New Connotations of Core Socialist Values at the Individual Level

馮正強

（1.西南交通大學(xué)馬克思主義學(xué)院，四川成都611700；2信陽師范學(xué)院文學(xué)院，河南信陽464000）

New Connotations of Core Socialist Values at the Individual Level

馮正強1，2

（1.西南交通大學(xué)馬克思主義學(xué)院，四川成都611700；2信陽師范學(xué)院文學(xué)院，河南信陽464000）

The core valuesat the individual level including patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship are new ethical and moral requirementsput forward by the environment of new era for people；what’smore，these valuespropose core connotationsof a new theory ofhuman nature from the view ofperfecting human nature，which indicatesthe recovery and manifestation of people’sfeelingsоf lоvе in thе еnvirоnmеnt оf а nеw еrа.ThisisChinеsе big lоvе，which isbаsеd оn trаditiоns аnd fillеd with nеw еpоch connоtаtiоns.Just likе wаrm brееzе аnd gеntlе rаin，Chinеsе big lоvе rеsоl(xiāng)vеs pеоplе’s indifferent hearts and moisturizes their spiritual poverty in the present era，constituting the ultimate care ofthe core valuesat the individual level.

love；core values；new theory ofhuman nature

The proposed socialist core values undoubtedly show the way for people with nihilistic values who lost their beliefs in the process of social transformation.Since“three advocates”was put forward at the 18th National Congress of the CPC，adequate and comprehensive discussions on socialist core values have been discussed at the national level and the social level.With thick history background and strongrealisticpertinence，prosperity，？democracy，civilityand harmony at the national level as well as freedom，equality，justice and rule of law at the social level have been widely accepted and consciously practiced.In this way，core socialist values are of great significance and have an important historical position.However，due to various reasons-unintentional contempt，vague connotations or cruel social reality，discussions on core values at the individual level tend to give people an impression of not deserving mentioning or being ashamed to talk about it.Therefore，it is quite necessary to conduct further discussions on the core values at the individual level. In our view，the core values at the individual level have a common nature，namely manifesting the feeling of love.Only by viewing the core values at the individual level from the essential dimension of Chinese big love，can we profoundly understand the deep concern of the core values at this level for individuals and realize their unique historical significance.If there is no emphasis or respect on the emotion of love with Chinese feelings，the core values of patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship can't be truly understood and implemented.

一、Historical Background of Love

The reason why patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship are able to be placed among the core values at the individual level is that they contain human common feelings of love.For human beings，love and hate are the most primitive natural emotions，while good and evil are the most primitive value judgments.The attention to or discussion on human feelings of love is the focal point of both Chinese and western cultural traditions.“Benevolence”among the oriental Confucian theory in the ancient times has become the essence of the mainstream culture and been inherited till now；the love of wisdom among the ancient Greek philosophers has constituted the praised rational spirit of European culture and been inherited till now；the love of God based on Christianity has also been the ultimate belief in the daily life of ordinary westerners.As we know，love is the most universal human emotion，and almost everyone knows the preciousness of love and has the opportunity to feel the sweet of love.Only by gaining love，can people live a happy and fulfilled life，whereby life will be more interesting and meaningful.

In traditional Chinese culture，all the values of patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship contain the tradition of love with a long history.Patriotism is Chinese traditional virtue，and the Chinese nation always has a strong patriotic tradition.For thousands of years，numerous people with lofty ideals have risked their lives and made determined efforts to etch their love for the country and the nation in the long history.The values of dedication are rooted in the profound Chinese traditional culture.They contain the fundamental connotations of Chinese traditional professional ethics and serve as an important content of Chinese traditional virtues.All the feudal dynasties of past ages have attached great importance to economic development plus employment，and considered that to be a vital bearing on people's livelihood，the foundation of ruling，and the way for people to raise their families.The Chinese nation has always been well known to the world for its good virtues of integrity and keeping promises.Starting from Confucius，the ancient Chinese have placed integrity in the highest category of moral ontology.From Confucius’s thought of“people won’t have footholds without integrity”to Sun？Yat-sen’s thought of“Eight Virtues”including“integrity”，the Chinese traditionof integrity has come down in one continuous line.The values of friendship，a conscious theoretical choice rooted in the fertile soil of Chinese outstanding tradition，conform to China's special national conditions.Chinese traditional virtues not only stress energetic，promising ethos and constant striving attitude，but also advocate the rules of conduct such as loving your neighbor as yourself and social commitment.What’s more，Chinese traditional virtues boast the broad mind of“all men are brothers”.

Overall，the core values at the individual level with love as the common core are built on the basis of profound traditional culture of love.Various kinds of love，including the love for one’s country，the love for one’s job，the love for society，the love for others，and even the love for oneself，have its tradition of a long history.Additionally，love is still the original feeling of people’s current life，which is a premise of the fact that love has become people’s common sense.No mater what kind of deficiency the emotion of love has，which is derived from tradition，we can’t abandon the blood linkage of this kind of love，or abandon the ancient and profound inherent qualities of Chinese big love，including loving all people，making universal peace，and loving peace.

二、ContemporaryManifestation ofLove

The core socialist values，which were formally proposed for the first time at the eighteenth National Congress of the CPC，systemically inherit the guiding thoughts of the CPC，including Marxism-Leninism，Mao Zedong Thought，Deng Xiaoping Theory，the important thought of“Three Represents”and Scientific Outlook on Development.Additionally，the core socialist values are the development and innovation of Marxist fundamental theories，fully embodying the vigorous vitality of Marxism and its era characteristics of advancing with the times as well as the CPC’s confidence in theory.Thus，the values possess more extensive emotional appeal，powerful cohesion and enduring leading force.On the other hand，the core socialist values have strong realistic pertinence，in particular，the values of patriotism，dedication，integrity，and friendship at the individual level.They are aiming at those who have no concept of good and evil with no bottom line for their behaviors，who have done things in violation of the laws and disciplines with wicked deeds，who have no concept of nation，collectivity and family，who are unwilling to tell right and wrong or beauty and ugliness，and who are muddleheaded and indulged in luxury and extravagance.Actually，vigorously advocating the core values at the individual level is to awaken the gene of love in the human nature of Chinese people，to reactivate people’s passion of love which has already been of some numbness，and to restore their ability to love initiatively.Of course，the love manifested by the core values at the individual level is no longer sloganeering love without connotations，but Chinese big love with modern sense and profound connotations.

Overall，Chinese big love reflected from the core values at the individual level possesses the characteristics of the times in two aspects.First，reality and peace are the primary characteristics.The Communist Party of China has put forward many slogans and terms in the course of more than 90 years of struggle.Behind each slogan，there was a complex historical process and a new historical era.Additionally，the vast majority of the slogans have indeed received positive effects，such as increasing cohesion，mobilization，inspiration and encouragement.For instance，the slogan“Development is the absolute principle”proposed by Deng Xiaoping was undoubtedly the strongest note in the symphony of the reform and opening up policy after the third plenary session of the 11th Central Committee of the CPC.As the theoretical innovation made by the CPC under the background of the new era，the core socialist values are condensed into a new slogan keeping pace with the times and contain no homiletic tone，among which each category is truly norms of value and plays a crucial role in people’s daily life.As for the core values at the individual level，from the perspective of the normal emotion of ordinary people，any rational person should feel the following：the values，including patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship，not just possess rich connotations but have a close affinity with the public；the core values can not only improve people's mental state，but also get down to earth，even avoiding inane and irrelevant negative effects.It is so rare that these sincere and simple words can even include the most fundamental moral ethical norms for people’s behavior to the largest degree，providing necessary guidance for people to deal with relationships between individual and the state，individuals and society，one individual and other individuals，an individual and itself，and individuals and nature. Its characteristics of reality and peace are indeed praiseworthy.

Second，the respect and care for individuals are fully embodied. Over more than thirty years，China's rapid economic development is a miracle to both Chinese people and the world.There is no doubt that China has made remarkable achievements.However，too much emphasis on“materialism”has led to the situation where ideological and theoretical construction at the idealistic level is despised and discriminated.In the present materialistic era，people who are engaged in so-called“ideological work”and“ideological and political education”have already given others a funny and even ridiculous impression.On the other hand，various kinds of chicken soup for the soul and playful interpretation of classics get popular.“Living in the moment”has become popular philosophy of people’s daily life.Indeed，the present era seems to be weak in people’s mental and spiritual life. Almost all people are full of confusion but face the dilemma of no solution.The proposed core values are just like a stone thrown into water，washing away worries of the present spiritual world.In particular，the proposed core values at the individual level not only guide people to transcend from narrow and worldly understanding for love，but also protect the dignity，responsibility and freedom of ordinary people. More importantly，they are based on highly appreciation of personality of individuals.The core values at the individual level have actually inherently contained the admission for the personality of individuals. They not only put forward specific requirements for individuals from the perspective of personal obligation，but also make the most permissive ethical regulations for each individual in order to protect people’s interests.Among the core values，concrete and feasible ethical regulations are put forward starting from the bottom line of human nature. Compared with some high-end versions of ethical requirements and moral standards that look good but are difficult to achieve in reality，they fit in better with human nature.The essence lies in that they broaden the understanding of human nature and recognize the possi-bility of diversified development and evolution of human nature.This is the progress of the times，and the manifestation of the times in terms of individual liberation and personality independence.

三、New Connotations of Love in the New Times

In this context，Chinese big love contains richer and more realistic new connotations of the times.Patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship are not proposed as values advocated by the Party and the state for the first time.Today，they are put forward again as core values，because they hold richer and more realistic new connotations of the times.

Patriotic values are accumulated in our blood.As the core values，patriotic values are based on the precondition that the state should be sufficiently prosperous，democratic，civilized and harmonious and that society should protect freedom，equality，justice and rule of law.The key point here is that they at least emphasize the state should effectively protect individual citizens besides the issues concerning prosperity，democracy，freedom，equality and rule of law to the same degree，while emphasizing citizens should be patriotic.On such a precondition，we can emphasize and promote the patriotic emotion vigorously and confidently，and won’t cause people’s aversion.Undoubtedly，such a country is worth loving，cherishing，and fighting for，and such patriotic feeling has become a conscious and rational choice from people’s hearts.

The new connotations of dedication in the new times are mainly manifested in its upgrading and transformation into the spirit of the times from professional ethics.With further advance of China's socialist market economy，China's modernization construction has also entered a new historical stage，which correspondingly puts forward higher requirements for people’s professional dedication.That means people should not only have professional dedication as the basic professional ethics，but also should possess dedication as the social spirit and the spirit of the times.In other words，we should further see the profound cultural connotations contained in the professional dedication，and see the close relationship between dedication and people’s existing ways，practical activities plus the development and progress of the whole society.When people feel that their behavior and the value of their behavior can achieve unity in their job，“the spirit of dedication will give rise to a powerful force to act on the realistic society，and thus promote the progress of civilization and the development of society”.President Xi Jinping pointed out，“Basically，it depends on labor and laborers to build a well-off society in an all-round way，and further to build a prosperous，democratic，civilized and harmonious modern socialist country.Only by relying on the professional dedication and devoting spirit which are consciously from the hearts of all laborers，and by relying on our own sweat，hard work，wisdom and perseverance，can we achieve the two goals in one hundred year，whereby the Chinese nation can truly long stand among the peoples of the world.

The new connotations of the values of integrity consist in that they contain recognition and relocation about good and evil of human nature as well as the insight into human nature under the condition of market economy.The proposed core values of integrity contain the recognition and relocation of issues related to human nature，which means the return of integrity from ideal to reality and from bench-marking concepts to common-sense principles.Problems related to lack of integrity only can be solved by systems，including inner systems with custom，habitual practice and ethical norms as the main body and external systems characterized by external rules of conduct involving various kinds of laws and rules and procedural rules.Only combined action of these systems can provide strong institutional guarantee for issues of social integrity under the present condition of market economy.With regard to the issue of integrity construction and overall moral construction，we can't go to extremes.We should neither have blind faith in the effect of systems nor ignore the effect，but steadily propel the bidirectional interaction of systems and ethics on the basis of seeking the truth and doing things practically according to Chinese national conditions，and thus ensure that system and ethics can complement each other.

The new connotations of the values of friendship consist in that they mark people who are not good at pure rational thinking began to think about some metaphysical problems rationally and transcendentally.Focus and study on the ideological connotations of friendship，especially philosophical meditation on“Good”of friendship，has become the key to understanding the core values of friendship in depth. Thinking about the values of friendship also means the great nation began to enter the palace of rational reflection.It began to shift its attention from specific，individual or local daily things and phenomena to comparatively universal issues such as“friendship”.What’s more，thinking about universal issues also means the beginning of philosophical thinking.Thinking about issues rationally and transcendentally or thinking philosophically is a weakness of Chinese traditional thinking mode.Today，however，Chinese people place“friendship”among the core values and start thinking about what is the essential problem of“Good”，which is the most critical step in the cultural renaissance of the nation.

四、Conclusion

The proposed core values at the individual level make the urgency of ethical and moral construction more obvious.But this time，they were put forward under the precondition of fully considering the dialectical relations between the state，society and individuals.The core values at the individual level were put forward after those at the national level and the society level because we always adhere to collectivism oriented values.Additionally，this logical consideration also contains two meanings.First，the state and society should consciously comply with the requirements of concrete core values，whereby the core values at the individual level are able to have solid practice foundation and safeguard mechanism.Second，value standards which belong to higher levels for the individual level are extracted out and incorporated into the state level and society level，whereby an ethical bottom line specific for individuals is set.We can say，it is more feasible substantially，and more appropriate for the reality of human nature.

The core values at the individual level pay attention to arousing the feeling of love deep in people’s hearts，the essence of which is to tell how we should be an ordinary caring person with sound reason.It is not so easy as it seems to be.Unfortunately，nowa-days，children are around utilitarian love from their parents.Some parents even talk about their love for kids from the perspective of so-called investment principles.They spare no expense and hope their children won’t fall behind at the starting line.Their ultimate purpose is to help their children succeed in the future.They can't stand that their children will be just ordinary people.In fact，as for the vast majority of parents and families，it will be inevitable for their children to be ordinary people in the future.Although everyone can enjoy the opportunity to be outstanding，it doesn't means that it is a dilemma between being outstanding and being unknown.The core values，especially the core values at the individual level，aim to tell people that we should still pursue the wonderful experiences of our life even though life is not so brilliant.In real life，especially in the competitive and apprehensive era currently，we should，first of all，maintain an ordinary heart and have the bottom line for our acts.If some people don’t stick to their bottom line or even don't know what a bottom line is，they are undoubtedly just walking on the wire line or the edge of the cliff.They may go astray at any time.Ordinary people have the happiness of their own，and the pursuit of happiness for ordinary people is precisely the ultimate care of the core values including patriotism，dedication，integrity and friendship for individuals.

［1］Xi Jinping.Speech at the Forumon Literature and Art Work［N］.People’s Daily，Oct15，2015.

［2］ZhangCuiping.Dedication：the Inner Spiritual Motivation for Social Devеlоpmеnt［J］.JоurnаlоfSоciаlSciеncе，2002（06）.

［3］Xi Jinping.peech at an Event toCelebrate the“May1st”International Labor Day and Praise the National Model Workers and Advanced Workers［N］. People’sDaily，April29，2015.|

［4］LiaoXiaoping.“HonestyandCreditand System［J］.JournalofPekingU-nivеrsity（PhilоsоphyаndSоciаlSciеncеs），2006（06）.

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1005-5312（2016）08-0264-03

本文系四川省教育廳教育部高校輔導(dǎo)員培訓(xùn)和研修基地（西南交通大學(xué)）思想政治教育研究課題（高校輔導(dǎo)員專項）“友善核心價值觀的思想內(nèi)涵及其踐行研究”（項目批準(zhǔn)號：CJSFZ15-58）成果。