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Govern the country by reason: The legal principles and destiny of Zhu Xi’s establishment
Author: Yu Zhong
Source: “Confucius Research” No. 5, 2022
Abstract: Zhu Xi’s contribution to the traditional legal theory of China lies in the construction of the theme of “govern the country by reason”. On the one hand, reason is to realize the highest and ultimate standards that the current national management depends on. On the other hand, in the reality of governing a country according to governance, principles are aggregated and transformed into two levels: “morality” and “political and criminal”. Between “moral gifts” and “political and criminal”, “moral gifts” as a direct transformation of the reason has become the basic norm for national management to rely on. “Political and criminal” acts as an indirect transformation of the rationality, and also as a direct transformation of the “morality”, forming a specific standard for the national management. From “reason” to “morality” and then to “political and criminal”, three levels of regulations are shown, namely, the former is the basis of the latter, and the latter is the concreteization of the former.
Keywords: Zhu Xi; theory; virtue; politics and punishment; rule;
Author introduction: Yu Zhong, male, born in 1969, from Chongqing, professor and doctoral supervisor of the Chinese Academy of Political Science and Law, and is an important researcher in the study of law.
In the history of Chinese legal theory, Zhu Xi comprehensively and systematically constructed the life topic of “governing the country according to the principles”. “Governing the country according to governance” can also be simply called “governance”. If contemporary China can be called “rule of law China”, then China in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties can be called “governing China”; if contemporary China can be called “rule of law era”, then the centuries of the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties can be called “governing China”. Of course, whether it is “governing China” or “governing the era”, they can be attributed to the “governing the country according to the rule”, and they are all companions or derivatives of the legal and mathematical topic “governing the country according to the rule”.
For hundreds of years behind Zhu Xi, according to the theory and reality of governing the country, it has fully shaped the order of civilization on the Chinese and Xia, and even fully influenced the order of civilizations in surrounding countries such as the Korean and Japanese for a longer period. This means that governing the country according to the principles is not only the focus of Zhu Xi’s legal theory, but also the focus of the focus of the Chinese legal theory in the Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, and even the focus of the East Asian legal theory before and after the Ming dynasty.
Literally speaking, the meaning of governing a country by governance is to regard theory as the basis for national management. However, Zhu Xi’s related statements and confessions, governing the country according to the principles and principles, also include full legal meanings: First, theory is the highest or ultimate standard that national management depends on and abides by. Second, the “morality” that comes directly from “reason” has formed the basic rules that national management depends on and abide by. Third, the “political and criminal” that originates from “reason” and directly from “morality” has formed a specific specification that the national management depends on and abides by. From this point of view, the countryThe principle that management relies on, or perhaps the “reason” of “governing the country by reason” actually includes a standard system with reason as its source.
1. Rule is the highest standard for national management to rely on
Zhu Xi’s academic or “Zhu Zixue” represents the mature form of philosophy. Since it is called theory, it can be seen that theory is the focus of Zhu Xi’s learning. Of course, from the source, the model of reason is not born out of Zhu Xi; the model of the law of heaven and law does not begin with Zhu Xi. You can find out after a little retrospective that the concept of the law of nature has already appeared in the “Talents”, and even the concept of people’s desire is as follows: “If you like to be filthless inside, you know outside, and you cannot reflect on it, the principle of nature is imperfect. The movement of things is unrestrained, but if you like to be filthless, it means that things come and people transform things. People transform things, Those who obey the laws of heaven and destroy human desires. “[1] In the Northern Song Dynasty, Cheng Jun once used “reason” to describe “heaven”, saying: “Heaven is the principles, and God is the wonderful things and speaks.” [2] This means that heaven and reason are equal, and heaven and reason are the names of two differences in a unified thing. The supremacy of heaven is the supremacy of truth. It is precisely in this kind of thinking tradition that Zhu Xi made a comprehensive description of reason and the law of heaven, and thus became a master of the science of science.
From the perspective of modern legal theory, in terms of national management systems, theory is also a standard that should be followed and is the highest standard. Regarding the standard nature of reason, Li Zehou believed that “the most basic focus of Zhu Xi’s system is to establish such a conceptual formula: ‘should’ (the world is consistent) = must be determined (the law of the universe). Zhu Xi’s “reason” world of thousands of images is designed for this formula: the reason why all things are (‘must be certain’) is that people must believe in and follow them. The laws, laws and order of observing and serving are the ‘normal principles’. As long as they exist with all things, ‘reason’ is logically preceded, surpassed, and exceeded the physical world of all things, and it constitutes the inherent existence of all things. “[3] This statement not only reminds the essential meaning of the truth, but also highlights the meaning of the “law” that truth must be abide by and must be served. As the “law”, the female college student’s care club can understand the modern law – and the most efficient law. This most efficient method is not difficult to make people think of the concept of natural law in the East. Obviously, theory and natural law have certain similarities, but there are still differences between the two. The most obvious difference here is that the reason can be used directly and widely for case decisions. In comparison, natural law has less direct “appearance” in judicial practice.
In this, we have no choice but to observe some historical phenomena and historical details: During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, many yamen were accustomed to merging reason and law, and were also accustomed to putting reason before law. This tradition means that both reason and law are the norms that need to be followed in handling cases, and reason is still higher than, better than, and precedes the norms of law. exist”In the book “Preface to the Three Songtang”, Rong Youlan described the scene where his father was working in judicial trials in Chongyang County, Hubei Province: “Jing Lan and I sometimes ran to the hall, stood behind our father’s chair, and watched our father’s review. When a case ended, the father wrote a ‘chapel’ with a red pen. The church is equivalent to a judgment book, but the law is not used in it, but the judgment is made according to the truth.” [4] Rong Youlan said that it was the scene of the Guangsheng period of the Qing Dynasty, and it was also the “old scenery” that is based on the highest standard for case review and even national management. The important thing about the “reason” mentioned here by Youyoulan is that it is different from the “laws and decrees”. Regarding this principle and its authority to national law, Dai Zhen of the Qianlong and Jiaqing period of the Qing Dynasty had a critical comment: “When a person dies from the law, he is worried about it; if he dies from the truth, who will feel sorry for it!” [5] This is to confess that both the truth and the law are both regulations that must be followed, and the principle is definitely a correct norm that no one can doubt. Therefore, it can be regarded as the highest regulations that national management must abide by, and it is also a standard that can be used in judicial decisions.
Why is the highest rule? Why do “When a person dies in the Dharma, he has something to worry about it; when a person dies in the truth, who is worried about it?” What is the truth? In Dai Zhen’s book “Mencius and the Identification of Mencius”, the opening chapter is an explanation of “reason”: “reason means to observe the subtle points and the name is different. Therefore, the division of principles is divided; in the quality of objects, it is called texture, pores, and literature; to obtain the distinction between them, it is a pattern of pattern that is strai
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