Abstract: The ethical education tradition was based on the consanguineous patriarchal clan system & agricultural civilization. And it has been revolving aroundthe Confucian culture. As a result, it has strong rooted thinking pattern in the process of modernity. In the course of stepping into the market economy and democratic & legal construction, we must introspect the moral idealism, but cannotfall into moral nihilism. We should neither be conservative nor radical. To ponder over the ethical value problems we are faced in contemporary China, we should have dialectical minds that exceed efficacy and interest.

Key words: modernity, moral cutivation, idealism, experimentalism

摘要： 建立在宗法血缘等级和农耕文明之上的、以儒家文化为中心的伦理教化传统具有浓郁的道德理想主义质素,并成为我们现代性历程中根深蒂固的思维方式。在走向市场经济秩序和社会主义民主法治建设的过程中,我们需要反思道德理想主义,又不陷入道德虚无主义;既不保守,也不激进;超越致用的思维,以辩证的心态来思考当代中国社会所面临的伦理价值问题。

关键词: 现代性, 道德教化, 理想主义, 经验主义