孟子指斥杨墨“率兽食人”，是中国哲学史上的大事件，而《诗经》是他重要的思想资源。人与禽兽的根本差别，也被视为儒家思想的一个基本出发点。在《诗经》之中，也多有“鸟兽鱼虫”之名，但“鸟兽”不仅具有知识的意义，其习性和象征意义在不同的诗篇中呈现出丰富的内涵，这是孔子强调学习《诗经》的必要性所在。早期的孔门后学，多引《诗》明志说理，不仅没有回避“鸟兽鱼虫”，且比拟于圣贤君子的理想人格。《诗经》四书及四书学著作中经常引用鸟兽，特别是“鸢飞鱼跃”的情形来阐发多种思想，包括“恶人远去，不为民害”“大王、王季德教明察，著于上下”“民众各得其所，喜不自胜”“见得道体发见”“吾良知的流行不息”“子思吃紧为人处”等，大多与“君子之道”的具体含义有关。而其他经典如《周易》《庄子》等书中的相关内容，在“触类旁通”的解释之下也颇具启发性。从“言《诗》以论学”与“即物以见道”，我们也可以领略到中国哲学的特色与魅力。
Mencius rebuked Yang Mo for“beasts would be led on to devour men”，which was a great event in the history of Chinese philosophy.The fundamental difference between man and beast is also regarded as a basic starting point of Confucianism.In The Book of Odes，there are also many names of“birds，beasts，fish and worms”，but“birds and beasts” not only have the meaning of knowledge，their habits and symbolic meanings have shown rich connotations in different poems，which is why Confucius stressed the necessity of learning The Book of Odes.He often cited the“poetry” to explain and rationalize，which not only did not avoid“birds，beasts，fish and worms”，but also compared to the ideal personality of sages and gentlemen.In The Book of Odes，The Four Books and the study of The Four Books，birds and animals are often quoted，especially the case of“kites flying and fish leaping” to elucidate a variety of thoughts，including“away from the wicked，do not harm the people”；“Tai King，King Ji，their moral education was very significant，from the top to the bottom had been obviously affected.”，“People were in their proper place，overjoyed”；“Seeing the body of Dao to be visible ”；“The implementation of my conscience”；“Zisi was very solemn about what he talked” and so on.All of these mostly related to the“gentlemen's way”.In the relevant content of other classics，such as The Book of Changes，Zhuangzi，the coherent interpretation is also quite inspiring.We can also have a taste of the characteristics and charm of Chinese philosophy from“discussing The Book of Odes to demonstrate thought” and“studying the concrete affairs to discover the Dao ”.
