The esse examines the influence of the religious factor on socio-cultural systems in the ancient and Confucian traditions. For this purpose, the author conducts a comparative analysis of the ethical and philosophical concepts of Plato and, to some extent, Aristotle, on the one hand, and Confucius, as well as Meng-tzu and Xun-tzu, on the other. Based on the theory of structural functionalism by T. Parsons, the interdependent and interpenetrating nature of cultural and social systems is shown, which determines the influence of the religious component on them. Questions about the common typological roots and the initial similarity of key positions in both traditions, which were later diversified, are analyzed.

introduction

The philosophical concepts of Plato and Aristotle, as the brightest representatives of the classical ancient tradition in the Western world, and Confucius (and after him Meng-tzu and Xun-tzu), representing classical Confucianism, laid the foundations of the worldview in the East, and to this day their significance for the development of world philosophy remains unchanged. The relative synchronicity of the creation of the teachings of Plato (427-347 BC) and Confucius (551-478 BC) and their subsequent development by Aristotle in Greece and Meng-tzu and Xun-tzu in China makes us talk about the laws of development of both the philosophical thought of "axial time" and the actual influence of influence of the religious factor on the functioning of ancient social systems. Realizing that it is impossible to conduct a comparative analysis of both traditions as a whole in one publication, the author limited himself to studying only one cross - section-a layer of philosophical and ethical teachings related to religion.

Methodologically, the analysis is carried out within the framework of the so-called structural-functional approach on general systems of action, introduced and developed by the greatest scientist of the XX century T. Parsons [Parsons, 2002]. From the whole complex of concepts proposed by T. Parsons, the following are relevant for the topic of this article:: 1) the four main systems - cultural, social, personality, and organism-are interdependent and interpenetrating; 2) consequently, social systems cannot be analyzed outside of the context of culture and vice versa; 3) all systems of action are related to each other through a special hierarchy of control; and 4) accordingly, religion, as the highest part of the cultural system, must have an impact on the development of social systems. influence on all other systems [Parsons, 2002, p. 763 - 764, 786, 789 - 790, 793]. Based on these propositions, the author formulates the main task of the study - to trace the extent to which the religious component that is the basis of the cultural system,

page 150
it permeated all other systems of action, primarily the social one (to which politics and economics relate), in the ancient traditions under consideration.

ABOUT HOW THE WORLD WORKS. COMMON AND SPECIAL IN THE ANCIENT AND CONFUCIAN TRADITIONS

In ancient Eastern societies, the channels of sacred communication, intermediaries between people and the highest divine forces were either the supreme power in the person of the emperor, who received a kind of mandate for government from Heaven, as it was in ancient China, or sacred poets, creators of Vedic hymns, rishis (and later a special caste of priests-Brahmins) in ancient India [Vasiliev, 1983, p. 54-57; Malyavin, 2000, p. 105-108, 163-168; Martynov, 1972, p. 72-81; Bongard-Levin, 1993, p. 21]. In the ancient Greek tradition, the role of soothsayers, storytellers and poets (Homer, Hesiod) is also noticeable, and poetry, as well as mathematics and music, was endowed with the ability to bring harmony to society and, more broadly, to the entire universe. In this sense, the ideas about the "music of the heavenly spheres", about the sacralization of numbers and their connection with music in Pythagoras, about the cosmic proportion in Plato, which A. Losev called the law of golden division [Losev, 1969, pp. 609-621], and about the cosmic geometrism of the ancient Greeks in general [Russell, 2006, pp. 52-63].

All ancient societies, both Western and Eastern, were characterized by an understanding of the indivisibility and wholeness of being and all things. In ancient Greek philosophy (especially at the early stage), according to A. Losev, the world is a mixture of the infinite one with the finite multiple; a synthesis of unity and multiplicity, identity and separateness [Losev, 1993, p. 118, 132]. This perception of the world b led to a tendency to deify the surrounding space and natural phenomena, which was clearly expressed in mythology, in the combination of seemingly incompatible concepts-scientific knowledge and mysticism (or, as B. Russell writes, "mathematics and theology" (Russell, 2006, p. 62). and also to the sacralization of nature itself and the world-cosmos as a whole. This feature, which was preserved in later times, is very important for understanding both ancient Greek and Eastern philosophical and ethical traditions. By the fifth and fourth centuries BC-the heyday of classical ancient philosophy-this kind of view (especially with regard to religion and the role of the pantheon of gods) they have not yet completely exhausted themselves and largely determined the social and religious life of the ancient Greeks.

The thinkers of ancient China also focused on the cardinal questions of being and the place of man in it. Initially, the common point for philosophers of ancient China and ancient Greece was the above-mentioned thesis about the inseparability of man and the world around him and the cosmos as a whole. In the Chinese tradition, everything that exists was also endowed with living force, qi energy, and influenced the course of phenomena, including a person and a certain social space created by him. It is precisely because of this concept of the world that the ancient Chinese did not draw a clear watershed between the various concepts of the sublunar world. This approach to the world order is most clearly manifested in the concepts of harmony of the two principles of yin-yang, their interdependence and complementarity, which does not allow drawing a clear border between them; in the presence of the good power of te [Vasiliev, 1983, p. 158-163; Martynov, 2000, p. 35-94; Martynov, 1988, p. 277 - 282] 1, especially in the abundance accumulated by emperors and enlightened people like Confucius (what can very conditionally be called and

1 In the interpretation of A. S. Martynov, de is "a certain creative force directed from chaos to the cosmos" and manifests itself in various areas, the range of which is wide - " from self-improvement of the soul... before the world order and state building" [Martynov, 2000, p. 38].L. S. Vasiliev also notes a wide range of this concept, which "...included quite a lot, from divine grace such as Polynesian mana to the rules of behavior of a decent person" [Vasiliev, 1983, p. 161].

page 151
charisma in the understanding of M. Weber, and church grace); fa laws and social norms of li, which did not have the force of law, but just like fa laws, were strictly implemented (i.e., an effective combination of two opposite types of government - a system of punishments and moral influence) [Kychanov, 1986, p. 249-255] etc.

A special place in this series was occupied by the concept of the status of the emperor, who received a kind of "mandate of Heaven" for management (or, as L. S. Vasiliev notes, "the right to the final decision and order"), and the associated understanding of ritual as the most important factor and regulator of social behavior [Vasiliev, 1983, pp. 158-163 Malyavin, 2000, pp. 105-108, 163-168; Martynov, 1972, pp. 72-81; Martynov, 1988, pp. 277-284]. It is very revealing that the servants of the state apparatus in ancient China combined official functions with priestly ones, while the latter were regarded by them as an element of the bureaucratic management of the country. It is also interesting that in Chinese medieval law, the status of Taoist and Buddhist monks was equated with the status of an official, and taking a monastic vow was possible only with the permission of the authorities and was accompanied by obtaining an appropriate certificate [Vasiliev, 2001, p.70-75; Kychanov, 1986, p. 31-32].

Sacralization of supreme (in particular, imperial) power was quite common in ancient societies, including Western ones. Nevertheless, in China, this phenomenon had its own peculiarities, which were manifested in particular in the fact that with the overcoming of the archaic, it not only did not lose its relevance, but, on the contrary, even strengthened and received its legitimation in the course of the entire subsequent history of Chinese society. All the norms of behavior and rituals associated with it, including, and primarily, in the religious sphere, did not automatically become a thing of the past. Among the Chinese, the religious understanding of reality is closely intertwined with a purely rationalistic worldview of being, which A. Martynov aptly described as the "dialogical nature" of Chinese culture [Martynov, 1988, pp. 275-276, 284]. This was significantly embodied in the principles of legalism ("legalism"), some of the provisions of which were later incorporated into Han, so - called orthodox Confucianism (Perelomov, 1981, pp. 206-208).

In Confucianism (especially early), in the picture of an ordered universe, any deviation from the ritual was considered as a threat to the existing status quo, harmony, and therefore a good life. That is why the ritual, which V. Malyavin rightly calls a symbolic action, "a sign of the indivisible fullness of being", indicating the connection of all things [Malyavin, 2000, p. 167, 208], can also be described as a kind of religion, the "faith" of the ancient Chinese. After all, the ritual, permeating everything and everything in the Middle Kingdom, actually performed various functions originally inherent in religion - the function of goal-setting, regulatory, legitimizing, communicative, etc. In addition, and this is most significant, in its origin, the ritual, being a specific distant echo of the collective memory of humanity, which used it as a special act during sacrifices and any sacred actions, originally had a religious content.

As is known, in ancient societies, both temporal and spatial aspects of human life (birth, initiation, marriage, building a house, plowing a field, etc.) had a sacred meaning [Eliade, 1987, pp. 128-151; 184-201], and therefore were consecrated by ritual. Because of this, the ritual itself became an integral part of the religious act.,

2 A characteristic manifestation of the sacred origin of plowing fields in China is the presence of a particularly important sacred field jie, "the harvest from which went to the needs of the ritual", and " the emperor... to mark the beginning of field work, he annually performed the rite of the first furrow in a special ritual field (plowing was completed by his dignitaries)" [see: Vasiliev, 1983, p. 138-139; Malyavin, 2000, p. 2]. L. S. Vasiliev gives a remarkable description of this sacred action based on an ancient Chinese source." yu", which, unfortunately, the volume of the article does not allow to give.

page 152
it acquired a deeply sacred character and was synonymous with religiosity. That is why, speaking about ritual in China, it is impossible to separate it from the concept of religiosity, not to equate it with the religion of the Chinese, although, at first glance, this may cause certain objections. It should be emphasized that the so-called process of desacralization of the surrounding space, which later began to determine the development of mankind, in the conditions of China was never brought to its"logical end". This is one of the most important features that determined the special path of development of Chinese civilization, which differs from the conventionally "Western" one, although both of them initially had a completely similar algorithm of worldview and almost identical paradigms. Even in the second half of the twentieth century, the official proclamation of atheism in China never led to the extinction of religious unconscious impulses, which manifested themselves in a commitment to ritual, which can be attributed to filial piety, the cult of knowledge, and the deification of the leader. M. Eliade puts in this row even "aesthetic contemplation, which still retains the aura of religious prestige ... religious dimension, even among intellectuals " [Eliade, 1987, p. 152, 154].

The religious concept of the origin of supreme power, sanctified by the faith of our ancestors, reinforced by the action of a secular in its external forms, but religious in its essence ritual, was harmoniously combined with purely pragmatic methods of government, which reached their highest form in the principles of legalism. Depending on the historical situation, one or another direction dominated. In modern China, not without the help of the state, there is a renewed interest in Confucianism in the scientific and educational spheres [Perelomov, 2004, p. 10].

Thus, the penetration of the religious factor into all spheres of life and activity, combined with the rational and logical principle, has become one of the defining features of the special color inherent in all times of Chinese civilization. It is through this prism that the teachings of Confucius, as well as all other manifestations of Chinese social life, must be viewed.

PLATO AND CONFUCIUS

Reflecting on the nature of the religious and ethical in Plato's philosophy, I would like to emphasize that it was created during the period of radical changes in the life of ancient Greek poleis in the direction of establishing the power of democracy, accompanied by the development of individualism and subjectivism. At the same time, Plato himself acted as an apologist for the old polis with its tribal orders, for the restoration of the old aristocratic cosmos in general [Losev, 1969, pp. 670-673]. Hence the very formulation of the problem, as Plato understood it: what should the state be like, and along with it, a person, in order to be fair?

In his" State " Plato considers justice as a proper basis and a cross-cutting characteristic of the state. At the same time, in fact, we are talking about a person as he should ideally be. Plato constantly draws an analogy between the state and a person, emphasizing: "... in the state and in the soul of each individual person, there are the same principles, and their number is the same " [Plato, 2003(1), pp. 229, 235]. This judgment is a vivid example of unconscious echoes of the archaic religious worldview, when a person viewed himself and his body as a structure completely analogous to the cosmos and its manifestations, which, by the way, in the Eastern tradition was further developed in detail in Hinduism and Taoism, as well as in yoga practice and the system of Chinese medicine.3 In the Western tradition, on the contrary, it is

3 In Chinese medicine, for example, the body is considered a microcosm, and the very word "body" is translated as "small Heaven and Earth" [Malyavin, 2000, p.345].

page 153
it was gradually replaced by the rational-logical system of thinking, partially represented by Aristotle.

Thus, Plato, proceeding from the unity of man with the world around him, one of the elements of which he considered the state, comes to the conclusion that the consideration of one is impossible without the other. In order for him to understand the problems of the state, it is necessary to turn to the person, or rather to his soul, and vice versa - the human soul cannot fully become what it should be, without the appropriate conditions, i.e., ideal government. The benefit of Plato is what should determine the life and behavior of a person and the state, and a person already initially has the ability to see it, but it may be misdirected, and therefore it is necessary to be able to direct it in the right direction from childhood. That is why, Plato concludes, a state is necessary, whose laws will guide the best natures to the good in the interests of the state itself, and not "to the welfare of one particular segment of the population" [Plato, 2003(1), p. 317].

This idea of Plato is fundamental, and although he used philosophical rather than religious concepts (the best rulers, in his opinion, were just philosophers who were able to know the Good and the Truth), yet for us who are familiar with the philosophy of Christianity, his ideas are not only abstract philosophical, but to a greater extent ethical.religious character. Setting such a high bar as an ideal, designed to become the norm and measure of the life of people and the state, Plato, like Confucius earlier, is aware of its utopian nature.

"...Looking at it (nebo. - L. E.), a person will think about how to arrange it for himself" (i.e., arrange his soul. - L. E.), - and " after all, the dispute is about... a matter much greater than it seems - about whether a person should be good or bad. So neither honor, nor money, nor any power, nor even poetry is worth neglecting justice and other virtues for their sake "[Plato, 2003(1), p. 405, 423].

Starting his research with a seemingly rational and political theme - the state-Plato comes to ethical and moral conclusions - about the meaning of the soul, and not only for the individual, but also for the entire state as a whole. Thus, questions of ethics and religion (in Plato's interpretation - philosophy) became the basis for the development of all socio-cultural spaces in his teaching.

Confucius ' teaching also dates back to the era of change. If Plato has a kind of nostalgia for the aristocratic form of government, then Confucius-for the golden age in the history of China-the Zhou period, when the righteous sovereigns Yang and Shun ruled, and the ritual manifested itself in full grandeur. Therefore, the duality of the situation, which is inevitable in a time of change, left its mark on the ethical doctrine of the Chinese thinker.

When reading "Lun Yu", one initially gets the impression that Confucius completely denied the significance of religion, which even led some scholars to call him a "semi-atheist" [see: Martynov, 2000, p. 89]. The thinker opposed any interference of religion in the everyday and political life of a person, and considered his task only to organize and revive the ritual that had once been created by great ancestors. "Diligently perform your duty to the people and serve the spirits respectfully, but keep your distance from them. This can be called wisdom","...How can you serve spirits without learning to serve people?" [Confucius, 2000, p. 125, 147] - these maxims allow us to draw a preliminary conclusion that the religious component in the life of a person and the state for Confucius was not decisive, the thinker sought to break with everything that constitutes the ritual side of religion. "...As for cases related to ritual offerings, there are professionals for this" [Confucius, 2000, p. 135]. Ritualism, cult practice - the entire external side of religion did not interest the thinker, and therefore was not even included

page 154
they were included in a set of basic rules that should have guided a person striving for perfection.

However, taking into account the specifics of the Chinese understanding of the world, as well as the functional feature of ritual as a sacred action, as mentioned above, the opposite conclusion suggests itself. By recognizing ritual as the dominant factor of tradition, making it the cornerstone of his teaching, Confucius, by denying the external side of religion, indirectly only contributed to strengthening the religious factor in the consciousness and behavior of his fellow tribesmen.

Confucius did not simply elevate ritual to the rank of a basic unshakable principle, as it was in the previous Zhou period. He, like Plato, identified an ethical content in the ritual, which was supposed to become the basis for the behavior of not only the emperor as the bearer of supreme sacred power, but also of each individual, which, according to Confucius, was supposed to contribute to the harmony of the entire society and the ordering of the cosmos, and therefore led to ideal government. Considering that every person, not just the emperor, a priori has the makings of beauty - the good power of te, Confucius believed that people need to develop and improve them through study, the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge, humanity, enlightenment, knowledge of norms and ritual. Therefore, in his philosophical construction, the ethical component became the most important necessary factor for the self-improvement of any person, and therefore of the entire state as a whole. In addition, the observance of the ritual acquired the features of an ethical and moral criterion and thus turned into a method of achieving the goal. As a result, the teachings of Confucius, combined with ritual as a sacred act, inevitably took on a religious character and became synonymous with religion in its broad sense.

Here, the role of ethical norms is clearly twofold, which is the case in any society, and not just in Chinese. On the one hand, taken out of context, by themselves, they do not carry a religious meaning, but rather appeal to the general human aspects of human development. On the other hand, ethics and humanity, along with morality, virtue, morality, etc., have always been associated in the human consciousness with good, truth, perfection, the highest embodiment of which was seen only in the higher forces that created the world-cosmos, and therefore have always been considered the highest limit of human aspiration (in Plato we find a completely similar understanding Benefits). Thus, the ethical in its highest manifestation merges with the sacred and, accordingly, receives a religious dimension. Confucius, by highlighting the ethical content of ritual and democratizing it, thereby expanded the base of application of ethical, and hence religious principles. It can even be said that, in contrast to his original aspirations, Confucius unwittingly contributed to the subsequent spread of the sacred (and its subsequent unconscious echoes) in the Middle Empire. In addition, when Confucian ideology was incorporated into the system of state administration later in the Han era, these echoes of the sacred were combined with other elements that were also sacred in their essence in Chinese history - the deification of the supreme power (state). In this sense, the teaching of Confucius paradoxically, at first glance, but completely in the spirit of the Chinese worldview, without departing from the principles of holism, combined various principles - the teaching, which sought to move away from the sacred, intuitively resorted to it as one of the most important ways of human existence and the entire society.

Confucius, who was himself a state dignitary who later left the service, initially set himself the task of correcting ("straightening out") companies. His original goal, like Plato's, was to restore order in the field of politics, and not morals, in the doctrine he created, he saw

page 155
first of all, it has a political meaning. But, despite the initial "anti-religious" aspirations of Confucius, the significance of the religious factor in the socio-cultural system of ancient societies was so great that it became a necessary condition for the development of society.

The need for a person to overcome his shortcomings and identify all the best is a cross-cutting theme of Confucius ' teaching, which is recorded in his numerous statements, of which we will give only the most representative ones:

"When you meet a sage, think about how to match him. When you meet an unintelligent person, examine yourself";"...As for philanthropy, it consists in the following: if you yourself strive for becoming, then help the becoming of others, if you yourself strive for the successful completion of this task, then contribute to the success of others..."; "...Is there a word that you can follow all your life? The teacher replied: "This is mutual respect! Don't do to others what you don't want to do to yourself "" [Confucius, 2000, p. 111 - 113; 126; 129; 153; 180 - 182] etc.

If the penultimate statement is completely consonant with Plato's understanding of the ideal state, then the last quote corresponds almost verbatim to the Christian commandments, which once again emphasizes the universal nature of ethical norms.

Thinkers such as Plato and Confucius, whose teachings called on societies and individuals to strive for a certain conditional threshold, the achievement of which, although impossible, nevertheless sets the direction of action, orient people in their desire for an unattainable ideal, sacred and become at least a little like it. In fact, they can be called bridges connecting the highest ethical ideals that are sacred in nature and profane aspirations of people.

Both thinkers initially pursued secular goals in the development of their philosophical doctrines - the achievement of ideal forms of the state and society. The teachings of Confucius, in particular, despite the absence of external religious manifestations, were accepted in a specific form for Chinese civilization, namely in the form of a kind of state ideology. Here we see a kind of institutionalization - the state, through the legitimization of Confucian doctrines, actually becomes the institutional organization whose function in Christianity is performed by the church, and in Buddhism by the sangha. The regulatory and legitimizing role of the state as an organization is manifested in the fact that it not only promotes the ideal of Confucian values, but also defends, legally protects, and develops them in accordance with its understanding of what is due.

Just like Plato and Confucius, we see the same reasoning algorithm - from the problem of improving political governance (the state), both thinkers inevitably come to the conclusion about the importance of human self-improvement. The logic of reflections of both Confucius and Plato leads to the priority of improving a person as the main starting point of their concepts. Like the teachings of Socrates, who claimed that the main task of philosophy is to know man, not nature, the concepts of Confucius and Plato can definitely be called ethical teachings about virtue. Both thinkers agreed that " straighten out "(harmonize) It is impossible to create a society without improving the nature of people, which ultimately allows us to speak about the importance of the religious and ethical principle in ancient societies, both for the state and for an individual, about the similarity and enduring significance of both teachings, the exceptional role that they played in the history of their civilizations, as well as about a certain community inphilosophical and spiritual culture of mankind.

page 156
FOLLOWERS OF PLATO AND CONFUCIUS

These include Aristotle (384-322 BC) in ancient classical Greece, and Mencius (372-289 BC) and Xunzi (III century BC) in China. Their writings had a significant impact on the development of Jewish, Christian and Muslim scholasticism, starting from the early Middle Ages, 4 as well as Confucian, and later Confucian-Legist thought in China and the entire Far Eastern area. The first thing that should be noted is the surprising similarity of the arguments of the Chinese followers of Confucius with the provisions of Aristotle, which, most likely, is not a simple accident, but a typological pattern in the development of the teachings. This similarity is evident in a detailed analysis of the types of political arrangements, the importance of the economic factor in the development of states, and in what we would call the political economy of ancient societies. Just like the Greek philosopher, Chinese Confucians focus on the types of state structures, their features, advantages and weaknesses.

Aristotle can be called a rationalist and a practitioner to the core: the carefully developed empirical component of his research and what we now call historiographical analysis in his works at one time (and later) were second to none.

Aristotle speaks about religion in a specific sense for his time, which was significantly different from the modern one, which can also be traced in Plato. The pantheon of the Olympian gods existed, as it were, by itself, without regard to questions of the moral and ethical order, which were the responsibility of philosophers whose task it was to explain the nature of the moral. This is why Aristotle, although not as much as Plato, paid attention to these provisions, but in his analysis he still gave priority to practical issues of public administration, in particular, he considered the areas that should be covered by public administration. Among them, along with the military, financial, judicial and others, he singled out the religious sphere [Aristotle, 2003, p. 642].

Like Plato, Aristotle's attitude to the religious component of social life is characterized by the use of ethical concepts of virtue and justice and the analysis of their impact on the life of the state and the individual. He seems to echo the main statement of his teacher about the importance of virtue for the whole state as a whole and for each person in particular. At the same time, just like Plato, Aristotle draws an analogy between the state and a person in moral and ethical terms: "courage, justice and reason have the same meaning and appearance in the state as they have in each individual person" (Aristotle, 2003, p.646). It is easy to see that Aristotle in this matter was a kind of" product " of the era - the echoes of the sacred perception of the world and its integrity can be traced in him with the same evidence as in Plato.

Despite the fact that Aristotle generally adhered to Plato's thesis on the relationship between politics and ethical principles of virtue, he devoted to this issue not an independent, but a side, additional analysis, which took the form of a theoretical premise (in the first book of his work), necessary for the author to study political processes. In addition, there is a fundamental difference between Aristotle and the ancient philosophers of previous epochs, as well as from Eastern thinkers. In his Politique, Aristotle states:

4 This is true for Jewish and Muslim philosophy, especially in the ninth and twelfth centuries. Christian scholasticism (mature) turned to Aristotle somewhat later, from the thirteenth century, largely thanks to Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.

page 157
"Let the previous considerations (on the three types of good and their impact on the happiness and well - being of man and the state. - L. E.) serve as a preface to our research. It would be impossible not to touch on them at all, although it is also impossible to consider in detail all the issues related to them - this is the subject of a special discipline " [Aristotle, 2003, p. 646].

In this passage, the main leitmotif of Aristotle's reasoning is revealed -questions related to the actual state and rational-political management are not mixed with ethical ones, but are studied separately as completely independent disciplines. Reasoning according to the scheme "God is God's, Caesar is Caesar's" leads Aristotle to the need for detailed coverage of a wide range of issues related to various branches of scientific knowledge and the introduction of the concept of "specialization"itself. It is no coincidence that it was Aristotle who became the originator and founder of various scientific disciplines-from logic to poetry-as well as their classifier.

While generally supporting Plato's conclusion that virtue is equally important for the state and for man, Aristotle allows himself to deviate from the teacher's line in particular.

In his opinion, there is not one type of virtue (as in Plato), but different ones - the virtue of a superior (master), a woman, a child, a slave: "the presence of them (moral virtues. - L. E.) it is necessary to assume in all beings, but not in the same way, but in accordance with the purpose of each. Therefore, the boss must possess virtue in its entirety... and each of the others must possess it as much as it corresponds to his share of participation in solving common problems " [Aristotle, 2003, p. 464].

The latter position of Aristotle echoes the concept of the ancient Chinese about the good power (te), which is maximally realized by the emperor, and the "echoes" of which are subsequently "dispersed" among the rest of the inhabitants. This similarity is not surprising if we take into account the same algorithm of thinking of ancient people regarding the unity of man and the world-cosmos. With such arguments, Aristotle theoretically justified his vision of a state structure based on inequality, because the state, according to Aristotle, is formed by many elements that "cannot be united... that out of which unity is made up contains a difference in quality; ...the virtue of all citizens cannot be one " [Aristotle, 2003, pp. 468-469, 512].

Representatives of the classical ancient tradition attached great importance to the influence of the religious factor on politics (the state), however, each of them was guided by their own considerations - the need to correct human nature (Plato), the functioning of the best state (Aristotle). If the religious mystic Plato's questions of ethics and the good of the soul are in the first place, then in Aristotle they are logically postulated as a necessary element, which, however, is not the first, but is equated in its significance to the state (society).

The religious factor in the cultural system, which, in turn, sets the general tone and direction of movement and development of social systems, in the ancient tradition really had an all-consuming character. The links with the previous mythological tradition were not yet irrevocably severed, the living breath of mythical consciousness and the natural-philosophical approach to explaining reality was still felt, the elements of holism and the world-cosmic perception of all existence were still visible. That is why Plato and Aristotle considered the issues of religion and politics (state) in an indissoluble connection with each other, while religious and ethical postulates set the general rhythm of social life, dictated their understanding of the moral and its implementation in everyday life. The most vivid implementation of this understanding was received in Plato, while in Aristotle, in parallel, they became simple.-

page 158
There are also the beginnings of a new, logically rational approach, which can include, for example, a historiographical approach to covering a particular issue, and defending one's position with purely logical arguments, including even the argument about the existence of God. As a consequence, the very concept of historicity first appeared in the works of Aristotle. A. F. Losev rightly notes that this philosopher is the creator of the idea of the historical development of thought, and "unlike Plato, he is engaged not so much in the synthesis of categories as in their analysis, not so much in their construction as in their description... "[Losev, 1975, p. 9, 14].

As for the representatives of Chinese classical Confucianism, their thinking, in comparison with Confucius, also underwent certain changes in the direction of strengthening the role of analysis and deduction. However, in terms of the type of thinking, it nevertheless remained different from that which European thinkers developed in the Roman-Hellenistic and, to an even greater extent, in the Christian era. We have already mentioned the typological similarity of Aristotle's arguments with the Chinese Meng-tzu and Xun-tzu. However, unlike Aristotle, Mencius, for example, also elaborates and elaborates in detail and scrupulously on Confucius ' views on the ethical component of human and state life. What Aristotle only mentions as an important fact and premise in his discussion of the state, Mencius not only reveals, but also develops further. In every instruction concerning the economic and economic factors of improving the state, they always put forward the ethical principles of humanity and philanthropy in the first place. To specific questions of rulers about what needs to be done for the prosperity of a particular principality (with various variations), the thinker always offers almost the same answer - it is necessary to conduct humane rule [Mencius, 2000, p. 23, 33].

It is very characteristic that in his own way he deepened Confucius ' position on morality and humanity, linking them not just with the good power of te, as was the case with Confucius, but with the energy, the life force of qi, which is more general in nature. Here is what Meng-tzu writes about this::

"...This life force is extremely large and solid. If you nourish it with moral actions and do not harm it, it fills everything between Heaven and Earth. This life force is combined with justice (and) and the true principles of life (tao). Without it, a person weakens, as if from cold. This is something that is born out of the accumulation of actions that correspond to justice, and is not acquired by random manifestations of justice. If any action does not bring satisfaction in the soul, then this also leads to weakness... "(Mencius 2000: 42).

As can be seen from this passage, the ethical component of Mencius was linked to everything that exists in the world, and not just to rational political government - for him, ethical issues were as natural and important as the energy of qi itself. Just as it is impossible for a person and the whole world to live without this vital energy by Chinese standards, so it is also impossible for people to exist without morality-after all, morality feeds even the very energy of qi. Thus, Meng-tzu's ethical component is even more emphasized, its role is strengthened not only for the state, but also for the life of the entire world-cosmos as a whole. That is why, for Mencius, humanity was a prerequisite for good governance, not external characteristics (the size of the state, population, soil fertility, etc.).

Following Confucius, Mencius pays special attention to the inclusiveness of the concept of virtue. Just like Confucius and Plato, he says that all people are inherently good by nature:

page 159
"...Humanity, a sense of justice, proper standards of behavior, wisdom do not flow into us, they are certainly inherent in us, only we do not think about them. That's why it says ," If you search for them, you will find them. If you neglect them, you will lose" "[Mencius, 2000, pp. 49-50, 99-100].

With his postulate of innate human virtue, Mencius strongly distanced himself from the legist principles of innate self-interest, which were the basis of Shang Yang's teachings. Compliance with the ethical principles of virtue, first of all in relation to the people (and only after that to everything else) - this should be the main criterion and indicator of the strength of the state. Accordingly, anything that contradicts this principle leads to the death of the state. Meng-tzu, like Confucius in his time, considers futile wars to be one of these factors, about which he is perplexed: "To undertake a punitive war is to correct. But since every nation wants to improve, why resort to war?" [Mencius, 2000, p. 127]. Thus, Meng-tzu develops the position of Confucius on the influence of the ethical (sacred) element on the entire course of social life, while he considers humanity as a natural quality given to each person from birth.

Xun-tzu, who also paid exceptional attention to ethics issues, nevertheless placed special emphasis on another component - the state and its policies. Xun-tzu "became the first Confucian who tried to synthesize Legism and Confucianism into a single teaching, thereby laying the prerequisites for the creation of a qualitatively new Confucianism" [Perelomov, 1981, p.163]. The syncretism of Xun-tzu's teaching manifested itself in filling the moral norms of Li's behavior with new content, more clearly emphasizing the role of the state, laws, and public administration in general. Like no other representative of Confucianism, Sun Tzu has parallels with the teachings of Aristotle, especially in questions about the role and functions of the state as a single organism consisting of unequal parts, as well as the importance of the law as an important regulator of social stability. There are similarities even in the manner of presentation - these are not dialogues and short sayings that can be found in Confucius and Mencius, as, indeed, in Plato. This is a monologue, an exposition of the problem, a thorough scientific analysis with specific examples of states and rulers, i.e. what A. Losev defines as a genre of scientific dispute in relation to Aristotle, strictly methodological questions and answers [Losev, 1975, p.17].

To the question of how to govern the state, Xun-tzu gives an answer completely in the spirit of legist and modern rational thinking: "I answer this question like this. Those who are wise and able to nominate for positions without following the order of priority. Those who are lazy and unable to be dismissed without delay... " [Xun-tzu, 2000, p. 145]. The principle of meritocracy and the observance of the law as the most important condition for successful government lead Sun Tzu to the type of worldview that was later developed in the Western tradition, laid down by Aristotle and later developed in Roman civil law (in the conditions of China, this function was performed by legists): "What is prescribed by law should be carried out in accordance with the law; what is not prescribed by law should be carried out by analogy - this is the limit of commission when hearing state affairs..." [Xun-tzu, 2000, p.147].

At the same time, however, Sun Tzu always mentions the second component of good governance in his arguments. Quite in the spirit of the Confucian tradition, he considers such a ritual necessary for the mandatory observance of the principles of humanity and justice by the ruler, which ultimately moves Xun-tzu away from conventionally rational "specialized" thinking and returns to the bosom of archaism - the understanding of the wholeness of the world-cosmos. Good laws alone are not enough, but-

page 160
it is necessary to add something else to this, so that the ruler can be called a real wang and rule the entire Celestial Empire:

"...Justice and concord are the standard of government, the middle and calm are the norm of government... If you are unfair and biased and do not have the right standard, this is an imperfection in the hearing of state affairs. Therefore, it happens that with excellent laws in the country there is a disorder " [Xun-tzu, 2000, p. 147].

If Confucius first justified the importance of primarily ethical norms for good government, and Ming-tzu deepened this position and noted the importance of economic principles of state life, then Xun-tzu emphasized the role of law as a way of state administration. In doing so, however, he did not deviate from Confucian principles based on virtue and ritual, and, like his predecessors, emphasized the need to observe them. Moreover, the characteristic point of Xun-tzu's reasoning is the inevitable consideration of two issues in a paired bundle, in parallel-thinking about virtue and humanity, he involuntarily slips into the field of rational economic state activity and vice versa. As a result, the teaching of Xun-tzu can be conventionally defined not just as a syncretic combination of Confucianism and Legalism, but as being at the junction of two different types of worldview. Being the extreme limit of the manifestation of Confucian morality, showing how far it can go in its attempts to weave ethics and ritual into the fabric of state and political administration, it is at the same time as close as possible to the Western worldview and its values. This brings the teaching of Sun Tzu closer to the positions of Aristotle, whose philosophical concept also lies at the junction of archaic and logic, the world-cosmos and the world as an object of knowledge. It is no accident, therefore, that both Western and eastern philosophers demonstrate an almost identical train of thought regarding the state structure. Just like Aristotle, Sun Tzu holds a firm opinion on the inevitability of inequality in the state and on the important role of society and the social environment [Sun Tzu, 2000, p. 148].

However, unlike the Greek thinker, Sun Tzu ultimately focuses on the world-the cosmic perception of reality and studies the task from the point of view of cyclical time. So, if at the beginning he writes that "from the homogeneous one goes to the heterogeneous, from the singular to the plural", which makes his reasoning completely consonant with the Aristotelian one, then further he continues completely in the spirit of Taoist and early Greek natural philosophical cyclic perception: "The beginning is the end; the end is the beginning. It's like a circle with no beginning and no end. If this is discarded, the Celestial Empire degrades" [Xun-tzu, 2000, p. 156]. This axiom leads Xun-tzu to connect his understanding of being with ritual and law, as well as with their manifestation and carrier-the supreme power:

"Heaven and Earth are the beginning of life; ritual and justice are the beginning of order; the sovereign is the beginning of ritual and justice... Without a sovereign, everything between Heaven and Earth would lose order, ritual and justice would lose unity, there would be no ruler and mentor at the top, and there would be no father and son at the bottom, and then complete chaos would ensue" [Xun - tzu, 2000, pp. 156-157].

It is the supreme power-the personification and bearer of both law and ritual - that is able to maintain order in the cosmos and prevent chaos - the most terrible thing that the ancient Chinese could imagine. Therefore, the combination of two principles - ritual-ethical and secular-political - in Xun-tzu is manifested in the maximum form. Despite the fact that both Confucius and Mencius came to the same conclusion, they emphasized these principles somewhat differently. Confucius and Mencius emphasized the ethical-ritual component to a greater extent, while Xun-tzu emphasized the state component. This difference does not in any way negate the main thing - everything is presented in the same way.-

page 161
the founders of classical Confucianism adhered to the framework of the world-cosmic cyclic perception of reality, and in their reasoning proceeded from the determining influence of the ethical (ethical-religious) sphere on all others.

conclusion

A comparison of two ancient traditions - ancient and Confucian-allows us to draw the following conclusions. Initially, both traditions developed almost identically to each other, had a similar algorithm of thinking about the place of a person in the social space and the world-cosmos as a whole. In both cases, there was a reverence for the integrity of the universe, the cosmos associated with harmony, orderliness, as well as a fear of chaos - all that destroys the established foundations and plunges people into a pre-cosmic state. The integrity of the sacred world-cosmos and the prevention of chaos, according to the ancients, had to be supported, on the one hand, by the same sacred attitude to the world, which was realized through ritual, ethics, which received a religious dimension, and on the other hand, by orderliness, which automatically led to the separation of all manifestations of social life and people, that is, by thee. to inequality. Each person, therefore, first had to develop the ethical principles of virtue as contributing to the maintenance of harmony, and secondly, had to occupy the place assigned to him in this world and perform his role in accordance with the given framework. This understanding can be traced both in Plato and Aristotle, as well as in all representatives of Confucianism. Separation as the basis for the order of the world-cosmos and the viability of society was inherent in all ancient societies - this shows the typological similarity of their development. The specific manifestations of this postulate varied. So, in the ancient Indian tradition, this thesis resulted in a clearly regulated social stratification, which was clearly embodied by the caste system. In Ancient China, supreme power and ritual became the personification of the order and harmony of the world-cosmos. It was believed that the ritual was a reliable protection against chaos both in nature and in human life:

"Through the ritual, heaven and Earth are in harmony, the sun and moon shine brightly, the four seasons follow each other in succession, the stars and constellations make their way, the rivers continue to flow, all things flourish, love and hate are expressed in the proper form, joy and anger are in accordance; those who are below, obedient; those at the top, enlightened; all things change without disturbing the order. And only a departure from the ritual leads to death... In the Middle Kingdom, the one who follows this system of ritual is in order; but for the one who does not follow, there is disorder ... "[Xun-tzu, 2000, p. 172].

In the Chinese Confucian tradition, this (natural-philosophical or world-cosmic) approach not only did not undergo drastic changes, but also became an obligatory basis for further development. Thus, the attitude to ritual and supreme power has become a hallmark of the Chinese tradition, which has remained almost unchanged to this day.

In the ancient tradition, the inclusiveness of the sacred sphere, embodied in the organic unity of the world-cosmos, was expressed in the maximum form by the spontaneous materialists, Plato, and retained its significance later, in particular by Aristotle. However, later attempts to maintain orderliness in the Greco-Roman world were associated not so much with social stratification or supreme power as such (although it, like everywhere else in the world, was still considered an important guarantor of stability), but with political and legal aspects of state development. In the first place in maintaining order, stability, and harmony, the law (dura lex sed

page 162
lex-the law is harsh, but it is the law"), which became the main imperative for the development of Roman society. The primacy of the law, which received its vivid embodiment in Roman civil law, which successfully existed until the Modern era and became the basis of Western legislation, was organically connected with the previous Jewish tradition - the religion of the Law.

Nevertheless, the ethical principles of virtue and ritual, which had a religious dimension, permeated all spheres of life of ancient societies, both in the West and in the East, hence the understanding of the sacred as an inevitable element of state and political management and social life in general, which was recognized by all ancient thinkers.

The parallelism in the direction of development of both traditions is manifested not only in the external attributes of development (where both of them represented the "golden age" of philosophical thought), but also in the conceptual similarity of both the founders of the teachings (Confucius and Plato) and their followers. If the teachings of Plato and Confucius, with all their external differences, developed within the framework of the so-called idealistic tradition, then the concepts proposed by their followers went deeper, while at the same time offering a new perspective on solving problems. If Confucius and Plato, relatively speaking, set the problem as a single symbol containing many derivatives, then their followers disassembled this symbol into parts, analyzed them and based on this drew conclusions, which in many ways resembled the deductive method of research. It is no accident, therefore, that by applying this method, thinkers discovered an infinite number of these same derivatives, which were later transformed into various disciplines of knowledge - from logic, physics, biology to economics, politics, and law. At the same time, the process of splitting a whole symbol first into interconnected, and then into autonomous parts. its logical conclusion is only within the framework of the predominantly Western tradition. In the Chinese tradition, this process only began to emerge (this is clearly seen in the example of the works of Xun-tzu), but it was not developed later, which largely corresponded to the vector of the integral Chinese worldview, in which the particular is only an integral part of the whole; where the beginning is the end, and the end is the beginning. In this sense, the Western tradition followed the path of further dismemberment of the symbol into parts, which subsequently led to the primacy of rational and highly specialized, and in a broader sense-to the dominance of the so-called historical-evolutionary linear approach over the cyclical-circular one. A crucial role in this process was played by Aristotle, who became the founder of the so-called Aristotelian or deductive logic, which successfully existed until the twentieth century. If before Aristotle, the development of the ancient and Confucian traditions went along almost parallel paths, then after him, a mismatch of development codes gradually began to emerge, ultimately leading to different types of civilizational thinking and behavior in general.

Thus, despite the undoubted importance of Plato's philosophical doctrine for the development of Christian scholasticism, it did not become the dominant one that determined the direction and framework of the formation of Christian civilization. This is largely due to the fact that Plato's philosophy is characterized by a different algorithm of thinking, in which the concept of historicity has not yet received proper development, where a cyclical understanding of time and being prevailed, the wholeness of the world-cosmos, which was its common feature with Confucianism in China.

As a result, it can be argued that the religious component in the culture of ancient societies not only influenced the elements of social systems (politics and economy), but also completely determined the course of their development, set the main direction and, ultimately, contributed to the formation of common cultural codes as the basis for the development of a particular civilization. Due to the original non-existence of-

page 163
In both traditions, it is impossible to single out the religious factor as such without "touching" other elements of cultural and social systems. This operation of isolation can be carried out later, in conditions of greater "specialization" and development not of the whole world-cosmos, but of the social, subjective cosmos, and mainly in the European (Western) tradition. In the Confucian tradition, archaic integral symbolic thinking (preserved even in hieroglyphic writing) and the way of acting remained the core of the entire space.

list of literature

Aristotle. Politics // Drevnegrecheskaya filosofiya: ot Platona do Aristotelya [Ancient Greek Philosophy: from Plato to Aristotle].

Bongard-Levin G. M. Ancient Indian civilization. 2nd ed., reprint. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 1993.

Vasiliev L. S. Problems of the genesis of the Chinese state. (Formation of the foundations of social structure and political administration). Moscow: Nauka. GRVL, 1983.

Vasiliev L. S. Kulty, religii, traditsii v Kitae [Cults, Religions, traditions in China]. 2nd ed. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 2001.

Confucius. Lun Yu / / Classical Confucianism. In 2 vols. Vol. 1 / Transl. with kit., art., commentary by A. Martynov. SPb.: Neva; Moscow: OLMA-PRESS, 2000.

Kychanov E. I. Osnovy srednevekovogo kitayskogo prava (VII-XIII vv.) [Fundamentals of medieval Chinese Law (VII-XIII vv.)]. Moscow: Nauka, GRVL, 1986.

Losev A. F. Istoriya antichnoi estetiki [History of ancient aesthetics]. Sophists, Socrates, Platon, Moscow: Iskusstvo Publ., 1969.

Losev A. F. Istoriya antichnoi estetiki [History of ancient aesthetics]. Aristotle and Late Classics, Moscow: Iskusstvo Publ., 1975.

Losev A. F. Ocherki antichnogo simvolizma i mifologii [Essays on ancient symbolism and mythology]. Comp. by A. A. Takho-Godi; General ed. by A. A. Takho-Godi and I. I. Makhankova.

Malyavin V. V. Kitayskaya tsivilizatsiya [Chinese Civilization]. Moscow: Astrel; ACT, 2000.

Martynov A. S. Predstavleniya o prirode i miroustroitel'nykh funktsiakh vlasti kitayskikh imperatorov [Views on the nature and world-building functions of the power of Chinese Emperors]. 1972, N 5.

Martynov A. S. Gosudarstvennoe i eticheskoe v imperatorskom Kitae [State and Ethical education in Imperial China]. Collection of articles, Moscow: Nauka, GRVL, 1988.

Martynov A. S. Osnovnye kategorii klassicheskogo confucianstva [The main categories of classical Confucianism]. In 2 vols. Vol. 1 / Transl. with kit., art., commentary by A. Martynov. SPb.: Neva; Moscow: OLMA-PRESS, 2000.

Meng-tzu / / Classical Confucianism. In 2 vols. Vol. 2 / Transl. with kit., art., comment. I. Zograf. SPb.: Neva; Moscow: OLMA-PRESS, 2000.

Parsons, T. O sotsial'nykh sistemakh [On Social systems], ed. by V. F. Chesnokova and S. A. Belanovskogo, Moscow: Akademicheskiy proekt, 2002.

Perelomov L. S. Confucianism and Legalism in the political history of China. Moscow, 1981.

Perelomov L. S. "Chetveroknizhie" - klyuch k postizheniyu konfutsianstva ["Chetveroknizhie" - the key to the comprehension of Confucianism] / / Confucian"chetveroknizhie" ("Si Shu") / Translated from the text and commentary by A. I. Kobzeva, A. E. Lukyanova, L. S. Perelomova, P. S. Popova with the participation of V. M. Mayorov; Introduction by L. S. Perelomov. Moscow: Vostochnaya literatura Publ., 2004.

Plato. State//Drevnegrecheskaya filosofiya: ot Platona do Aristotelya [Ancient Greek Philosophy: from Plato to Aristotle].

Plato. Socrates ' Apology//Ancient Greek philosophy: from Plato to Aristotle / Translated from drevnegrech. Moscow: ACT; Kharkiv: Folio, 2003 (2).

Russell B. Istoriya zapadnoi filosofii [History of Western Philosophy], Academic Project Publ., 2006.

Xun-tzu / / Classical Confucianism. In 2 vols. Vol. 2 / Transl. with kit., art., comment. I. Zograf. SPb.: Neva; Moscow: OLMA-PRESS, 2000.

Eliade M. The Sacred and the Profane. The Nature of Religion / Transl. from the French by Willard R. Trask). San Diego-New York-London: A Harvest Book, Harcourt, 1987.

Permanent link to this publication: