Diqin Designer

Chapter 205: We must face up to the existence of objective problems

Li Nian looked at the more than 3,000 people standing and saluting him, shook his head and said, "I am really unworthy of this gift! Please take your seats!"

He merely took advantage of being from the lower end of history. In terms of wisdom and talent, he might not be ranked in the middle among these people.

But after Li Nian finished speaking, everyone did not move, and just continued, "Please accept our greetings, sir!"

They are a very down-to-earth bunch of people.

The various philosophers were not hypocritical, the hundreds of schools of thought were not hypocritical, and many people who studied these during the Qin and Han dynasties were not hypocritical either.

Even Yang Zhu, who proposed the ideas of "preserving one's nature and authenticity" and "no one should be harmed in the slightest", was not hypocritical. It was only later that his ideas gradually went astray.

For example, a certain sect in a certain anime has a complete blind misunderstanding of Yang Zhu's thoughts and does evil things under the banner of Yang Zhu.

If Yang Zhu could be resurrected in that anime, he would definitely kill these bastards with his own hands: My teachings teach you to rob and loot, harming others for your own benefit?
"No one harms himself in the slightest" means not harming oneself in the slightest to benefit the world, but also not harming others (the world) in the slightest to benefit oneself. It does not mean that one can harm others to benefit oneself without harming oneself in the slightest.

The Spring and Autumn Period was not far away, so many people born at the end of the Warring States Period inherited the character of the various philosophers and sages, took them as their role models, and were far less cunning and hypocritical than later generations.

Just like Li Shiqi, who was not afraid when facing the threat from King Tian Guang of Qi, and said, "You are not careful and cautious in carrying out major tasks, and you do not decline great virtues. And you will not say anything more than I do!", and was then boiled to death.

Seeing these people so insistent, Li Nian felt even more ashamed. However, if he refused, they would probably still insist. He could only say, "Please take a seat, everyone. Li accepts your courtesy!"

Everyone then sat down again and began to discuss what Li Nian had said.

Half an hour later, accompanied by a "bang" sound, everyone stopped discussing. During the big exam, they had developed a conditioned reflex and could not help but stop what they were doing when they heard the sound.

Li Nian said: "From now on, you can ask questions. To ensure the order of questions, start from the left."

After he finished speaking, one of the candidates on the far left stood up and said, "Sir, what you said, 'the same writing, the same language, the same meaning of characters' is indeed very good. But according to your meaning, does it mean that all other characters and other words in the world should be abolished? If someone does not follow it, what should be done?"

Li Nian said: "Local dialects do not need to be abolished, they can still be used as local dialects, but they must learn the language set by the Qin Dynasty, and the writing must be abolished, and only the written writing can be used!"

"This is a government order. If you don't obey it, it will be considered a violation of the law!"

It is unrealistic to abolish the local language, at least it is difficult to do so in Daqin at that time.

Because language is a more frequently used communication tool than writing, and most people in this era are illiterate, if the local language is forcibly abolished, how will the locals communicate? Relying on brain waves?

Even if we want to abolish it, we have to wait until the Qin "Mandarin" is popularized to a certain extent.

But at this time, the only policy available was to adopt the parallel development of local dialects and "Mandarin". While allowing local people to use local dialects, they were also required to learn the Daqin "Mandarin".

What's more, Li Nian thinks there is nothing wrong with keeping the local dialect. For example, the Shu Province where he comes from has many distinctive dialects, such as "Fuck you, immortal father" to bless others' ancestors and "You are so precious" to praise people for their intelligence and talent.

Abolishing the written language would not have such a big impact. After all, there are illiterates everywhere and few people can read. Abolishing the original written language would not have much impact on the locals, as they would not know it anyway. The person who asked the question did not sit down, but asked another question: "Sir, you said that when you compile the textbook, you want to select the best from the hundred schools. May I ask what is the standard for excellence? Which schools of thought can be included and which cannot be included?"

This is a sharp question, and also the one that concerns the most to all the scholars here: How do you judge the correctness of the theories of the Hundred Schools of Thought, and which ones will you choose to include in the textbooks?
Li Niandao said: "Being patriotic and loyal to the emperor is good, abiding by the law is good, guiding people to be good is good, being civilized and advanced is good, respecting the truth is good, and maintaining national unity is good... the opposite is bad!"

"As for which schools of thought can be accepted and which cannot be accepted, we must conduct screening and discussion before deciding."

“All the theories and ideas of the various schools of thought are good, but when studying them, people often overlook the fact that they have certain limitations.”

"One of the limitations is that the times when the philosophers who founded the Hundred Schools of Thought lived are different from the times we live in now."

"Even if the philosophers were in our time, their thoughts and ideas might not be the same as they were then. How can we apply their theories completely to this time?"

Li Nian did not say that the thoughts of the philosophers were wrong, but he pointed out that times are different and scholars should not use the theories of the philosophers rigidly.

The theories of the various philosophers are correct, but if they are used by the wrong people, at the wrong time and in the wrong environment, they will also cause bad consequences.

"The second limitation is that the theories of various philosophers undoubtedly want to make the world more beautiful and better, but they cannot be achieved within a certain period of time. For example, if everyone is hardworking and friendly, the world will be united, but in reality, we can see the existence of lazy and evil people."

“Therefore, in the process of realizing the vision of the philosophers, there must be a stage where lazy and evil people will exist and will exist for a long time.”

"We must think about what to do during this period when lazy people and evil people exist for a long time, how to get through this period and achieve world peace."

"Rather than thinking that we can skip this stage and directly reach the ultimate goal of universal peace by relying on the thoughts and theories of various philosophers."

Almost all the theories of various schools of thought are good, and their ultimate goal is to achieve a world of great harmony, whether it is Confucianism, Taoism, or Mohism. However, there are problems in the process of achieving great harmony, and it cannot be achieved overnight. Some people often ignore the problems and want to achieve the final result directly.

The two limitations raised by Li Nian have caused many people to think, especially those from several mainstream schools.

Since the Spring and Autumn Period, various philosophers have proposed new ideas for governing the world. However, their later disciples often feel powerless to put them into practice, and are getting further and further away from the world that the philosophers wanted to achieve. Sometimes they even wonder if they are doing something wrong, or if there is something wrong with their school of thought?
Among them, Mohism is the most prominent. Although it is still considered one of the most prominent schools of thought in the world, many people can see that Mohism has declined.

Why did it decline and never revive?

They thought that there might be something wrong with Mozi's theory, or that they did not strictly follow what Mozi said.

Today, Li Nian told them that there was nothing wrong with Mozi's theory, and they did what Mozi said, but problems arose in the process of realizing the world described in the theory.

That world cannot be achieved overnight. It requires analyzing and proposing solutions to the problems encountered in the process, and only by working slowly and steadily can it be achieved.

Some people think that what Li Nian said makes sense, while some people do not agree with what Li Nian said, and even think that Li Nian is talking nonsense.

(End of this chapter)