Revelation and Influence of Confucius and Socrates’Educational Thoughts
【Abstract】With the rapid development of economy，our country is experiencing an all-round，multi-level social transformation.Thus the value orientation and moral standard are also showing a trend of diversification.However，the problem is that the social morality of people began to decline； the old value system ud to accept by us is collapsing gradually，while new value system has not formed yet.In such a situation，whether we can properly solve the problem will not only affect the construction of a harmonious society，but also decide the destiny and future of our country.Therefore，the key to solve the prent moral education is to establish new order that fits our current social development.As the originator of moral education，Confucius and Socrates' educational thoughts have been exerting great influence on the later generations.Confucius，the founder of moral education in ancient China，established a complete t of educational ideological system with“humaneness”as the core and “ritual”as its form of education.Bad on the concept of “humaneness”，he propod filial piety，love and loyalty etc.as the most important concepts whenever at his time or that of ours.Socrates is also the father of western moral e
ducation who created a t of system，in which“goodness”is the core of his thoughts.“Know yourlf”and“Virtue is knowledge”are the most famous concepts of his moral education.
【Key words】Confucius； Socrates； moral education； humaneness； goodness
Confucius and Socrates are both outstanding thinkers，who ethics are the source of moral educational thoughts，exerting a far-reaching influence on the later generations.Both of them t ethics and morals as the highest standard to save people.However，due to different historical background and geographic environment，their moral education ideas prented the characteristic of harmony without uniformity.With the development of economy，especially when western and eastern moral education ideas blend each other，Confucius and Socrates' moral education thoughts will be extremely important to the theory significance as well as practice significance in our modern society in such a cultural globalization era.
I.The Outline Educational Thoughts of Confucius and Socrates
1.The Moral Educational Contents of Confucius and Socrates.A hallmark of Confucius' thought is his emphasis on education and study.The core and esnce of his moral education is“benevolence”，with“Li”as the main body.“Li”is the external form and the basic conditions.“Li”refers to the specific social relationship including rites，norms and standards etc.“Benevolence”is the spirit of“Li”，that is，love，loyalty and filial piety.He who learns but does not think is lost.He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger.Socrates thinks that “goodness”is the most undoubtful truth as well as the origin of all things.In his opinion，goodness is the standard of beauty，which is also the motivation for pursuit of virtue.Another famous saying “Virtue is knowledge” aims to tell us that knowledge is the understanding of the nature and the concept of the whole world.Knowledge is the ability to distinguish right from wrong，true from fal，good from evil，which is actually an internal state of consciousness of the individual soul.Just becau of virtues acting as a special kind of knowledge，Socrates believes that virtue is teachable，which means virtue can be learned by human beings. 2.The Moral Educational Target of Confucius and Socrates.Confucius' goal is to create gentlemen who
carry themlves with grace，speak correctly，and demonstrate integrity in all things.If Confucius’ moral education aims to cultivate the social norms and standards of the sage，a gentleman，then to pursue the lf soul of an individual is the target of Socrates’.His moral goal is not specific，and is also unable to quantify.Socrates put forward “know yourlf”and takes it as a motto.
3.The Moral Educational Method of Confucius and Socrates.Confucius had formed rich methods of moral education in the teaching practice of his life.To sum up，there are mainly two aspects： one is the moral lf-cultivation methods，namely the pedagogue make the benevolence，righteousness，propriety initiative，wisdom，faith，moral norms into moral psychology and then transformed into moral behavior of certain methods； the cond is moral lf repair，which means that educatee themlves should promote each other，complement each other.The methods of moral education of Socrates is called“Maieutics”，he even likened himlf as“Midwife”，who refud to give the educatee a ready answer but stimulated and led them to arch for it through discussion or debate upon contradictions.
II.The Moral Educational Commonness of Confucius and Socrates
1.The Common Idea of Moral Education---Education Promotes Morality.Education is accompanied by the emergence of human society.Spontaneous and scattered，the previous education was originally without any organization.Confucius believes that only through different forms of learning will the quality be congenital into its own virtues.Socrates points out： “man is not born to know virtue，which should be taught through education.Virtue is a kind of instinct endowed by God.If he accepts the gift of God，then he knows what virtue is.”Virtue is knowledge，thus the education guide are needed.Therefore，“virtue is knowledge”came into being.
2.Common Principle： No social Distinctions in Teaching.As the public teachers，Confucius and Socrates opened the eastern and western private education of its kind.They tried to pass on the humanistic education to change the social conditions against social unrest at that time.They wanted to change the moral behavior of people at the time of social moral value were under the background of chaos.Both of them persisted such idea that “no social distinctions in teaching”.
