Romans, 1, 20)

The things which came to you by my teaching and preaching, and which you saw in me, these things do, and the God of peace will be with you.

(Philippians, 4, 8)

3, Love for Others and for People

In Bible, the following sentences are the most important:

And he said to him, Have love for the Lord your God [.... This is the first

and greatest rule.

---

And a second like it is this, Have love for your neighbor as for yourself.

On these two rules all the law and the prophets are based.

(Matthew, 22, 37)

So, "Love for God" and "Love for your neighbor" are two rules of all laws in Christianity.

"Love for your neighbor" has the same meaning of "Love for others" and "Love for people".

The above saying shows that Love for God must be combined with Love for people. This is the basic thinking of Christianity on Human Love.

Christianity advocates actively Love for people, especially Love and help for poor people. This is a very important contribution of Christianity to human society. In Western countries, social charity is basically promoted by Christianity.

In modern China, Christians are also doing devotion of charity to society which should be affirmed by government and people

Chapter 6-3 Love in Islam

1, Origin of Islam

Islam is one of main religions in the world. It has 600 million believers. "Islam" has the meaning of peace or obedience .Its believers are called Muslims.

Islam originated on Arabian Peninsula in 7th century. Natural condition of peninsula was very hard. Nomadic economy was dominant.

The continuous wars and conflicts accelerated the disintegration of tribal religions. At the same time, the population of Arabian poets provided common language for Arabian people, which was the basis of Arabia national consciousness.

At that time, two empires of Byzantine and Persian carried on long time war which made great destruction upon local economics. Under suffering, people put their hope on religion.

On such background, Mohamed created Islam.

Mohamed (570-632) was born in Mecca, Arabia. He followed his uncle to do trade at age of 12. He travelled many places and knew deeply the situation of different religions. He married with a rich woman. After then, he went to a cave to meditate the secret of cosmos and value of human life.

In 610 AD, he received the enlightenment from Allah who asked him to teach people doctrines of Islam

2, Islam and Love

In classic of Islam— the Koran, the thinking appeared repeatedly is: Trust Allah and do Good.

"Trust Allah" means faith in Allah and love for Allah.

"Do Good" means Love for others and for people

These two doctrines are very similar to two rules of Christianity: Love for God and Love for neighbor.

1, Love for God

Same as Christianity, Islam has faith in only one God. In Islam the only God is Allah.

Islam teaches its believers: Allah is omniscient and omnipotent.

Related teachings in Koran are as follows:

[2.256] There is no compulsion in religion; truly the right way has become clearly distinct from error; therefore, whoever disbelieves in the Shaitan and believes in Allah he indeed has laid hold on the firmest handle, which shall not break off, and Allah is Hearing, Knowing.

[25.68] And they who do not call upon another god with Allah and do not slay the soul, which Allah has forbidden except in the requirements of justice, and (who) do not commit fornication and he who does this shall find a requital of sin.

2, Kindhearted Love for People

Islam advocates actively Kindhearted Love ---Love for people. It teaches believers: be filial to parents, be friendly to relatives and be harmonic to neighbors, have sympathy with the poor, be tolerant to servants and slaves.

In Koran, there are many sayings on kindhearted love:

[28.77] Do good (to others) as Allah has done good to you,

[17.24] Make yourself submissively gentle to them (your parents) with compassion, and say: O my Lord! Have compassion on them, as they brought me up (when I was) little

[2.177] righteousness is this that one should believe in Allah [...] and give away wealth out of love for Him to the near of kin and the orphans and the needy and the wayfarer and the beggars and for (the emancipation of) the captives.

3, Be Tolerant of Others

An important principle of love for others is to be tolerant of others.

Islam asks its believers to forgive others for their mistakes and to persuade others to correct their bad habits.

It is inevitable to have conflicts between people. Islam asks its believers to make harmony instead of conflict.

Related teachings in Koran are as follows:

[7.199] Take to forgiveness and enjoin good and turn aside from the ignorant.

[41.34]Repel (evil) with what is best, when between whom and you was enmity would be as if he were a warm friend.

4 Maintaining Justice

To maintain justice is an essential principle of love for people. In many situations, the most important thing that people require is Justice

The related teaching in Koran is:

[4.135] O you who believe! be maintainers of justice, bearers of witness of Allah's sake, though it may be against your own selves or (your) parents or near relatives; if he be rich or poor, Allah is nearer to them both in compassion; therefore do not follow (your) low desires, lest you deviate; and if you swerve or turn aside, then surely Allah is aware of what you do.

5, Get rid of Evil and Sin

Evil and sin completely violate doctrines of Islam They also violate basic human nature.

In Koran, there are many teachings ask believers to oppose evil and sin:

[2.208] O you who believe! Enter into submission one and all and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan; surely he is your open enemy.

[13.25] And those who break the covenant of Allah after its confirmation and cut asunder that which Allah has ordered to be joined and make mischief in the land; (as for) those, upon them shall be curse and they shall have the evil (issue) of the abode.

In summary, related to human love, Islam and Christianity have very similar teachings.

According to the remark of American famous religious scholar, L.Swidler, in his work The Age of Global Dialogue, Christianity and Islam have many similarities. The main similarities are the follows:

A, Both of them came from the root of Hebrews. Abraham was their common Ancestor.

B, Both of them belong to Semitic religion. Both of them are Monotheism (Faith in one God). Christianity has faith in God. Islam has faith in Allah.

C. Both of them are revelation religions. They believe that God sent a Savior to the world to save people. In Christianity, the Savior is Jesus. In Islam, the Savior is Mohamed.

Due to these similarities, their teachings on Love are also very similar. Both of them ask believers to have love for God (or Allah), love for others and love for people.

In contemporary world, owing to complex historical reasons, there are conflicts between a part of believers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism. We believe that under the same doctrines of Love, those conflicts will be finally eased and resolved.

Chapter 6-4 Love in Buddhism

Besides Christianity and Islam, Buddhism is one of the three largest religions in the world. If Christianity and Islam have many similarities, then Buddhism is a quite deferent religion

1, Origin of Buddhism

Buddhism originated in ancient India. It was created by Shakyamuni, the first son of king of Kapilavastu, in 6th century BC. His original name was Siddhartha. Shakyamuni was the respectful name of him.

At that time, Aryan coming from central Asia invaded India's local nation and created racial system. Local people were suffering under cruel oppression.

In such situation, Shakyamuni gave up succession to the throne. He lived in mountain and meditated for several years and finally found the way to save people. He went to many places to do missionary and established Buddhism.

2 Buddhism and Love

  1. Nirvana and Love for oneself

Nirvana is the highest state or goal in Buddhism.

What is Nirvana?

Nirvana means extinction, ease and liberation.

Buddhism was classified into Theravada Buddhism and Mahayana Buddhism. Theravada Buddhism originated in ancient India. Mahayana Buddhism was formed in ancient China.

In Theravada Buddhism, while one dies, he comes into Nirvana. It means that he is released from all suffering and pains.

In Mahayana Buddhism, Nirvana means constancy, happiness, comfort and cleanness, which is a state of complete consciousness. So it has a more active meaning.

From the view of human love, Nirvana is a conscious love of human life, which could make man get rid of all pains.

  2. Saving all People and Human Love

The main doctrine of Buddhism is: Self Conscience and Enlightening others.

Self Conscience is Love for oneself.

Enlightening others means Love for others.

A very important doctrine of Buddhism is: Saving all people

So, Love is the kernel content of Buddhism's thinking.

Belief of Guanyin Bodhisattva is very popular in China. In China, she is a female or motherly Bodhisattva. She has deep love for all people, just like a kind mother loving her all children.

  3. Disciplines of Buddhism and Love for People

In Buddhism, there are many disciplines, which its believers must obey. The main disciplines are as follows:

  1. Five Prohibitions:

Do not kill;

Do not steal;

Not to do evil;

Not to do lying;

Do not drink.

  2. Four Non-limitations

Kindness: Non-limitation of giving kindness to people

Sadness: Non-limitation of diminishing sadness of people

Happiness: Non-limitation of happiness for doing help for people

Sacrificing: Non-limitation of sacrifice for the interest of people

4) Not to kill any living life and Love for nature

In Buddhism, there is a special doctrine: do not kill any living life.

In China, all Buddhism believers obey this doctrine. They eat only vegetables and grains, but not eat any meals of animals.

All other religions in the world do not have such strict rule.

Does this rule have its ethical value?

In 20th century , French ideologist Albert Schweitzer(1875-1965)published his work Reverence for Life, which obtained comprehensive attention in the ideological and scientific circle including ecologists and environmental scientists.

In this book, the idea presented is: Mankind should not be reverent for Man's life only. Man should also be reverent for life of all organisms. Maintain and promoting life is Good .Destructing and oppressing life is Evil. This is the basic principle of morality.

He gave high evaluation for the idea of Buddhism---not to kill any living life

From the view of Human Love, Buddhism extended human love to whole nature and all other organisms. This is the special contribution of Buddhism to Human Love.

# Chapter 6-5 Love in Daoism

Daoism is a Chinese religion. It does not have influence in other countries. But in China, it has great influence. There are many temples of Daoism at different places of China. Famous modern Chinese writer Luxun(鲁迅) said: To understand China, you must understand Daoism.

1, Origin of Daoism

Daoism was established in 2th century AD, the last period of East Han dynasty. At that time, Han dynasty was declining. There were many wars between soldiers. Disasters of drought and waterlogging happened frequently. The lands were barren and peasant uprising appeared frequently.

Peasant uprising required certain belief. A book titled Classic of Peace(Taiping Jing, 太平经) spread everywhere. It inherited the theory of Lao Zi, regarding that Dao is the essence of cosmos. It advocated the idea of Unity of Heaven and Man. It declared that Man could have long life and become immortal. It has a set of methods for attaining immorality. Daoism was established

2, Daoism and Love

  1. Long Life and Self Love

The goal of believers of Daoism is to have long life and to be immortal. This is a very special goal compared with other religions.

The main idea of Christianity is: All men have original sin. A believer of Christianity could get the save from God and enter the Heaven after death.

The main idea of Buddhism is: Man's society is full of pain. The believers of Buddhism could attain the state of Nirvana so that to enter the Buddhist paradise.

Both of them put the highest happiness after death. But Daoism is different. Believers of Daoism put their highest happiness in their life time---have a long life.

Confucianism also pursues man's morals in life time.

The combination of Confucianism and Daoism became the common belief of many Chinese scholars and people.

From the view of human love, this is a thinking of Self Love.

In the philosophy of Human Love, Self Love is the basis of other loves. A man loves himself truly, he must love his family members (parents, spouse, children), his friends, his career, his motherland, etc.

Even though man's immortality is impossible, but man's long life is possible. To pursue one's long life is an active goal of human life.

So, it is the active factor of Daoism.

  2. Life Cultivation with Morals and Love for People

Daoism does not pay attention to Self Love only, it has the thinking of "Life cultivation with morals", which emphasizes Love for people.

Lao Zi wrote:

Dao begets all creatures

De (morals) rears them

...........................

Therefore all creatures respect Dao and honor De.

(The Book of Dao and De, Chapter 51)

Respecting Dao and Honoring De (morals) is the basic belief of Daoism.

The goal of Daoism is long life. And the way to attain this goal is through you moral behaviors.

In Ming dynasty, philosopher Lv Shujian(吕叔简) said:

Kindheartedness helps you have long life. Morals help you prolong your life time. Cultivate your morality is the first requirement for cultivating your life.

What is De in Daoism? De means morality and love for people and for others.

So the thinking of Daoism is: Through your love for people to attain the goal of your Self Love ---Long Life.

  3. "Dao takes Nature as its model " and Love for Nature

The Book of Dao and De (《道德经》) is the classic of Daoism.

In the book, Lao Zi said:

"Man takes Earth as his model;

Earth takes Heaven as its model;

Heaven takes Dao as its model;

Dao takes the Nature as its model."

(Chapter 25)

"Dao takes the Nature as its model" means that Dao is formed by the great Nature. Nature is the eternal existence .Dao is the essence and basic rule of the Nature.

This thinking conforms to the idea of modern natural sciences. The object of natural scientific research is the Nature. What natural sciences pursue is the basic rule of the nature (in ancient China, it was named Dao)

The great Nature is mother of Dao and mother of all things.

So, Daoism loves the great Nature.

One classic of Daoism wrote:

Dao honors all living creations.

So, Daoism loves all life (plants, animals and men) on the earth.

Based on the thinking of having long life and becoming immortal. Daoism pays much attention to build wonderland. In China, there are many famous wonderlands as Wudang mountain( 武当山) in Hubei province , Laoshan ( 崂山) in Shandong province, Shanqing mountain(三清山) in Jiangxi province, etc. If you have the chance to go those wonderlands, you will understand the love for the Nature of Daoism.

Today, all modern countries pay high attention to protect natural environment. So Daoism's idea of love for Nation is valuable for mankind.

Part 7 Philosophy System of Human Love

In this part , we'll discuss different aspects of philosophy of Human Love, including: main characters of Human Love, ontology ,epistemology, axiology and aesthetics in philosophy of Human Love, and also the relation between Love and Truth, Good and Beauty, hence to build the philosophy system of Human Love.

Chapter 7-1 Main Characters of Human Love

Basic characters of Human Love elucidated in above parts of this book will be summarized as follows:

1, Human Love is Man's highest spiritual activity and is the combination of Man's emotion and reason.

In Part 5 of this book, it has been introduced that human brain is composed of three sub-brains: RB (Reptilian Brain), LB (Limbic Brain and NB (Neocortex Brain).

The work separation of them is: RB controls Man's physiological activities (as heart beating, breathing, etc.). LB controls Man's emotional activities. NB controls Man's intellectual activities.

Science proves that both Man's LB and NB are much more advanced than that of any animals.

The main character of human brain is the interrelation between LB and NB, which expresses in the interaction of man's high emotional ability and Man's high rational ability.

In man's spiritual activities, many factors, as man's will, morals and aesthetic are all products of combination of man's emotion and man's reason. Human Love is the most active and most strong factor of Man's spiritual activity. Human Love is Man's highest spiritual activity. It is also the synthetic product of Man's emotion and Man's reason.

2, Human Love is the highest essence of human being

So called man's essence is the characteristics which makes Man different from any other animals.

In 19th century, German philosopher Ludwig Feuerbach(1804-1872)pointed out :

Love is the highest essence of Man.

In 20th century, German philosopher Erich Fromm(1900—1980) presented similar thinking.In his work The Art of Loving, the first chapter of this book is titled:

Love, the Answer to the Problem of Human Existence.

He wrote:

The full answer lies in the achievement of interpersonal union, of fusion with another person, in Love.

According to the achievement of modern science, their opinions are correct.

The main difference between human being and other animals is in the brain structure. Human being has much more advanced NB and NB compared with other animals.

The advanced LB makes Man have strong emotional ability, which causes man love his family member and also other men in the same group. The strong feeling of love gave man strong will and energy to protect his family members and his friends in the group.

The advanced NB makes man understand that men must united together to conquer the beasts and natural disasters.

Human Love is the combination of advanced emotional ability (from LB) and intellectual ability (from NB), which makes man become the master of the earth.

So Human Love is the essence of Man

If Man only has intellectual ability without love for family members and others in the same group, man must not be strong enough to conquer other animals and natural disasters.

Man's love also made him have strong will to use his intellectual ability discovering methods (as using fire and tools) to win natural disasters and have a better living.

So I agree the remark of Feuerbach:

Love is the highest essence of Man.

From Ape Man to modern Man, mankind experienced continuous development for 5 million years, and attains today's high civilization. It should be attributed to Human Love firstly.

3, Relation between Love and Will

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato classified Man's spirit into three parts: understanding, emotion and will.

In 19th century, German philosopher Schopenhauer put Will at a very high position. He regarded that Will is the essence of Man and all other things.

In man's activities, Will is really very important.

What is the relation between Will and Love?

Will and Love have similarity. Both of them have an object and have the energy to pay effort for attaining the object.

But Will and Love are not the same.

1) Man's will, may do Good, and may do Evil. A robber also has his will. Hitler also had his very strong will to conquer the whole world.

2) Will sometime is blind without ration. For example, soldiers of invading army (as Japan army in China) had the will to kill people. In such will, there is no ration and no emotion.

Human Love is different from Will. It is the combination of emotion and reason. It may be said the Good Will.

4, Relation between Morals and Love

Morals is directly related with Human Love

Confucius said:

Kindheartedness means loving men.

Kindheartedness is the highest morals in Confucianism. This famous saying shows the direct connection between morals and love

From Part 5 of this book, we know that there is no special structure in man's brain that controls morals. So, Morals, just like Love, is also the combination of emotion (from LB) and reason (from NB).

Morals and Love have much similarity and close connection. But they are not the same thing.

Morality is the rule of Good and is the evaluation criteria of Man's behaviors. Morals itself is not man's force of behavior. But Human Love is man's force of Good behaviors.

5, Human Love is a strong Creative Power

The idea that Love is a creative power was presented firstly by ancient Greek philosopher Plato.

In Plato's Symposium, there is a saying:

Such is the power of love, and that love which is just and temperate has the greatest power and is the source of all our happiness and friendship with the gods and with one another.

Human Love is a creative power. This is a very important character of Human Love. It makes Love different from Man's other three great goals: Truth, Good and Beauty.

How is baby created? Baby is created by Love between his parents. How is child growing? It depends on the motherly and fatherly love of his parents. All scientific discoveries and inventions are created by the Love for Truth of scientists. All excellent arts (poems, novels, paintings, music, dramas. etc.) are created by Love for Beauty and Love for mankind of artists.

All things beneficial to mankind are created by Human Love. Mankind itself and Man's all civilization are created by Human Love.

6, Combination of Self Love and Others Love

Combination of Self Love (love for oneself) and Others Love (love for others) is an important principle of Human Love

  1. Self Love is the starting point of Human Love

In fact, any organism has the nature of Self Love. Any animal makes effort to find food for maintaining its own life. Any plant makes effort to receive sun light and soil nutrition for its own growth.

Someone might regard that Confucius did not emphasize Self Love. It is not true.

Confucius said:

At fifteen I had made up my mind to have serious studies. At thirty I became independent in my life. At forty I had no doubts on my belief. At fifty I understand my destiny. At sixty I could listen to any sayings. At seventy I could follow whatever my heart desires in the extent of rules.

(Analects of Confucius, Chap.2)

This paragraph of saying shows that Confucius had different goals of life in his different age, which expresses his love for his own life.

Confucianism encourages Man to have self cultivation to be a knowledgeable and moral person.

In Western philosophy, ancient Greek philosophy Epicurus(341-270 BC)regarded that man's final goal is to pursuit his happiness

In 18th century , British philosopher David Hume(1711-1776) presented his principle of morals. It included Self Love: useful for oneself and making pleasure of oneself.

In various religions, Self Love is the common starting point of them. Christians believe that God could save them and take them to Heaven. Buddhists have the highest goal to attain Nirvana, which will help them get rid of all pains. The goal of Daoist is to have long life.

In summary, Self Love is the common principle of different civilizations in the world.

  2. Self love must combine with Others Love

Self Love is different from selfishness, or making harm to others to benefit one self.

True Self Love in Human Love must combine with Others Love (Love for others). This is a very important principle in the philosophy of Human Love.

Confucius said:

Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself.

(Analects of Confucius .Chap.15)

In western philosophy, David Hume had deep elucidation on the relation between Self Love and Kindhearted Love (love for others).

In his work A Treatise of Human Nature, he pointed out that concerning the happiness and benefit of others is from your heart. Through such concerning and love, you will obtain your own happiness

In Christianity, Bible wrote:

Have love for your neighbor as for yourself.

The main doctrine of Buddhism is:

Have self conscience and enlightening for others.

So, the combination of Self Love and Others Love is a common principle in all civilizations in the world.

7, Love is giving, not taking

Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle presented a very important opinion on Love: love is giving, not taking. Love is paying, not getting

In 20th century ,German philosopher Erich Fromm(1900—1980)wrote in his work The Art of Loving:

Love is an activity, not a passive affect. It is "standing on", not "falling for" in the most general way .The active character of Love can be described by starting that Love is primarily giving , not receiving.

Human Love is giving, not taking. This is a very important principle in the philosophy of Human Love.

True love does not ask reward.

Ancient Greek Prometheus was the symbol of Human love. He helped man to obtain fire. But he himself met great suffering due to his love for man. So his love for man is only giving, not taking.

Of course, giving and taking are not absolutely contradictory.

  1. In the giving of love, there involves taking. Mother loves her baby. She does not ask any reward from her baby. But in baby's smile and baby's growth, she gets her happiness.

  2. Human Love is often mutual. Both of loving spouses (husband and wife) love each other. They are willing to give more to their spouse and do not ask reward. But they all feel great happiness for their giving. This is the best relation in a family.

8, Human Love is the greatest happiness in human life

Pursuing happiness is the nature and right of everyone. But, what is Man's happiness?

Is it wealth? No, a millionaire is not surely happy. Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. But he is willing to devote his great amount of wealth (about 36 billions USD) to establish Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation for helping poor people in the world.

Is it honor or reputation? No, famous scholar and professor of Beijing University Ji Xianlin(季羡林) refused the honor of three Masters. He does not feel those honors giving him any happiness.

Is it long Life? No, a lonely old man without spouse, friend and children will not have happiness.

Is it a man having many offspring? No, an old man having many sons and grandsons, but there are much conflicts in family, he will not have happiness.

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato gave the correct answer:

Love is the source of all our happiness

(Symposium)

Even in a poor family, if there is love between spouses, children are filial for their parents, neighbors are harmony, friends are concerning each other, and then family members will have happiness.

Of course, certain substantial condition is necessary for happiness. A government should make effort to improve the substantial condition of people so as to promote people's happiness.

As an individual person, through his own effort to improve the substantial condition of his family should be encouraged.

But, it is not the case that better substantial condition will have more happiness certainly.

Happiness is Man's inner feeling. It is Human Love that gives Man the greatest happiness.

Chapter 7-2 Ontology and Human Love

1, What is Ontology?

The term "Ont" came from Greek, which means "Be" or "Exist" in English. So Ontology is the philosophy of Being or Existence.

This kind of knowledge is very abstract, which was named by Aristotle: "Metaphysics". In ancient Greece, "Physics" generally meant Natural Sciences. "Meta" had the meaning of "transcendent". So "Metaphysics" meant the knowledge which transcends other natural sciences.

2. Brief introduction of Western Ontology

In ancient and modern Western philosophy, ontology mainly discussed the problem of "how the world is created or formed ?" In more than 2000 years, there were great differences and arguments in West philosophy. There were mainly three theories. The first theory is that world is created from substance, which is named Materialism. The second theory is that world was created by God. The third theory is that world is created by Man's spirit (thinking, idea, etc.) Both of the second and the third theories are named Idealism.

About 300 years before the beginning of ancient Greek Natural Philosophy, the Myth of Homer was popularized. The Myth told that world was created by God. So Western Ontology began with Ideology.

Ancient Greek Natural philosophers regarded that the essence of world was a kind of substance: water (Tales), gas (Anaximenes, or fire (Heraclitus). Their theories were the beginning of Materialism.

Plato presented the theory that all things began with Idea. He was regarded as the greatest Ideologist in the ancient.

In about 1000 years of European Middle Ages, the Ideological thinking of "God created the world" was dominant.

In 16-17th centuries, British philosophers, Francis Bacon, Thomas Hobbes and John Locke were the representatives of British Empiricism. Their theories are basically Materialism

At the same period, René Descartes presented his famous saying of "I think therefore I am". He paid attention to Man's thinking. In Western philosophy, he was the first philosopher who paid equal attention to substance and man's spirit.

In the Enlightenment Movement in 18th century, most philosophers (as Lamettrie,Denis Diderot,etc.) supported Materialism strongly. They paid little attention to Man's spirit.

In 18th century, George Berkeley emphasized Subjective initiative which comes from man's spirit.

In 18-19 centuries, Friedrich Hegel was regarded as the greatest ideologist. He presented the theory that the whole world is the expression of Absolute Idea.

Karl Marx presented the theory of combination of Subject (spirit) and Object (substance).

In 20 century, there were two trends of philosophy.

One was Analytic philosophy and Logical positivism. They refused the discussion Ontology at all.

The other was Humanism and Existentialism. They presented the idea that Man is the essence of the world.

The argument on Ontology is still continuing.

3, Brief Introduction of Chinese Ontology

The difference between Western and Chinese Ontology appeared very early.

Ancient Greek Natural philosophers regarded that the essence of the world is a certain substance (water, gas, fire, etc.) But in ancient Chinese philosophic book Yi Chuan (《易传》) which was a book explaining Book of Changes (Yi Jing,《易经 》) ,it said

A Ying combined with a Yang is the Dao.

In Chinese philosophy, Dao is the rule and essence of the cosmos and the world

Even though Ying and Yang are not scientific terms, but this saying shows a synthetic view of Ontology

In Song dynasty, philosopher Chen Hap (程颢) wrote:

Man and Heaven-Earth is one thing.

(Collections of Chen's Manuscripts)

The Unity of Heaven and Man was the traditional thinking on Ontology

In Song dynasty ,two Chens (Chen Hao, 程颢 and Chen Yi, 程颐) and Zhu Xi(朱熹) presented the theory that Li (principle, 理) is the essence of world. Zhang Zai (张载) presented the theory that Qi (substance, 气) is the essence of the world .

In Ming dynasty , philosophers Luo Qinshun (罗钦顺) presented the theory of the Unity of Li and Qi

In modern language, Li means the rules of the world. Qi means the substance of the world. So Unity of Li and Qi means that the essence of the world is the combination of substance and the rules of movement. This is a high level opinion on Ontology.

Chinese modern philosopher Xiong Shili(熊十力) said:

Cosmos entity is of complexity, not simplicity.

Idealism regards that entity has only of spiritual property .Materialism regards that entity has only of material property. Both of them insist on the simplicity of cosmos entity

(Collections of Xiong Shili)

He stated clearly that the world is composed of both substance and spirit.

In summary, Western philosophy emphasizes material or spirit only. Chinese ontology emphasizes the synthesis of substance and spirit.

4, Ontology in Two worlds

In this section, I'll introduce my own opinion on Ontology.

Discussing Ontology of the world, we must have a clear concept of "World".

The world that man faces to may be classified into two parts: Natural world and Human world. Of course these two worlds are closely connected.

About the problem of two worlds, Karl Marx said in his work ---German Ideology:

History can be studied from two aspects and divided into Natural history and Human history. But they cannot be separated.

History of human being has been passing 5 millions years. Since man has highly developed wisdom and ability, Man has been the master of earth for a long time.

Today, all oceans, mountains, deserts, air and numerous plants and animals are influenced by Man's activities. So they all belong to Human world.

Of course, the great cosmos (besides a very small circle around the earth) has not been influenced by man yet, so it belongs to Natural world.

Ontology discusses the essence of the world. In the above two worlds, the essences are different.

1) Natural world: According to modern science, Natural world is composed of the combination of substance and movement. The essence of Natural world is the combination of essence of substance and rules of movement. In Natural world, Materialism is correct

Man's Spirit is a special activity of a high animal (human being) living on a very small star (earth) among numerous stars in the cosmos. Except some sciences (as psychology, anthropology, etc.) most natural sciences do not consider the influence of man's spirit.

2) Human world

Up to now, all things on the earth belong to Human world, because they are influenced (more or less) by Man's activity.

It includes:

  1. Human influenced natural world: air, soils, plants, animals, microorganisms, etc.

  2. Human substantial world: all things created by Man and used for Man's life, as cloth, food, house, car, boat, radio, computer, etc.

  3. Human social world: Man's history, politics, economics, family, country, etc.

  4. Human civilization world: philosophy, science, religion, literature, art, etc.

Now, let us ask: what is the essence of Human world?

Materialism regards that substance is the essence of the world, including Human world.

But, let us think: without Man's spiritual activities, is it possible to create food, cloth, family, science, art .etc. Even air , soils , plants, animals on the earth are all not be possible to be separated from man's spiritual activities

Of course, all things in Human world are also not be possible to be separated from substance.

So the essence of Human could only be the synthesis of substance and man's spirit. And man's spirit plays the major role.

Someone might wonder the opinion of that "Man's spirit plays the major role". Please think the fact that without the function of man's spirit, all things on the earth will be remained at the original state---the state of Natural world.

So .the views of German philosopher Karl Marx and Chinese philosopher Xiong Shili on Ontology are correct.

5, Ontology of Human Love and Humanism

Man has many different spiritual activities, as wisdom (Truth) morals (Good) , aesthetic(Beauty) , will, etc.

Among all human spiritual activities, Human love is a special and very important activity. Its main characters are:

(1)Human love is the combination of Man's wisdom (or reason), emotion and aesthetic. So it has the ability of these three activities

(2)Human Love itself is a strong motive power of man. Some man's spiritual activities (as wisdom, aesthetic) are man's abilities, but their selves are not motive power of man.

(3)Human love is a creative power. In Chap.7-1 of this book, we have explained the important function of creativity of Human Love. In short, Human Love is man's will with strong emotion. We may say that all things in Human world are created by Human Love. Of course for creating things in Human world, certain substance is also essential.

This is the basic opinion of Ontology of Human Love, which conforms to the opinion of Humanism and is a good explanation of Humanism.

Humanism is a very important theory in both Western and Chinese philosophy. Its opinion is that the world is created by Man and must be Man oriented.

Chapter 7-3 Epistemology and Human Love

Epistemology is a very important part of philosophy. This chapter discusses the relation between Human Love and Epistemology.

1, Goal and Method of Man's Cognition

Human being is an animal of high wisdom. Wisdom is the essential character of mankind.

Man's cognition of the world has been passing a long time process.

Discussing man's cognition of the world should consider two aspects: ① goals of cognition;② methods of cognition .

These two aspects are related with each other. For example, Christians 's goal is to believe God , Christian philosopher Aurelius Augustine (354-430)presented the theory of "Obtaining knowledge by belief". Christians obtain their knowledges from Bible so as to enhance their goal of believing God.

The goals and methods of cognition in Chinese and Western philosophy will be discussed briefly as follows:

  1. Goal and Methods of Cognition in Chinese philosophy

  1. Goals or motivations of study

In Chinese classics, there were few remarks discussing man's cognition directly, but there were many remarks on Study.

In fact, study is a very important method of Man's cognition. Everyone's most knowledges come from study.

In ancient China, the main method to cognize the world was studying ancient classics, including ancient history, ancient philosophy, ancient poets, ancient rites, etc.

On goals and motivation of study, there are many sayings in Analects of Confucius.

A disciple of Confucius Zi Xia remarked: A man who can in his duties to his parents is ready to do his utmost; in the service of the King, is to do the best of his life; and in intercourse with friends is found trustworthy in what he says,—such a man may not have the chance to study .I must consider him to be really an educated man. (Chap. 1)

This saying showed that in Zi Xia's opinion, the goal of study (cognition) was to be filial to his parents, to be loyal to the king and to be faithful to friends.

Confucius said:' When the gentlemen are highly educated, it makes them love the people.(Chap.17)

Confucius explained to his disciple Zi You about six virtues:

First, there is the mere love of morality, that alone, without study, one will be become foolish

Second, there is the mere love of knowledge: that alone, without study, one will tend to be dissolute.

Thirdly, there is the mere love of honesty, that alone, without study, one will be heartless.

Fourthly, there is the mere love of uprightness, that alone, without study, one's behaviors will be disordered.

Fifthly, there is mere love of courage, that alone, without study, one will be reckless.

Sixthly, there is mere love of strength of character, that alone, without study, one will be eccentric.(Chap.17)

These sayings elaborated completely Confucius's opinion of the goals of study. The whole meaning is that if one doesn't study, he will become foolish, dissolute and heartless. He will produce troubles in the society.

Zi Xia remarked: An officer who has fine ability should devote himself to study. A student who has fine ability in study should enter the public service.Chap.19)

(translated by Gu Hongming (辜鸿铭) with some modifications by the author)

From the above remarks ,it may be seen that in ancient Chinese philosophy, the goals and motivation of study (cognition) were mainly: to raise one's morality, to be a clever ,upright man , to be filial to his parents, to be loyal to the king, to be faithful to friends.to know the rules of things ,not to make mistakes and to serve the public.

  2. Methods of study and cognition in Chinese philosophy

On the method of study (cognition), there were following remarks in Chinese classics:

Confucius said:

Study without thinking, thinking is labor lost. Thinking without study is perilous

(Analects of Confucius, Chap. 2)

Zi Xia said: If you study extensively and are steadfast in your aim, investigate carefully what you learn and apply it to your own personal conduct; in that way, you cannot fail in attaining a moral life

(Same book, Chap.19)

Investigating things is the way to obtain knowledge......since there are rules in all things in the world.

(Notes of Four Books, Zhu Xi)

Sense of right and wrong can be known without consideration, can be obtained without study. This is due to one's Conscience.

(Biography of Wang Yangming)

In summary, the methods of study or cognition in ancient Chinese philosophy were:

  1. Combining study and thinking together

  2. Study extensive knowledges

  3. Applying your knowledge in your behaviors.

  4. Obtaining your knowledge by investigating different things

  5. Getting your sense of right and wrong by your conscience.

  2. Goal and Methods of Cognition in Western philosophy

In Western philosophy, epistemology mainly discusses method of Man's cognition of the world. As to goals of cognition, there are many remarks in works of philosophers and scientists.

  1. Brief introduction of theories of cognition method in Western philosophy.

In ancient Greece, Plato presented the theory of Idea, Aristotle presented the theory of substance and the distinction of "form " and "matter". Both of their theories had the meaning of ontology and epistemology. Epistemology was not separated from ontology yet

After the Renaissance, natural sciences had been developing rapidly, which accelerated the progress of epistemology.

In 16-18th centuries, Western epistemology was divided into two schools: one was Empiricism (Francis Bacon, John Locke, etc.), and the other was Rationalism (René Descartes, Baruch de Spinoza, etc.)

In 18th century , German philosopher Immanuel Kant presented the theory of " Prior ( Innate) Synthesis Judgement", which combined the above two schools together and pointed out that man's knowledge has two sources: one is from man's innate ration and the other is from man's experience.

In 19th century, French philosopher Comte presented theory of Positivism, which regarded that any knowledge must be proved by experiments or facts.

German philosopher Karl Marx emphasized the importance of practice in cognition of the world

In 20th century, British philosopher Karl Popper presented the theory of Falsification which regarded that any scientific theory could not be proved. They could only be falsified. Proving a theory requires its correctness for all facts. But it is impossible for Man to know all facts. But to falsify a theory only requires one fact.

In summary, the progress of epistemology has been providing great help for the progress of all sciences

  2. Goals and motivation of cognizing the world

From the theories, stories and sayings of Western philosophers and scientists, we may know the goals and motivation of their cognition of the world are as follows:

A, To explore the nature and essence of the world

Ancient Greek philosophers made efforts to explore the nature of the world. They presented the theories that the essence of the world is: Water, Air, Fire, Number, Idea or Substance, etc.

The goal of study that Chinese ancient philosophers presented was to be an upright and moral person.

We can see Western ancient philosophers had apparently different goal of cognition of the world comparing with Chinese ancient philosophers.

B, Pursing knowledge is Man' happiness

Francis Bacon (1561-1626) wrote in his famous essay: Of Study:

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.

They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience

To make judgment wholly by their rules is the humor of a scholar.

Histories make men wise; poets witty; the mathematics subtle; natural philosophy deep; moral grave; logic and rhetoric able to contend.

Bacon pointed out that there are some main goals of study :①for delight;②for perfecting one's nature;③for finding rules of things.

C, Curiosity of scientists

In Chapter 2-12, we have introduced the stories of famous scientists, Copernicus and Einstein.

Both of them had strong curiosity about the secret of cosmos Curiosity is a very important motivation of scientists to pursue the truth of the great nature.

D, Belief and Determination for finding truth

Albert Einstein is the greatest scientist in 20th century. He had the following sayings on pursuing truth

The pursuit of truth is more valuable than the possession of the truth

Pursing objective truth and knowledges is Man's highest and eternal goals.

Science is endless and is an eternal mystery.

E, Responsibility of scientists for mankind

Einstein said:

Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.

In Chapter 2-16 of this book, the story of Madam Curio is introduced. She made great effort discovering a new element---Radium which has strong radioactive ability. Some friends persuaded her to apply patent, which would give her great amount of income. But she refused. She was willing to devote her discovery to the whole mankind. She herself still lived in a simple life.

4, Human Love and Man's cognition of the world

From the above introduction of Chinese and Western philosophers and scientists' sayings or stories on man's cognition of the world, we may see that man's goal of cognition of the world are directly related with Human Love. The methods of cognition are connected with the goals of cognition, so it is also related to Human Love.

  1. Love for truth and for the nature are the basic motivation of man's cognition

In China, the Book of Changes is an important book explaining the whole cosmos and the world.

From ancient time to today, Chinese scholars and people paid much attention to this classic, which shows that they are very interested in the truth of cosmos and the world.

In Western civilization, began with Greek natural philosophers, up to modern time, the main interest of philosophers and scientists has been pursuit of the truth of the nature and the world.

Epistemology is the most important and successful part of Western philosophy. Empiricism, Rationalism, Kant's theory, Positivism, Theory of Falsification, Modern philosophy of Science, etc. all have great contribution to Man's pursuit of nature and the world.

  2. Love for mankind and for people has been promoting strongly the progress of philosophy and sciences.

Either in China or in the West, philosophers and scientists are highly responsible for mankind and people.

Confucius said:

When the gentlemen are highly educated, it makes them love the people.

This remark shows that in China, the goal of study of all educated man is loving people.

Loves for mankind and people are the starting point of all philosophers and scientists in the world. It is the strong motive power for them to conquer all difficulties in their efforts to cognize the nature and the world.

The stories of Western scientists Albert Einstein Madam Curio and Chinese scientist Deng Jiaxian introduced in Part 2 of this book shows how does Love for mankind , for people and for motherland give strong power pushing them to promote the progress of cognition of nature and the world.

  3. Self Love is the starting point of study and Man's cognition

Confucius said:

Men in old times educated them-selves for their own sake

(Analects of Confucius Chap.14)

This remark does not mean that men in old time studied only for their own profit. It means that they studied for their own cultivation and obtaining more knowledge. Their final goal of them was to realize what Confucius taught: "loving men".

Francis Bacon said in his famous essay ---Of Study:

Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability.

They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience

He regarded that study can give man delight and ability

Study also can perfect mam's human nature.

So Man's cognition of the world begins with Man's Self Love which will promote Man's love for other objects (truth, nature, people etc.)

  4. Love for knowledge is the best motive force for everyone's study and growth.

In the growth period from childhood to youth, the school record even though is related to everyone's talent, but ,more important , is related to the love for and interest in knowledge of student.

Here, I like to introduce my own experience in my growing period. From my age in primary school to that in university, I was interested in all courses: languages, history, geography, mathematics, biology, chemistry, physics, etc. In the classroom, I listened carefully every word said by teachers. I feel great pleasure while I solved a questions of mathematics. I was happy to learn what teachers explained the elite essays in the class of Chinese language .So in the six years in my middle school (The high school affiliated to Shanghai University) I got the best marks of all courses and was the best student in my class.

Really it is not necessary to introduce my own experience of study. I only want to explain that Love for knowledge (including science, literature, etc.) is a very important factor of success of a student.

This is a problem worthy to be noticed by the educators and teachers. To help students have love for various knowledges is a very important task of all teachers

Chapter 7-4 Axiology and Human Love

Axiology is philosophy of value.

"Value" in philosophy means the measure of various substances, man's spirits and behaviors satisfying man's requirement.

The term "Axiology" was presented in 19th century, but the problems that Axiology discussed were appeared in very early time of China and the West. In fact, Value philosophy is equivalent to theory of morality or theory of Good

Good or morality was a very old and important problem in China and the West. Axiology is also the basis of Ethics. It means the reason or the rules of Good behaviors.

This chapter will introduce axiology in Chinese and Western philosophy firstly and then discuss relation between Human Love and axiology.

1, Axiology in Chinese philosophy

Confucianism is the dominant philosophy in China. Morality is the kernel content of Confucianism.

In the classics of Confucianism --- Analects of Confucius, Its most contents relate to human morality. Confucius had following sayings:

  1. Fan Ci (a Confucius's disciple) asked: What is Kindheartedness?

Confucius answered: Loving men.(Chap.12)

  2. Desiring to sustain oneself, one should sustain others. Desiring to develop oneself, one should develop others.(Chap.6)

③Do not do to others what you do not wish yourself.(Chap.15)

Mencius was the main successor of Confucius. He said:

The feeling of commiseration is the beginning of Kindheartedness

(Mencius, Chap.3)

Mencius raised Kindheartedness to the level of Human nature.

King of Liang asked Mencius: What do you like to provide profits for our country?

Mencius answered:

Why does Your Majesty talk on profit? What I like to provide is only kindheartedness and righteousness."

Mencius pointed out kindheartedness is more important than profit. And kindheartedness must be combines with righteousness. The former is an inner moral thinking and the later is moral behavior.

Xun Zi was another important successor of Confucius. He had different idea.

He said:

It is honor to have righteousness first and profit next

(Xun Zi, Chap.4)

So Xun Xi did not deny profit

Mo Zi was an important Chinese philosopher early than Mencius and Xun Zi. He presented an idea different from Confucius and Mencius. He said:

Human society needs universal love and mutual benefit

(Mo Zi, Book 4)

So, in Mo Zi' thinking, mutual love is combined with mutual benefit (profit).

In Tang dynasty, famous philosopher Han Yu presented an idea as:

Fraternity is so called Kindheartedness.

(Han Yu: On the origin and nature of the truth)

After Han dynasty, Confucianism was the dominant philosophy. Most philosophers followed the thinking of Mencius. They paid attention to righteousness only and denied profit.

This thinking was criticized by philosophers in late Qing dynasty.

Deng Zhen (戴震) said:

Prosperous of morality should satisfy Man's all desires and express Man's emotion.

His thinking was close to modern Western philosophy

In modern China, the great politician and philosopher Sun Zhongshan (孙中山) paid high attention to Fraternity, which combined the theory of Han Yu and the modern Western thinking of Fraternity,

3, Axiology in Western philosophy

In ancient Greek, Socrates said:

For the reason of Good, we do other things, including pursing happiness.

(Plato, Gorgias)

This saying showed that Socrates regarded that Good is the highest Human value.

Plato said:

Truth and knowledge are beautiful, but the idea of Good is more beautiful than them.

(Plato, Republic)

Ancient Greek philosopher Epicurus regarded that Man's happiness is the Uppermost Good.

In European Middle ages, Christian philosophers presented the idea that God is the highest Good.

After the Renaissance, philosophers presented the theories that respected human ration, personal rights, liberation of personality, liberty, equity, fraternity, etc. which raised greatly the position of man and man's value to a high position

David Hume presented the idea that Benevolence (very close to the Chinese idea of Kindheartedness) is the highest value.

Immanuel Kant regarded that Practical Reason (morality) was the most important part of his philosophy.

Philosophy of Value was formed at the end of 19th century 。 French philosopher, Paul Lapie (1869—1927) was the first one who presented the concept of Philosophy of Value--- Axiology.

After him many other philosophers in the West made contribution to the development of Axiology.

3, Philosophy of Value and Human Love

From above brief introduction to Axiology in Chinese and Western philosophy, you may understand that Human Love is the kernel content of axiology.

  1. Kindhearted Love (Benevolence) is the highest value of both Chinese and Western philosophy.

Confucius was the main establisher of Chinese philosophy. He presented the thinking of Kindhearted Love, which was the key content of Chinese philosophy. Kindhearted love is the ideological basis of long history of Chinese civilization for more than 2000 years. In China's today and future, it will still play great role.

Plato was one of establishers of Western philosophy. He put Good at a position higher than that of Truth and Knowledge.

He said:

Good is the highest source of wisdom and truth in sensible world..

At the same time, he put Love at a very high position,. He said

He (Love) is the fairest and the most blessed and the best of the gods and also the youngest.

So, He gave both Good and Love the highest evaluation of Human value. In fact, he combined Good and Love together

In 18th century, David Hume wrote in his work ---An Enquiry concerning the Principle of Morals. Chapter 2, Of Benevolence,

The epithets SOCIABLE, GOOD-NATURED, HUMANE, MERCIFUL, GRATEFUL, FRIENDLY, GENEROUS, BENEFICENT, or their equivalents, are known in all languages, and universally express the highest merit, which HUMAN NATURE is capable of attaining.

This saying showed that Hume took Benevolence as man's highest value.

People know that in human history, Western and Chinese civilization in the aspects of both origin and experience had apparent differences.

Astonishingly, as to the idea of Kindhearted Love (or Benevolence), these two civilizations has high similarity. Both of them give it very high evaluation.

This fact shows that:

  1. Due to the reason that Human Love is the essential character of human being, so all men must affirm the value of Kindhearted Love.

  2. Due to all civilizations take Kindhearted Love as their highest value, so, even though mankind had wars, invading and slaughters in history, but it is completely possible for mankind to end those evils and to attain finally a harmony world.

2, Self Love and Love for Liberty are the basis of modern axiology

Self Love is closely related to Love for Liberty. The term of Liberty mainly points to freedom of individual, especial personal ideological freedom and freedom of action within the extent of law. This is Man's innate requirement. A man who has Self Love must have love for Freedom.

In the West, after the Renaissance, especially the Enlightenment Movement, the great ideological liberation was the discovery of the value of "Man". So called "Man" mainly means individual man

In 18th century, Jean Rousseau (1712-1778) presented the thinking:

All, being born free and equal.[...

(The Social Contract, Book 2, Chap.2)

This thinking appeared in USA's Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Declaration of Human Rights in France in 1789.

The thinking of Equity and Liberty liberates Self Love of all individuals and makes them possible to fully play their wisdom and talent, which is the basis of all progress of human society.

It should be pointed out that in traditional Chinese philosophy,, there were only a few philosophers, as Lao Zi , Zhuang Zhi etc. who emphasized the thinking of Love for Liberty. Liberty was not paid enough attention in China's dominant philosophy---Confucianism.

In the famous Chinese May 4th Movement in the early time of 20th century , some philosophers as Chen Duxiu(陈独秀) , Hu Shi( 胡适),etc. introduced the ideas of Science and Democracy from the West. Democracy opposes political tyranny. Science opposes ideological control and ignorance of knowledge. These two ideas involve Self Love and Love for Liberty.

Today, China still need to heritage the spirit of May 4th Movement to emphasize the ideas of Liberty, Democracy and Science for constructing Modern China

  3. Modern value of Mutual Love and Mutual Benefit

Ancient Chinese philosopher Mo Zi presented his idea:

Human society needs universal love and mutual benefit

His thinking has two precious views:

  1. Human Love is equal and mutual

Confucianism paid attention to social class. Its thinking of Three Guides(king is the guide of officers; father is the guide of sons; husband is the guide of wife) showed the view of social class.

Mo Zi paid attention to social equity and mutual love between people which conform to the modern value of Equity.

(2)Mo Zi advocated the combination of Kindheartedness and Utility. Man should love each other and also be benefit to each other.

Both of these two thinking conform the modern value.

In modern world, Cooperation and Mutual Win is the general and progressive trend.

In Man's history, 18-20th century was a period of class oppression and colonialism and of frequent wars. The result was the great suffering of all people.

Now, the world enters 21th century, due to the progress of economics and science, class contradiction and struggle has been relieved. Class cooperation is instead of class struggle gradually. Even though there are regional wars and the threat of Terrorism, but the general trend of the world is: Peace, Cooperation and Development.

So the thinking of Mutual Love and Mutual Benefit becomes a very important and common human value.

  3. Fraternity is the highest value of human being

In Han dynasty of China, philosopher Han Yu (韩愈) presented the thinking:

Fraternity is Kindheartedness.

In 18th century, Fraternity was one of three slogan of French Revolution

In 20 century .the establisher of Republic of China, Sun Zhongshan took Fraternity as the highest moral principle.

It should be recognized that Fraternity is a very noble human ideal. Human Love should be no difference between countries, nations, classes, and religions, etc.

The realization of the ideal of Fraternity in the world, perhaps, requires a very long period .but mankind should go on to attain this goal, which is the only goal of mankind.

Chapter 7-5 Aesthetics and Human Love

Aesthetics is the theory of Beauty, which has close relation with philosophy.

This chapter will introduce Chinese and Western Aesthetic thinking first, then discuss the relation between Aesthetics and Human Love.

  1. Chinese Aesthetic thinking

Ancient Chinese aesthetic thinking had the following contents:

  1. Beauty is Man's enjoyment

In Analects of Confucius, there are following sayings of Confucius.

When Confucius travelled to Qi (齐国), he heard the ancient music, Zhao (韶). He forgot the taste of meat. He said:" I have never thought that the music could bring to me such pleasure."

(Chap.7)

Confucius talked about the ancient music Zhao:" It is the uppermost beauty and also the uppermost Good."

(Chap.3)

These sayings shows that Confucius regarded that excellent music could give Man great enjoyment.

2, .Beauty expressed Man's Virtue

In Xun Zi –Rules of Behaviors(荀子—法行), there was a paragraph:

Confucius said: What is Jade? Gentleman uses it to analogize morals. Jade is mild and glossy, which analogize kindheartedness. Jade is solid with texture, which analogize wisdom .Jade is strong and not bent, which analogize righteousness ,.......

This saying showed Confucius' explanation of Beauty. Confucius regarded that Beauty is the analogy of Man's virtue.

3, .Beauty expresses Man's will and emotion.

In the ancient historic book Zuo's Spring and Autumn Annals, it said:

Poetry is used to express Man's will.

In Tang dynasty , famous scholar Kong Yingda (孔颖达) said:

Emotion and will is the same thing. Emotion is in oneself. The activation of emotion is will.

Linking above sayings, it showed their idea was: beauty of poetry and literature express Man's will and emotion

4, Beauty is the form which Man likes.

In late time of East Han dynasty, famous litterateur Lu Ji(陆机) said:

Poetry comes from emotion and should be beautiful.

In Chinese history of literature, this was the first remark that presented the idea of Beauty in literature. Modern famous writer Lu Xun (鲁迅) gave this saying very high evaluation. He regarded that this was the beginning of consciousness of literature in China.

5. Pursuing Beauty of Imagery(意象)

Imagery means a state that one could understand the Meaning through the Image. This is the main philosophy of Beauty in China.

A good example is the poem: A River Scene in Snow, written by

Famous poet Liu Zhongyuan (柳宗元) in Tang dynasty.

Birds vanish from the surrounding hills

Footprints disappear from the winding trails

Clad in leaf cape and hat in a boat alone

An old man is fishing on a river in snow.

The poem has a very high value of Imagery. It describes a cold and wide natural scene, and at the same, it shows the lonely but noble spirit of the poet.

This is the special style of Chinese art.

  2. Western Aesthetic thinking

There are following opinions in Western aesthetic thinking.

  1. Understanding Beauty in the aspect of Man's Subject or Spirit

Plato: Beauty is Man's idea: Beauty itself

Hegel: Beauty is a link of Absolute Spirit.

Hume: Beauty of a feeling of happiness

Kant: Beauty gives Man pleasure. The essence of Beauty is a form of purposiveness without purpose.

  2. Understanding Beauty in the aspect of Object or forms of substance

Aristotle: Beauty is completeness. Beauty has special forms: order, symmetry, clearness

Baumgarten: The purpose of Aesthetics is the perfection of sensuous knowledge itself.

Diderot:Beauty is the relation between things

Chernyshevsky: Beauty is Life

  3. Views of Modern estheticians

Benedetto Croce(1866-1952):Theory of Intuition

Karl Groos (1861-1946):Theory of Inner Imitation

Theodor Lipps(1851-1914):Theory of Esthetic Sympathy

Edward Bullough(1880—1934): Theory of Distance.

3, Relation between Beauty and Human Love

From above belief introduction of Chinese and Western views on aesthetics, the inner relation between Beauty and Human Love may be understood.

  1. Human Love is the source of all beauty.

Kant said: The essence of Beauty is a form of purposiveness. The term of purposiveness means the combination of objective form and man's subjective pleasure.

From Kant's saying, it may be realized that what man loves, man will feel its beauty.

In China, there is a saying in folks: In the eyes of lover, there is Xi Shi (a famous beautiful lady in ancient China)

Really, in the eyes of lover, his (her) sweetheart is the most beautiful.

Confucius regarded that the music Zhao was very beautiful. It showed that he loved Zhao very much. But a man who does not love music may not have the same view as Confucius. He might love the taste of meat and regard that the taste of meal is much more beautiful than music.

Is there no common criterion for Beauty? No, it is not the case.

In Kant's theory, mankind has Common Sense (see his Critique of Judgement).

Common Sense means that: in man's appreciation, there is a subjective principle, which through emotion, but not concept, determines what gives all men pleasure and what is disgusted by all men.

Beautiful flowers, sweet singing of birds, magnificent sightseeing will give all people pleasure and feeling of beauty.

Different civilization created different sense of Beauty. All Chinese people regard that famous poems in Tang dynasty are beautiful. All Christians regard that Christian Hymns are beautiful.

But the common point is: All men regarded that what they love is beautiful.

  2. Human Love is the Eternal Theme of all Arts.

All arts express Man's emotion.

Human Love is the kernel of Man's emotion. So Human Love is the eternal theme of all arts.

In ancient China, Confucius collected a large amount of folk songs and edited the famous classics Book of Songs, which reflected the love experience of our ancestor, especially the female.

The most famous works of Chinese literatures, as Peony Pavilion(牡丹亭) Dream of Red Mansions(红楼梦), etc. And the most famous works of Western literature, as Romeo and Juliet, The Lady of the Camellias, Anna. Karenina, etc. all took Love as their themes.

Most popular songs in China and in the West take Love as their themes.

  3. Human Love is the strong motive force of creation of all arts

How is art created? Of course, creating different arts requires different art technology. But it is impossible to create excellent art only by technology.

Creation of art requires plenty passion, a long time temper. And the most important is that it requires deep love for art ,for beauty and for mankind.

Great German musician Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) created nine world-famous Symphonies. Most of them were created in the period that his ears were becoming deaf gradually. His great Ninth Symphony was created when his ears were completely deaf. What was the spiritual motive force in his heart? It must be said that it was the passionate love for music and for mankind.

4, Relation between Truth, Good, Beauty and Human Love

People generally regarded that Truth, Good and Beauty are Man's highest pursuit. What is the relation between Human Love and Truth, Good and Beauty?

In philosophy, ontology and epistemology discuss problem of Truth. Axiology discusses problem of Good, Aesthetics discusses problem of Beauty.

From chapters in part 7 of this book, we may realize that Love (or Human Love) has close relation with Truth, Good and Beauty, as follows:

1) All Love, Truth, Good and Beauty are Man's essential characters

Man's essential characters are those characters which distinguish Man from any other animals. All Love, Truth, Good and Beauty are the combination of highly developed wisdom and emotion. Any other animals do not have such highly developed wisdom and emotion and their combination.

  2. Love is the strong motive force of Truth , Good and Beauty

Man has been endlessly pursuit of Truth, Good and Beauty. What is the motive force of these pursuits?

As explained in the above chapters, the motive force of man's pursuits of objective truth of the nature and the world is man's love for Truth. The motive force of man's pursuit of moral rules in human society (Good) is man's love for family members, friends, people, motherland and mankind. The motive force of Man's creation of excellent literature and arts is man's love for various beauties,

In summary human love is the basic motive force of man's pursuit of Truth, Good and Beauty

  3. Love is the Criteria for judging Truth , Good and Beauty

What is Truth? What is Good? What is Beauty? To have the judgement requires a criterion

  1. On Truth

The so called Truth is the Man's correct cognition of the objective nature or world. Man's cognition is related with Man's Love.

As to a convinced Christian, owing to his deep love for God, he regards that what Bible said is truth.

It is neither necessary nor useful to argue with Christian believers on what is the real truth.

But as to general people, owing to their deep love for the nature and their innate curiosity, the criteria of truth is only the real essence of the nature.

  2. On Good

Self love, kindhearted love, mutual love and fraternity are the basic contents of Good. So, certainly, human love is the most important criterion of Good.

In modern world, the common values accepted by all countries and people, as Liberty, Democracy, Equity, Rule of Law, Peace, Justice, Human Rights, etc. are all based on Human Love for people.

  3. On Beauty

Kant said: The essence of Beauty is a form of purposiveness. It means that Beauty is what gives Man pleasure or what Man loves.

Any person and thing who gives Man pleasure, Man will feel its beauty and also Man will love for it.

So, Beauty and Love are closely connected with each other.

In ancient Greek mythology there was a female god Venus, who was god of Beauty and also god of Love.

Of course, Beauty should be combined with Good. Personal love must conform to social Good and Human Love.

Part 8 Human Love and Human Life

This part will discuss the relation between Human Love and different aspects of Human life: politics, economics, civilization and Human harmony.

Chapter 8-1 Human Love and Politics

1, Human Love is the Basis of Equity and Liberty

In 18th century, Jean Rousseau (1712-1778) presented the thinking:

All, being born free and equal....

(The Social Contract, Book 2, Chap.2)

This thinking appeared in USA's Declaration of Independence in 1776 and Declaration of Human Rights in France in 1789.

Today, Equity and Liberty become the common value in the whole world. They are also included in Chines Socialist Kernel Values declared by CCP (Chinese Communist Party) in 2012..

But in Chinese and Western real history, in fact, there was not the case that all men were born free and equal.

In the period of more than 2000 years of Chinese imperial dictatorship, every one, began with his birth, belonged to different classes. Wangzhi Gao (高望之) in his work, Confucian Filiality, wrote:

The division of classes among the Chinese population started long before the Zhou, during which period, however, that division became more sharply distinct. Aristocrats were now patently distinguished from non-aristocratic commoners, consisting of shuren 庶人 (the common people at large), guoren 国人 (commoners living in the capitals of states), and yeren 野人 (commoners living in the countryside).

In ancient Greece, there was the division of three classes: ruling class, samurai class, and civilian class.

In the Middle ages of Europe, the position of Pope was higher than that of king; the position of king is higher than that of nobility; the position of nobility is higher than that of common people.

In Capitalist period, someone was born in capitalist family; someone was born in worker's family. People born in different families, their education obtained and substantial enjoyments surely are different.

So, the saying of "All being born free and equal" does not conform to historical facts.

Then, why people in different countries all accepted this saying?

Since this saying conforms to human nature.

Rousseau presented this saying from the situation of original human being and from the view of human nature

In his The Social Contract, he wrote:

This common liberty results from the nature of man. His first law is to provide for his own preservation, his first cares are those which he owes to himself; and, as soon as he reaches years of discretion, he is the sole judge of the proper means of preserving himself, and consequently becomes his own master.

(The Social Contract, Book 1, Chap.2)

### Rousseau wrote about in Freedom his famous work: A Discourse upon the Origin and the Foundation of Inequality among Mankind.

### The outline meaning is: animals are controlled completely by nature. But Man has the freedom to obey or disobey, Since Man has the freedom, Man shows his spiritual soul.

So, considering the origin and the nature of human being, we must recognize that all men are born equal and free.

Since loving Equity and Liberty belongs to human nature, so

Equity and Liberty are very important content of Human Love. They are also the basis of Human Love. This is the reason these two ideas have been accepted by all modern countries and all people

2, Democracy and Rule of Law are the Essential Claim of Human Love

Rousseau wrote in his The Social Contract,

"The problem is to find a form of association which will defend and protect with the whole common force the person and goods of each associate, and in which each, while uniting himself with all, may still obey himself alone, and remain as free as before." This is the fundamental problem of which the Social Contract provides the solution.

(The Social Contra, Chapter 6)

This is the thinking of "sovereignty belongs to people", which is the basic principle of Democracy.

In Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (France, 1789), the third clause is:

The principle of all sovereignty resides essentially in the nation.

Here "Nation" means all people and citizens

In USA's Declaration of Independence (1776), there is stated:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that they are among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among them, deriving their just power from the consent of the governed.

In China's Constitution (modified in 2004), it is stated:

All powers of People's Republic of China belong to people

These solemn statements all express the principle of Democracy: sovereignty belongs to people.

As to Rule of Law , British philosopher John Locke(1632-1704) was the establisher of modern thinking of Rule of Law

He wrote in his Two Treatise of the Government:

Men therefore in society having property, they have such a right to the goods, which by the law of the community are theirs, that no body hath a right to take their substance or any part of it from them without their own consent .

(Chapter 11)

So, in the opinions of Rousseau and Locke,

The goal of Democracy is to guarantee every one's personal freedom.

The goal of Rule of Law is to protect everyone's right of property.

In summary, for guaranteeing people's liberty and protecting people's property, a country must have Democracy and Rule of Law.

So, Democracy and Rule of Law are the essential claim of Human Love .

3 Justice is the comprehensive love for all people

Justice is a problem concerned by ancient to modern Chinese and Western philosophers.

Plato, in his book The Republic, stated his opinion of Man's Good and Four Virtues.

He presented the theory of Man's four virtues: Wisdom, Temperance, Courage and Justice.

Plato pointed out that if a man has a suitable combination of reason, passion and desire; his passion and desire are guided by his reason, then he is a man of justice.

It may be seen that in Plato's opinion, Justice is the synthesis of wisdom, temperance and courage. Justice is placed at the top location in four virtues.

Modern American philosopher John Rawls (1921—2002) in his work A Theory of Justice, presented two principles of Justice:

The first principle: Each person is to have an equal right to the most extensive basic liberty compatible with a similar liberty for others.

The second principle is also called the difference principle and it specifies how economic advantages should be distributed. It has two parts Firstly, there is the difference principle proper, the principle for the distribution of acquired wealth in society. This is basically the principle to regulate taxation and redistribution, the second part of the second principle of equal opportunity. It regulates access to coveted social positions-basically jobs and positions of authority

Rawls' two principles of Justice mean that.

  1. In the aspects of Liberty, everyone in the society should have equal rights.

  2. In the aspects of economy, certain degree of inequity should be allowed. But it must be proper and regulated by taxation and redistribution. And the opportunity for jobs and positions should be equal.

These two principles will guarantee a society that everyone has equal rights and also equal opportunities. And at the same time, two principles will guarantee the continuous development of social economy which is the basis of happiness of all people.

Rawls' theory of Justice summarized the modern theories of economics and politics. It conforms to the equality and happiness for all people.

So, the principle of Justice is beneficial to all people. It is the basis of comprehensive Human Love.

.

Chapter 8-2 Human Love and Economics

This chapter discusses the relation between Human Love and economic thinking and economic development.

1, Economics should be based on Love for people and making richness of people.

In Chinese philosophy, the economic thinking of Confucianism was started from the idea of Confucius' "Kindheartedness means loving men".

You Ruo (有若),a student of Confucius said:

If people are satisfied of their livelihood, how could be the king not satisfied of his country

In Tang dynasty, prime minister Liu Yan (刘晏)said:

Loving people should be the first goal of financial management.

Famous politician Lu Zhi (陆贽) said:

The goal of establishing official system and the country is to provide good livelihood of people.

In ancient China before Song dynasty, the dominant economic thinking was paying more attention to agriculture and less attention to industry and commerce. After Song dynasty, commerce and industry had been developing rapidly. Famous scholar Huang Zongxi (黄宗羲) presented the thinking of paying equal attention to agriculture , industry and commerce. This thinking considered the richness of people.

In the West, famous British scholar Adam Smith was not only an economist, but also an ethicist. He wrote two famous book s, one is An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. And the other is The Theory of Moral Sentiments. The second book emphasized mutual love and sympathy between people. He regarded that mutual love between people is essential for economic development. The goal of his economic theory was to make richness of people so as to have the richness of the country

2, Human Love is the common goal of marketing and regulation.

Adam Smith was the establisher of marketing economics in the world. His theory is: a country must have fully developed free market and must let all individuals pursue their own profit by their legal management in free competition of market and to realize their personal richness. This is the effective method to reach the goal of social and national richness.

All experiences of economic development of different countries in the world have been proving that his theory is correct.

China is not an exception. More than 60 years of China's economic development also proved that Smith's theory is correct.

In the period from 1949 to 1978, China studied the experience of planned economy from USSR and implemented Planned Economy. The result is: it failed.

After 1978 up to now , China has been basically implementing market economics , allowing farmers' self management, allowing and encouraging the development of private industry and commerce and opening up two markets: domestic and international . In 30 years, China's economy has been getting very rapid development and China becomes the second largest economic country in the world.

But, the great economic crisis in 1929 and the financial crisis in 2008 showed that it is not enough for a stable economic development to depend only on free market. A certain extent of governmental regulation is necessary. In the financial crisis of 2008, Chinese government had a great amount input to various economic entities and made China have a sooner recovery of economics.

People's livelihood should be based on a sooner and also stable development of economy which requires both marketing system and proper governmental regulation.

In summary, Love for people is the common basis of both marketing system and governmental regulation.

3, Love for people and Narrowing the gap between the rich and the poor

Spontaneous development of economy will cause economical runaway and also the disparity between the rich and the poor, which will be an important factor of social instability.

Asking a complete equity of property of all people is a thinking of Equalitarianism, which is harmful to economic development.

Under a law system of Equity, due to the difference of wisdom and ability of different persons, the free marketing system must create certain difference of property between people. Proper difference of property will encourage people to make their effort and creativity, hence push forward the progress of society.

But, if there is too large disparity between the rich and the poor, it is not a reasonable and good society. Finally, it will become an obstacle to economic development.

In 20th century, there appear many new economic theories, as Welfare Economics, Development Economics, Economics for the poor, etc. all those theories are aiming to the problem for relieving the disparity between the rich and the poor.

Under the influence of these theories, many Western countries have been implementing various policies of social security, as Old age security, Medical security and Unemployment insurance, etc.

China also has a large disparity between the rich and the poor. According to the statistics, in 2008, the Gini Coefficient of China reached 0.469, apparently higher than the warning line (0.4). This situation does not conform to the goal of Socialism with Chinese Character.

To relieving the disparity between the rich and the poor, it requires the common concern of the whole society. The most important factor is the common Love for people especially Love for the vulnerable group of people.

4, Love for creativity is the most important motivate force of economic development

Modern economist Joseph Schumpeter(1883-1950) presented Theory of Creativity, which was an very important development in Science of Economics. Creativity that he talked is a new combination of production factors, putting new factor or new combination into production system. Task of entrepreneur is to realize production creativity, introduce new production combination. Development of economics is the result of continuous creativity.

He classified history of capitalist economic development into 4 periods:

A, 1787-1841, the period of industrial revolution

B, 1842-1897, the period of steam engine and steel

C, 1898- 1940s, the period of electrical, chemical and automobile industry.

D, Began from 1950s, the period of information revolution.

It is true that information technology (IT) has been promoting the rapid development of modern economics.

Thomas Alva _Edison (_1847—1931)was the representative of the period of Electrification . His interest in invention and creation came completely from his deep love for science and technology. In his whole life, he had more than 2000 inventions, as phonograph, electric light, transistor, movie, regular tram, etc. His series invention and creation pushed forward the electrification of whole world and made great contribution to economic development and improvement of human life.

From the story of _Edison, it may be known that the deep love for science and technology is a strong motive force of economic development._

Chapter 8-3 Human Love and Harmony

Harmony was a kernel idea in traditional Chinese philosophy and was also an elite traditional civilization of China.

From 2005, up to now, Harmony (or Cooperation and Mutual Win) has been the dominant thinking and policy of modern China.. China advocates Harmony (Cooperation and Mutual Win) in international relations and Harmony in domestic policies.

1, Human Love and Harmonious World

  1. Human Love and Worldwide Political Harmony

In long history of mankind, there has been forming a series Common Values that are accepted by most countries and most people in the world.

Those Common Values include: Peace, Liberty, Equity, Democracy, Rule of Law, Human Rights, etc.

Those Common values conform to human nature and are essential for all modern countries.

All those Common Values come from Love for people and Love for mankind.

In history of mankind, people had been suffering from war, autocracy, racism, colonialism, etc.

In Charter of the United Nations, it is written that:

The Preamble to the treaty reads as follows:

We the peoples of the United Nations determined

  * to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and

  * to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and

  * to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and

  * to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,

It may be seen that those Common Values(Peace ,Liberty , Equity, Democracy, Rule of Law, Human Rights, etc.) are all fully expressed in the Charter of UN, which reflect clearly Love for people and Love for mankind.

All those Common Values are the basis of political harmony of the world.

After World War II, especially after the end of cold war, there is no worldwide war appears in the world. World political harmony has been getting great progress.

But local wars happened quite often, international terrorism becomes a major threat in the world.

To realize complete political harmony of the world based of Human Love is still a long way to go ahead.

  2. Human Love and Worldwide Economic Harmony

After World War II, the world is apparently divided into two groups: developed countries (or the North) and developing countries.

Developed countries are distributed in Europe and North America (the North) .Developing countries are distributed in Asia, Africa and Latin America (the South), occupying 2/3 of world land and 3/4 of world population.

The economic level and livelihood of people of developing countries are apparently backward compared with that of developed countries.

The main reason of this division of countries is: In 17-19th centuries, those countries in Europe and North America implemented industry revolution and capitalism much earlier than those countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Those early developed countries had got much strong economic, scientific and military powers. They invaded those countries in the South and made them as their colony or semi colony, so that caused serious Inhibition of the development of those countries being invaded.

After World War II, those countries in the South had been obtaining independence. But due to the long time oppression, their economies are still far behind those developed countries.

Today, there appears a new situation of world economics. All economic development of developed countries shows a trend of slowing down. The domestic market of those countries is not large enough to accommodate their production ability. They must depend on the world market. If the South countries could not have a quick economic development, it is impossible to have a large world market.

So, today, there must be a common development of all countries in the world. The economic development of the South countries will enlarge the market of the products of the North countries. And the South countries also require the technology and capital help from the North countries.

The only way is to have cooperation between the North and the South (North-South Cooperation) and also the cooperation between the South countries them selves (South-South Cooperation)

Here, we may review Chinese ancient philosopher Mo Zi' s saying:

When there is universal love in the world, the world will be peaceful, and when there is mutual hatred in the world, the world will be chaotic

If a man loves others, the others must love him. If a man benefits others, the others must benefit him.

(Mo Zi, Chap. 14)

"Loving each other and benefiting each other" is a very important principle in Mo Zi's philosophy of Love.

Either North-South Cooperation or South-South Cooperation should be based on mutual love and mutual benefit of people in different countries in the world .

  3. Human Love and Worldwide Civilizational Harmony

Pluralism of worldwide civilization exits in the past, today and also the future. And at the same time , fusion of different civilizations has ben a long time trend in human history which promoted progress of mankind.

Why there is the possibility for fusing of deferent civilization?

The reasons are:

A, they face to the same world

B, they come from same human nature

C. they base on same human ration

D, they have the same goal of human happiness.

So, there are some important common ideas in different civilizations. Among those ideas, the most important idea is: Human Love.

Ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius said:

Kindheartedness means loving men.

Ancient Greek philosopher Plato said:

Eros (god of love) is the fairest and blessedest and the best of the gods and also the youngest.

The main religions in the world (Christianity, Islamism, Buddhism, etc.) all take Love as their highest belief.

It may be said that Human Love is the common thinking of East and West civilization and the common thinking of whole mankind.

So Human Love is the basis of worldwide civilizational harmony.

2, Human Love and Harmonic China

  1. Human Love and China's Economic Harmony

Since 1978, China implemented the policy of Reform and Opening up. Through development in 30 and more years, China becomes the second largest economic entity in the world.

The main reason of China's rapid economic development is: China has transforming the planned economics to marketing economics.

The theoretical basis of marketing economics was established by British economist Adam Smith. His theory is: through richness of individuals to reach richness of country. From the view of Human Love, his theory is the combination of Self Love and Others Love.

The greatest contribution of European Renaissance and Enlightenment movement was the discovery and affirming of Man, primary the individual man

Self Love is the starting point of Human Love. In the situation of China, since 1978, farmers have right of self management of their land, people have the right to create their private economy. All people have the right to have their own properties. All of those changes arouse people's enthusiasm for getting rich. This is the main motivate force of China's rapid economic development.

But at the same time, there appear some serious problems in China. The main problems are: ① The disparity between the rich and the poor;②Serious corruption of officers;③Deterioration of the environment .

Relieving the disparity between the rich and the poor requires many measures. The most important one is that all officers in central and local government and also all the successful entrepreneurs should establish the thinking of love for people, especially love for vulnerable people. They .at the same time of economic development, should pay enough attention to social development and social security, as Old age security, Medical security, Unemployment insurance and also the business of philanthropy.

  2. Human Love and China's political harmony

In 2004, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 16th Central Committee of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) presented the goal of building a socialist harmonious society.

In 2014, the 18th Central Committee of CCP presented 16 Socialist Kernel Values. Harmony is one of kernel values..  
Besides economic harmony, political harmony is also very important for modern China.

The ideas of Liberty, Democracy, Liberty, Equity, Justice and Rule of Law are all essential for political harmony in China

Pursuit of Liberty comes from human nature. With the improvement of people's living standards, people will certainly ask for more Liberty.

Liberties of thinking, speaking, publishing and academic research are essential for the progress of China's science and civilization.

Press freedom and News supervision are an important force to restrain corruption of officers.

Democracy and Rule of Law are the essential condition of political harmony.

In 2014, the Fourth Plenary Session of the 18th Central Committee of the CCP presented the policy of "manage state affairs according to law".

This is a correct direction of political progress of China.

All those ideas, as Liberty, Democracy, Rule of Law, Equity, Human rights are based on Love for people. Since all those ideas (not the opposite) are beneficial to people.

  3. Human Love and China's National Harmony

China is a country composed of 56 nations. National harmony has very important meaning for stability and development of China

For the goal of realizing national harmony, it is essential to establish the concerning emotion of Government for people of minority nationalities and the mutual love between Han (the majority nation in China) and minority nationalities.

Tibetan Buddhism is a branch of Buddhism. It's belief came from Buddhism , So the doctrines of Buddhism : ①Self Conscience and Enlightening Others; ②Saving all people, are also the belief of Tibet people.

Most Xinjiang people believe Islamism. Their belief is:

Be filial to parents, be friendly to relatives, be harmonic to neighbors, have sympathy with the poor, be tolerant to servants and slaves.

(Koran)

So, either Tibet people or Xinjiang people have the belief of Kindhearted Love, Friendly Love and Love for Peace.

If the government and Han people (the majority nationality) have deep love for them, respect their religious beliefs, make great effort to help them with development of economics, and education, getting rid of poverty and backwardness, China must realize National Harmony. .

  4. Human Love and Harmony between two sides of the Taiwan Straits

The separation of two sides of the Strait was formed by Chinese modern history.

Since the separation , there was sharply conflicting of "Liberation of Taiwan" and" Counter-attack on the mainland" and also the "Dessinification " effort in the age of Chen Shuibian (陈水扁).

Since KMT returned to government in 2008, the relation between two sides has been becoming much better. Three Direct Links (direct links in post, transportation and trade between China mainland and Taiwan) have been realized.

People living in two sides are mostly Han nationality. They all received the education of Confucianism. They have similarities in language, civilization and living habits.

In recent years, mainland China has been developing rapidly in economics and people's livelihood. Taiwan has been getting progress in political reform.

People living in both sides are brothers, compatriots and relatives. So, if the ruling authorities insist on the policy of reconciliation, carry forward the spirit of mutual love, the harmony between two sides must have even better development. The rejuvenation of the Chinese Nation must be realized in the future.

3, Human Love and Harmonic Life and Harmonic Heart

  1. Human love and personal life

Not only the world or a country requires harmony. Everyone' s life and heart also require harmony.

The chief problem of harmony of man's life and man's heart is: the combination of Self Love and Others Love.

One's Self Love should include: love for one's health, talent and morals.

From childhood to old age, one should concern his (her) own health, which is the basis of life.

In the aspect of talent, in the age of student, one should study hard to obtain various knowledges and raise talent. While one goes to the society, he (she) should display his (her) talents to the largest extent as possible. After retirement, he (she) may display his (her) talent continuously in personal preferences (as writing, painting, calligraphy, photography, traveling, etc.) to have a joyful old age.

In the aspect of morals, one should pay attention to his (her) own morality. The most important morality is: loving others as loving oneself.

Self Love is not selfish at all. Self Love must be combined with Others Love.

Loving one's family members, loving friends, and loving people will bring to you the most pleasure of human life

  2. Human Love and Social Harmony

Surrounding everyone, there is a small society.

Your friends, schoolmates, collegues, neighbors construct the small society around you.

The unit in which that you are working, the social associations in which you take part are also the small society of you.

The mutual love, mutual help and mutual communication in those small societies are the great pleasure of human life.

In those small societies, there must be members younger than you and members elder than you. While you communicate with the young, you will feel that you are becoming young. While you get along \with the old, you will find there is much you could study.

Respecting the old and loving the young was the outstanding Chinese tradition. Today, it is still valuable.

  3. Human Love and Family Harmony

Your parents gave birth to you and raise you growing up. They have paid a lot of hardships for you.

Having filial love to you parents is your responsibility, and also you will feel the pleasure of gratefulness.

You spouse (wife or husband) is the person who lives together with you for the longest time than that of others. In the process of establishing your own family and raising your common children, you two make the common efforts. In your jobs or business, either be successful or be failed, your spouse gives you the most timely encouragement and help .While you are getting sick , your spouse gives you the most warm comfort.

In my opinion and experience, the long time deep love between husband and wife is the greatest pleasure of human life.

Your children and grand children are the continuation of your life. Their birth and growth gives you great pleasure. Your kindhearted love gives them energy of growth and leads them in the correct direction of their progress.

  4. Human Love and Harmony of Living and Death

From the view of body, living and death are opposite. But from the view of spirit, living and death are united.

Did Confucius die? Did Jesus die? Did Newton die? Did Mozart die? Yes all of them died many years ago.

But what died were their bodies. From the view of spirit, their theory, their teaching, their discovery, their art and their love will be living in the world for ever.

If in your heart, you have love for your family members , love for people , love for truth , love for your mankind , love for the great nature , then for you living and death have no difference

If you have deep human love, you will understand the unity of man and nature and the unity of life and death. You will attain the eternity of life.

(End of Book).

Main References

  1. Love Philosophy,

Philosophy of Love, Irving Singer, MIT Press, 2009

A General Theory of Love, T.Lewis, . Random House Inc.2000

Sex Psychology ,Henry Havelock Ellis,translated by Pan Guangdai,Commercial Press,2008

A Natural History of Love, Diane Ackerman, translated by Zhang Min, Huacheng Press.2008

The art of Loving, Erich Fromm, translated by Zhao Zhengguo, International Culture Publishing Co. 2004

Eros and Civilization, Herbert Marcuse, translated by Huang Yong Shanghai Century Press, 2008

Education of Love, E.de Amicis, translated by Xia Gaizun

Yiling Press,1997

2, Books in Chinese philosophy and history

  1. Classics in Chinese

Four Books and Five Classics(四书五经),Shenyang Press,1996

Book of Changes(易经) ,Shanxi Ancient Works Press,1999

Lao Zi (老子),Liaoning National Press,1996

The Analects of Confucius(论语),Shandong Friendship Press,1988

Mo Zi(墨子),Shanghai Ancient Works Press,1995

Zhuang Zi(庄子),Jilin Literature and History Press,2004

Mencius(孟子),Bashu Book.Co.1996

Xun Zi(荀子),Yue Lu Book Co.,1990

Han Feizi(韩非子),Yuanfang Press,2004

Chunqiu Fanlu (春秋繁露),Dong Zhongsu(董仲舒), China Economy Press,2002

Lun Heng (论衡),Wang Chong(王充),Guizhou People Oress,1993

Wang Bi Collection(王弼集校释),China Book Co.1987

Bao Puzi(抱朴子内篇),Ge Hong, China Social Science Press,1995

Han ChangLi Collection(韩昌黎全集) ,China Book Co.1991

Liu Zhongyuan Collection (柳宗元全集), Shanghai Ancient Works Press,1997

Liu Yixi Collection (刘禹锡全集),Shanxi Ancient Works Press,,2000

Zhengmong(正蒙), Zhang Zai(张载), Shanghai Ancient Works Press,2000

Two Cheng Collection(二程全集).China Book Co.1981

Lu Jiuyuan Collection(陆九渊全集),China Book Co.1980

Chuanxi Record(传习录),Wang Yangming(王阳明),,Jiangsu Ancient Works Press,2001

Huang Zhongxi Collection(黄宗羲全集) ,Zhejiang Ancient Works Press,2002

Dai Zheng Collection(戴震全集) , Shanghai Ancient Works Press,,1980

Introduction of Ancient Chinese Literatures, Zhang Taiyan(章太炎), Shanghai Ancient Works Press,1997

Liang Qichao Collection(梁启超全集), Baihua Literature and art Press.2002

Sun Zhongshan Collection(孙中山全集) , Unification Press,1997

Duxiu Collection(独秀文存),Chen Duxiu, Anhui Press,1987

Hu Shi Collection(胡适全集), Guangming Daily Press,1998

Liang Suming Collection(梁漱溟全集), Qunyan Press,1993

Xiong Shili Collection(熊十力全集).Qunyan Press, 1993

Outline of Chinese Philosophy(中国哲学史大纲),Hu Shi, East Press,2004

New Edition of History of Chinese Philosophy(中国哲学史新编),Feng Youlan(冯友兰) ,People Press,1998

History of Chinese Philosophy(中国哲学史), Liu Wenying(刘文英), Nankai Press.2002

New Edition of History of Chinese Philosophy(新编中国哲学史), Lao Siguang(劳思光) ., Guangxi Normal University Press,2005

  2. Chinese Classic Books in English

Book of Changes, Translated by Wang Rongpei, Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 2007

The Books of Dao and De, Translated by Gu Zhengkun, China Translation Co, 2007

The Discourses and Sayings of Confucius, Translated by Gu Hongming. Yunnan People Press, 2011

Chuang Tzi, Translated by Feng Youlan, Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press, 2012

The Great Learning, Translated by James Legge, Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press, 2011

The Doctrine of The Mean, Translated by James Legge, Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press, 2011

Mo Zi Says, Edited by Cai Xiqing, Xinolingua Press,2011

The Works of Mencius, Translated by James Legge, Foreign LanguageTeaching and Research Press,2011

Xun Zi Says, Edited by Cai Xiqing, Xinolingua Press,2012

A Short History of Chinese Philosophy, Feng Youlan ,Jiangsu Literature and Art Press,2012

Confucian Filiality, Gao Wangzhi, CN Times Books Inc.2013

(Referenced in this book with some modification by the author.)

3, Western Philosophy

  1. Books in English published or copied from the webs of Tower Babel, Baidu, Jingdong,etc

The Republic, Plato

Symposium, Plato

Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle

Meditation of First philosophy, Descartes

Leviathan, Hobbes

An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, Locke

TwoTreatises of Government, Locke

An Enquiry concerning the Principle of Morals , Hume

A Treatise of Human Nature,. Hume

The Critique of Pure Reason, Kant

The Critique of Practical Reason, Kant

The Critique of Judgement, Kant

Considerations on Representative Government, Mill

Manifest of the Communist Party, Marx

The History of Western Philosophy, Russell, Simon & Schuster, 1972

  3. Books in Chinese

Routledge History of Philosophy, C.C.W.Taylor, translated by Han Dongfei, China People University Press, 2003

Text book of History of Philosophy, Wilhelm Windelband, translated by Han Donghui, Commercial Press,1997

A Belief History of Philosophy, Will Durant, translated by Xiao Yao, Chinese Friendship Press,2004,

Collection of Plato, translated by Wang Xiaoyang, People Press, 2003

Metaphysics, Aristotle, translated by Wu Shoupeng, Commercial Press, 1996

New Tool, Francis Bacon, translated by Xu Baokui, Commercial Press, 1984

Letters on Philosophy, Voltaire, translated by Gao Daguan, Shanghai People Press, 2002.

The Social Contract, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, translated by He Zhaowu, Commercial Press,2003 Commercial Press,1984

The Phenomenology of Mind , Friedrich Hegel, translated by He Ling, Commercial Press,1997

Science of Logic, Friedrich Hegel, translated by Liang Zhixue, People Press, 2002

Selection of Marx and Engels, People Press, 1975

Collection of Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche,Edited by Liang JIe, Reform Press,1995

# **Introductory Lectures on Psycho-Analysis** **,** Sigmund Freud, translated by Peng Shen, Shanxi People Press, 2001

General Introduction to Pure Phenomenology, E.Edmund Husserl, translated by Li Youzheng, Commercial Press,1997

Being and Time, Martin Heidegger, translated by Chen Jiaying, Sanlian Book Co.2000

_Existentialism is a Humanism_ ,Jean-Paul Sartre,translated by Zhou Xiliang ,Shanghai Literature Translation Press,1988

Collection of Michel Foucault, translated by Pi Xiaozhen, Shanghai Fareast Press, 1998

The Protestant Ethic and the spirit of Capitalism, Max Weber, translated by Yu Xiao, Sanlian Book Co.1987

# Specters of Marx , Jacques Derrida, translated by He Yi, China People University Press, 1999

Philosophical Apprenticeships, Hans-Georg Gadamer translated by Xia Zhengping, Shanghai Literature Translation Press, 2004

Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy, Joseph Alois Schumpeter,. translated by Wu Liangjian, Commercial Press, 2002

History of Western Esthetics, Zhu Guangqian, People Press, 1964

Essentials of Western Contemporary Philosophy, Zhao Dunhua, Beijing University Press, 2001

History of Western Philosophy, Edited by Ye Xiushan, Jiangsu People Press, 2004

Modern Western Philosophy, Liu Fangtong, People Press,1 990

4. Moral Philosophy

Ethic (in English), Baruch de Spinoza, Tower Babel

Basis of Moral Metaphysics, Immanuel Kant, translated by Sun Xiaowei, China Social Science Press, 2009

The System of Ethic, Johann Gottlieb Fichte, translated by Liang Zhixue, Commercial Press, 2010

The Theory of Moral Sentiment (in English), Adam Smith, Tower Babel

The Elements of Moral Philosophy, James Rachels, translated by Yang Zhongyuan , China People University Press,2009

Chinese History of Ethic, Cai Yuanpei, Shanghai Ancient Book Press, 2005

Theory of Good and Evil, Ni Suxiang, Wuhan University Press,2001

Research on View of Value, Chen Zhanglong, Nanjing Normal University Press, 2004

Virtues of Chinese People, edited by Jing Huiming, China People University Press, 2006

The History of Western Ethic Thoughts, Song Xuren, China People University Press, 2004

Confucian Filiality (in English), Gao Wangzhi, CN Times Books, 2013

Discussion of Chinese Traditional Moral Philosophy, Qing Daokuan, Unification Press, 2009

5. Political Philosophy,

Politics, Aristotle, translated by Wu Shoupeng, Commercial Press, 2010

Human Right and Liberty, John Locke, translated by Shi Rui, Tianjing Social Science Press, 2011

Metaphysics Principle of Law, Immanuel Kant, translated by Shen Suping, Commercial Press, 2003

On Liberty, John Stuart Mill, translated by Xu Baokui, Commercial Press, 2010

Lectures of the History of Political Philosophy, John Rawls, translated by Yang Tongjing, China Social Science Press,2007,

A Theory of Justice, John Rawls, translated by He Huaihong , China Social Science Press,1999

The Rise and Decline of Western Liberalism , Anthony Arblaster, translated by Cao Haijun, Liling People Press,2004

History of Western Political Philosophy, Wang Yan, World Knowledge Press, 2010

Politics, Andrew Heywood, translated by Zhang Lipeng, China People University Press, 2006

On Democracy of America, Tocqueville, translated by Zhang Xiaoming, Beijing People Press, 2007

History of Western Democracy, Ying Kefu, China Social Science Press, 1997

Chinese Traditional Political Philosophy, Zhou Guitian et.al. Hebei People Press, 2001

6. Beauty Philosophy,

Poetics, Aristotle, translated by Luo Niansheng,People Literature Press.

Esthetics, Friedrich Hegel, translated by Zhu Guangqian, Commercial Press, 1997

Philosophy of Art, H.A.Taine, translated by Fu Lei, Anhui Literature and Art Press, 1991

Western History of Esthetics, Zhu Guangqian, People Press, 1964

New Edition of Western History of Esthetics, Zhang Qiquan, Commercial Press, 2010

Wenxin Diaolong(《文心雕龙》),Liu Xie, noted by Zhou Zhenfu, Commercial Press,1981

Letters on Beauty, Zhu Guangqian, People Press, 2001

The Path of Beauty, Li Zehou, Sanlian Book Co.2001

Principle of Esthetics, Ye Lang Beijing University Press, 2009

Principle of Esthetics, Wang Xueyang, Shanghai People Press, 2000

Modern Western Esthetics, Niu Baohong, Shanghai People Press, 2002

Philosophy of Beauty, Ye Xiushan, World Knowledge Publishing Co.2010

Brief Chinese History of Esthetics, Zhu Zhirong, Beijing University Press, 2007

Chinese History of Esthetics, Chen Wangheng, People Press, 2005

7. Religion Philosophy and Soul Philosophy,

On the Soul, Aristotle, Baidu Read,

Religion within the bounds of bare reason. Immanuel Kant, translated by Li Qiuling, China People University Press, 2009

Religion and Science, Bertrand Russell, translated by Xu Yichun et.al. Commercial Press, 2010

Philosophy and Belief, Karl Theodor Jaspers, translated by Luo Lu, People Press, 2010

Christian Theory and Modernity, Ernst Troltsch, translated by Zhu Yanbing, Huaxia Press, 2004

The Way of Rational Faith, An Lun, Xueling Press, 2009

Walking on the Edge of Life, Yang Jiang, Commercial Press, 2007

Religion Philosophy in the Enlightenment Age, Dan Shun, China Social Press, 2010

Various Views on Soul Chen Junwei, China Social Science Press, 2006

8. Works on Philosophy of the Author

Essay on Synthesis Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, China Culture Press, 2007

Strolling on Western Philosophy 2nd Edition, Gao Liangzhi, Wuhan University Press, 2014

A Brief Discussion on Chinese Philosophy, 2nd Edition, Gao Liangzhi, Wuhan University Press, 2014

Good Philosophy and Common Values, Gao Liangzhi, China Culture Press, 2014

Beauty Philosophy, Gao Liangzhi, Wuhan University Press,2014

Does Man have Soul? —Soul Philosophy and Scientific Rational Belief, Gao Liangzhi, Zhejiang University Press, 2015

Fusion of Chinese and Western Wisdom –Synthesis of Chinese and Western Philosophy, Zhejiang University Press, 2015

(Other references are noted in the related chapters of this book)

