Chapter 17 3. Home world and pan-ethics

Still have to start from the beginning. As mentioned earlier, primitive clans managed society by relying on simple morality (virtue) and customs (rituals). This is the broad sense of "rule by virtue" and "rule by ritual".This is not difficult to understand.Because the establishment of clan society relies on blood relationship.In a clan society, people are either distant relatives or close neighbors.What binds them together can only be emotion and morality, as well as the etiquette that embodies emotion and morality, including all kinds of conventions, customs with religious, witchcraft and artistic colors, and it is impossible to be cold and impersonal laws .Therefore, after a nation enters the state era, whether it will change its course and implement the rule of law, or continue to implement the rule of virtue and ritual depends on how they transform the clan into the country.In other words, it depends on how he treats the clan system.

To borrow Engels' words, the Greeks "blown up" the clan system, and the first step in "blowing up" the clan system was to "destroy" the blood relationship.It's not that they intended to do this, but they did it out of necessity.Due to poor soil and unable to farm, they had to choose to do business, had to leave their hometowns, and even traveled across the ocean to settle in other places to make a living.This creates three problems.First, they had to break away from their own tribe, but to have relations with other tribes; second, they had to ask for a division of property, and demanded that the divided property be recognized as their own personal property; third, they had to use money in large quantities , and value money more than other things (such as emotions and morals).These three items are incompatible with the clan system.The first article alone is enough to make the blood relationship in the past no longer exist.The second article made the already fragile tribal relationship worse.Because a man with his own private property can of course disregard the old-fashioned authority of tribal leaders.As for currency, we know that most of them will cultivate the concept of "recognizing money but not people".

Obviously, at this time, it is impossible to implement the rule of man system in the tribal era.What's more, in a city-state where immigrants live together, it is unlikely that there will be a leader who is naturally born in a clan society and enjoys indisputable respect.Of course there will be respectable people, but they are no longer unique, and there is no reason for his status to be hereditary (hereditary is only concerned with blood).Now, the city-state is inhabited by people from various tribes.Just because they come from various tribes, but they live together, have various relationships, and form a society, they can no longer be regarded as people in the tribe, but should be regarded as people in the city-state.Thus, the concept of citizenship was born. The original meaning of "citizen" is "people who belong to the city-state".It comes from the word city-state - "Polis", which is called "Polites" in Greek and translated into Chinese as "citizen".

Polides (citizens) are persons with individual private property and thus independent personality and free will.Of course, they can no longer accept the "one-man politics" of an authority figure (rule of man), and they are no longer satisfied with moral ambiguity (rule of virtue).They need a new authority, one that transcends all individuals and old customs, an authority that is free from physical constraints and emotional entanglements.Moreover, in order to be impartial, this new authority must no longer be a person, but must be something reified, like money and contracts.To put it more clearly, it should be as widely and universally effective as currency, and everyone must abide by it like a contract.We now know this thing, it is the law.

The situation in China is different. Like all nations in the world, ancient Chinese society also experienced the process from clan, tribe, tribal alliance to tribal state.The legendary Nvguo is the era of matrilineal clan society; Fuxi is the era of patrilineal clan society; Yan and Huang are the era of tribes; Yao, Shun and Yu are the era of tribal alliances; Xia is the era of tribal countries ; Shang, is the era of tribal countries alliance;Here, there is a crucial turning point, that is, "Qi abolishing abdication" - Yu's son Qi established the "hereditary system" of supreme power.With this as a symbol, our nation has begun to evolve from a tribe to a country.Of course, this evolution is asynchronous.Some tribes are earlier, some tribes are later.Xia, Shang, and Zhou evolved earlier and matured, so they became the leaders of tribal states, tribal state alliances, and state alliances (confederation or federation).The establishment of their "dynasties" is nothing more than the establishment of their own national form; and their so-called "enfeoffment", as mentioned above, is nothing but the crowning of the kings who have already become tribal countries.Nations, born of wars between tribes and tribal confederations.

But regardless of whether it was sooner or later, big or small, or sequentially, these tribes, without exception, did not "blow up" the clan system when they became tribal states.They turned their tribe into a country in a "peaceful evolution" way.Tribal chiefs became kings, priests and shamans became ministers, captains of battle groups became generals, and tribesmen became subjects.This is not surprising, since they are all or mainly agricultural nation-states.Except for going out to fight, they never left the land where they were born and grew up, let alone disbanded their families.On the contrary, they continued to expand the family, from family to family, from family to clan, from clan to tribe, from tribe to tribal alliance.When tribes and tribal alliances turned into tribal countries, the society changed from "great harmony" to "well-off".

The well-off era began with Xia Qi, because Xia Qi was the first person to implement the "hereditary system".The so-called "hereditary" refers to the leadership or the position of a leader, which is inherited from generation to generation by a family or a family. Therefore, it is no longer "the world is the public" (handing down the virtuous but not the sons), but "the world is the family" ( pass on the sons but not the virtuous).At the same time, leadership has evolved into domination.Such a change developed to the Zhou Dynasty, and a mature system was formed - the "family system".The so-called "home world" means not only "the world is home", but also "home is the world".It includes three contents: "family and country have the same origin", "family and country have the same structure" and "family and country have the same body".In other words, the country developed from the family, and the country and the family have the same organizational model and management method.The ruler is the "father", the minister is the "subject", the official is the "parent officer", the soldier is the "children", and the regions and departments are "brothers"; the father is the monarch of each family, called "family monarch" .In short, the family is a small country, the country is everyone, and the family and the country are one.

This system may not be said to have been invented by the Zhou people, but it was at least perfected and formed by them in the eleventh century BC.This is the period of the twenty-first dynasty of ancient Egypt, the Homer era of ancient Greece.Not far before and after, there are Tigras Palasar I, king of Assyria, and King David of Judea.At this time, all nations in the world are exploring the way of the country.The contribution of the Zhou people is to establish the "family system of the world" and to support it.What kind of matching do you use?Feudalism and patriarchal system. Let me talk about the "patriarchal system" first.

The so-called "patriarchal system" includes two contents, namely "patriarchal system" and "firstborn son system".According to the system of the Zhou people, each family has a core (the monarch in a broad sense), which is the "father and head"; there is also a legal heir, which is the "eldest son" (the first son born to the regular wife).This is passed down from generation to generation, which is "blood".Bloodlines belong to families, and families form families.Theoretically, the family should also have an earliest and common "father and head", who is the "ancestor".Zu also has a sole legal heir, which is "Zong".There are large sects and small sects.The direct descendant is the Dazong, and the offshoot is the Xiaozong.The Dazong has the right to offer sacrifices, but the Xiaozong does not.From then on, it is passed down from generation to generation, which is "zongtong".The lineage belongs to the Qian family, the family forms the clan, the clan forms the tribe, and the tribe forms the nation.In this way, the nation should theoretically share a "father and head", who is the "son of heaven".The Son of Heaven is the eldest son of "Heaven", and he also has a sole legal heir, which is the "Heir King".The emperor also has a family system, so there are ancestors.Entrepreneurship is the ancestor, and the ancestor is the ancestor.Therefore, the founding emperors of the later imperial era were all called "Zu", and the succeeding emperors were basically called "Zong" (Ming Chengzu Zhu Di, Qing Shizu Shunzhi and Shengzu Kangxi were exceptions).From this, it is passed down from generation to generation, which is the "monarchy".The trinity of monarchy, lineage, and lineage is one, so "the world is home".

The patriarchal system applied to the national alliance in the Zhou Dynasty is the "feudal system".The specific method is: first assume that the king of Zhou is the eldest son of heaven, and all the land in the world is bestowed on him by heaven, and then he distributes it to his theoretical and de facto brothers and nephews like a family.These people are princes.In this way, the emperor is the "ancestor", and the princes are the "ancestors".In other words, the Son of Heaven is the Dazong, and the feudal princes are the Xiaozong.The princes also have the right to enfeoff, and they must also distribute the land in the "country" to theoretically and de facto brothers and nephews.This is the doctor.In this way, the princes are the "ancestors" of all countries, and the officials are the "ancestors".In other words, the princes are the Dazong, and the doctors are the Xiaozong.The doctor also wants to divide the land in the "home".This is Shi.In this way, the doctor is the Dazong, and the scholar is the Xiaozong.Of course, scholars can also redistribute the land to the common people, but scholars will always be small clans and cannot become big clans.

In this way, the monarchy, clan lineage, and blood lineage are all three in one.The organizational model of the family and clan was politicized and turned into a model of state domination.The national governance model has been familyized and turned into something tender and affectionate.The clan system has been transformed into a state system without anyone noticing.Instead of being destroyed, blood ties were strengthened.Everyone has become the nephew of the emperor, and the formal term is "zimin" (subjects like nephews).Although this set of statements seems outrageous now, it was appreciated by the ruling class at the time because it was quite humane and deceptive.Even officials in the imperial era were repeatedly told to "love the people like their sons", although in reality, the people are nothing more than grass that can be trampled on at will (grass people), or can be executed at will like ants stuff (ant people). Such a country certainly does not advocate the rule of law.Because for one's "family members", there is no need to do anything wrong.Even if you want to teach the law, it can only be "ancestral family law".On the contrary, the rule of virtue works much better.The "virtue" in the Western Zhou Dynasty was very simple, nothing more than kindness, filial piety, friendship, and brotherhood.Compassion means that the father does not allow the father to abolish his father; filial piety means that the son does not allow the father to usurp the father;The "virtue" in the imperial era was not complicated. It was nothing more than the three cardinal principles and five constant principles, the four dimensions and the six disciplines.Because being a "filial son" at home must be a "loyal minister" in the country, this is called "a loyal minister comes from the gate of a filial son".Therefore, the empire even made corresponding regulations in the system, that is, an incumbent official, regardless of his position, must go back to his hometown if his parents are bereaved, and stay at home for three years, which is called "Ding You".Only in extremely special circumstances (such as the country being invaded by foreign enemies), the emperor can order him to be loyal and wear filial piety, which is called "taking love".In fact, if the subjects of the world can be loyal and filial, the highest authority can indeed feel relieved and worry-free.Therefore, although the empire abolished the feudal system, it inherited the patriarchal system.Of course, there is also the principle of "ruling the country with ethics" that is fully accepted. But in this way, a problem arises, that is pan-ethics.The so-called "pan-ethics" refers to treating all relationships as ethical relationships and transforming all issues into moral issues.For example, it is obviously a power struggle or a line dispute, but it is also a moral dispute, and one's political opponents are portrayed as heinous villains and despicable villains.This is not surprising at all.Applying the ethics originally used for "regulating the family" to "govern the country" is "pan" in itself; and once ethics and morality replace legal administration and become the highest and only principle of governing the country, how can it not be flooded?In fact, after ethics becomes a tool of domination, it will inevitably become a weapon of struggle.In these struggles between the court and the officialdom, the opposing parties are often people who have read poetry and books, so it is not difficult to find suitable words and sentences to criticize them.The classics of the sages are so unobtrusive (it can also be understood as vague and vague), and the power of interpretation is in the hands of politicians or politicians. Of course, they can describe their opponents as they like." Villains" or even "national thieves".This type of struggle has almost run through the entire history of the empire, causing great internal friction to the empire. This is probably not expected by the instigator, right? So, why did the empire insist on governing the country with ethics?