子曰：「能以禮讓為國乎？何有？不能以禮讓為國，如禮何？」禮讓教育是治國的重要方法，能以禮讓治國，國家則能平治。所以歷代統治者非常提倡禮讓教化，自南宋流傳歷經明清至民國的童蒙教科書《三字經》，其中「融四歲，能讓梨」就以孔融讓梨的故事教導兒童學習禮讓。然而這個教育卻開始被檢討，前陣子網路就流傳一篇文章「孔融讓梨我不讓！美國學生對於儒家教育的反駁」，對儒家的禮讓思想，提出批判。除此之外，後人也質疑禮讓不一定能維護社會的和睦，甚而有因禮讓而帶來禍亂，基於此，本文對禮讓思想重新進行探討與省思。孔子為何提倡禮讓？本文探討禮讓思想產生的社會背景以及所展現的正面意義。同時歸納出反對禮讓主要理由有二：其一，禮讓違反人性，禮讓是被教育出來的，自我的需求受到壓制；同時也不符合公平競爭的精神。其二，這是一個強欺弱、欺善怕惡的社會，禮讓變成懦弱，反而人善被人欺。古今都有人對禮讓存疑。針對很多人以為禮讓違反人性，本文試圖為禮讓如何可能？找出哲學根據，那就是「仁」；至於禮讓如何不流於懦弱？退讓必須合乎「禮」，不合乎禮的退讓就會被人欺壓或引發動亂。而「禮」的判準就是「仁」，當仁不讓，要勇於承擔。

Confucius asked: “Is it possible for a monarch to govern his kingdom on the principle of comity? What kind of difficulty will he encounter? If he just uses a set of laws and ritual rules to govern but disregards comity, what good will that bring?” Education that incorporates comity is essential to competent governance and national prosperity. Ancient Chinese emperors upheld the principle of comity in national education. The famous Chinese book for enlightenment education “Three characters” teaches primary school students the conduct of comity. However, the teaching of comity has been singled out for review recently and some people doubt its appropriateness for this generation. Some American students criticize the Confucian concept of comity. Others question comity does not necessarily bring social harmony. Some even go further to suggest that comity may bring social chaos. This paper is a review and study of comity. Why did Confucius advocate comity? This paper explores the social background that brings forth the comity concept and its positive meaning. This paper also summarizes two main reasons that lead people to oppose comity. Firstly , comity is against human nature and is not innate but imparted into our mind through education. It requires self-suppression of our desires and violates the spirit of fair competition. Secondly , the social behavior of this era is ” the strong bullies the weak “ and comity is consequently a sign of cowardice and will invite others to intimidate you. Since many people doubt comity is against human nature, this paper attempts to clarify that comity can be practiced. The philosophical basis for comity is “benevolence”. How to guard against comity becoming cowardice? The key is comity must be practiced with” propriety”. Comity not on the basis of propriety will incur intimidation and chaos. The standard of “propriety “ is “ benevolence”. When something is right (benevolent) , we have to carry it through.