Chapter 5 private morality

The grassroots organization of China's rural society is what I call a "different order structure", a "network composed of individual connections".This pattern is different from the modern Western "group pattern".In the group structure, the connection between individuals relies on a common shelf; first there is this shelf, and everyone connects this shelf, and they are related to each other. The concept of "citizen" must first have a "country".This structure is likely to have been passed down from the "tribal" form of the primitive peoples.The tribal form is obviously a "group structure" in the nomadic economy.A group of people who depend on each other cannot survive alone or scattered in the mountains and forests.In them, "community" is the premise of life.But in a rural society where everyone can live on their own, they only feel the need for partners in occasional and temporary emergency situations.For them, intercourse with others is secondary and secondary, and they need different degrees of bonding in different situations, not obviously needing a frequent and popular group.Because of this, their society adopts a "different order pattern".

The difference in social structure pattern has caused different moral concepts.Moral concept is the belief that people living in society should consciously abide by social behavior norms.It includes behavioral norms, beliefs of actors and social sanctions.Its content is the code of conduct for the relationship between people, which is determined according to the structure of the society.From a social point of view, morality is the sanction force that society imposes on individuals to make them behave in the prescribed form, so as to maintain the survival and continuation of the society. In the "group structure", the basic concept of morality is built on the relationship between the group and the individual.The group is a "reality" beyond the individual, not something tangible.We cannot specifically take out a tangible thing and call it a group.It is a bundle of human relations, a force that controls the behavior of each individual, an object on which the life of a constituent molecule depends, a common will that is prior to any individual and cannot be separated from the individual... This "reality" Only tangible things can be used to symbolize and express it.Only in the society of "community structure" does the idea of ​​God covering all things arise.The relationship of the community to the individual is symbolic of God's relationship to the believer as a judge with rewards and punishments, a maintainer of justice, and an all-powerful protector.

If we want to understand the moral system in Western "group structure" societies, we must never leave their religious concepts.Religious piety and trust are not only the source of their moral concepts, but also the power to support the code of conduct and the symbol of the group.Under the concept of God, which symbolizes the group, there are two important derived concepts: one is the equality of each individual before God, and the other is God's justice to each individual. Jesus called God the Father, a common father to everyone, and he even denied the parents who gave birth to him in front of everyone.In order to implement this "equality", in Christian mythology, Jesus was born of a virgin.The individual and personal bond between parent and child is here denied.In fact, this is not "nonsense", but a powerful symbol, which symbolizes the "public" group, and the representative of the group-God, must be selfless.Every "Son of Man", the "community constituent" symbolized by Jesus, must have a more important "Heavenly Father" common to all people besides the private father, which is the community. ——In this way, the equality of each individual personality can be established, and the relationship between each group member and the group is equal.Groups cannot be privately owned by any individual.On this basis came the opening words of the American Declaration of Independence: "All men are created equal, and they are all endowed with inalienable rights."

But God is in the shadows, which symbolizes the invisible reality of the group; but when the will of the group is executed, someone must act as an agent. The "agent" Minister is a basic concept in a society with a group structure.The priest who executes the will of God is the Minister, and the official who executes the power of the group is also the Minister. They are all "agents", not God or the group itself.This distinction between God and priest, state and government must not be confused.In the history of Christianity, people once again demanded to communicate directly with God, resisting "agents" who could not truly represent God's will.In the same way, in fact, it is interlinked, and it can be said to be consistent. The Declaration of Independence of the United States can go on to say: "In order to protect these rights, mankind has organized governments. come out; that the people have a right to reform or abolish any form of government, if it be injurious to these ends. These truths we hold to be self-evident."

God is fair, equal, and loving to every individual; if an agent violates these "self-evident truths," the agent loses his qualifications as an agent.The notion of rights then arises in the moral system of the group structure.People must respect each other's rights, and groups must also protect the rights of individuals to prevent group agents from abusing power, and thus the Constitution came into being.The concept of the constitution is compatible with the concept of Western public affairs.The state may require the services of the people, but the state must also ensure that the rights of the people are not violated, and that power is exercised within the scope of justice and love.

I have said a lot about the moral system in the "group structure" in order to set off the characteristics of the moral system in the "different order structure".Judging from their differences, many places are just the opposite.In the self-centered social network, the most important thing is naturally "restraining oneself and returning to the rituals", "one thing is all based on self-cultivation." This is the starting point of the moral system in the differential sequence. The social sphere constituted by pushing outward from the self is a series of personal ties, each of which is held together by a moral element.The scope of society is derived from "self", and there are various routes in the process of pushing, the most basic being relatives: parents and children and compatriots, and the matching moral elements are filial piety and younger brothers. "A filial brother is also the foundation of benevolence." Pushing another line is a friend, and what is matched is loyalty. "Are you not loyal to others, and you are not trustworthy when you make friends?" And dear."

Here I have to mention the more complicated concept of "benevolence".According to what I said above, there is no moral concept that transcends personal relationships in the differential order structure. This concept of transcending oneself can only occur in the group structure.Filial piety, brotherhood, loyalty, and faith are all moral elements in personal relationships.But Confucius often mentioned the word benevolence.In the Analects of Confucius, the word ren has the most explanations, but it is also the most elusive.On the one hand, he repeatedly wanted to give a clear explanation of the word benevolence, but on the other hand, "Zihan talked about benefit, life and benevolence." Confucius repeatedly "hesitant to explain" this moral element.

Sima Niu asked Ren.The Master said, "The benevolent man's words are worthless." He said, "The words are also worthless. Do you call yourself benevolent?" The Master said: "I have never seen a benevolent person. ... If there is one, I have not seen it." Uncle Meng Wu asked, "Is Zi Lu benevolent?" The Master said, "I don't know." He asked again.The Master said, "Yuye, a country of a thousand chariots can be made to govern its gifts, but I don't know its benevolence." He is a ruler, and he does not know his benevolence." "What about red?" The Master said, "Red is standing in the court with a belt, so that he can speak to guests, but he does not know his benevolence."

Confucius said many times that "benevolence is not enough", but when he actively explained what the word benevolence is, he retreated to the set of personal morality of "restraining oneself and returning to the courtesy to be benevolent", "respectful, broad, trustful and beneficial". elements.He said: "Those who can do the five things are benevolent in the world. - Respect is not insulting, generosity is winning people, trust is letting people go, sensitivity is meritorious, and benevolence is enough to make people." The difficulty for Confucius is that it is not easy to specifically point out an overarching moral concept in the Chinese rural society where the "group" combination is not strong.The concept of benevolence is only a logical summation, the universality of moral elements in all personal relationships, but because of the lack of specificity in the "group" that synthesizes personal relationships in the social form, there is only one world that is widely known as "the world belongs to benevolence". , this "benevolence" that matches "the world" cannot be clearer than the concept of "the world".Therefore, whenever we want to explain it in detail, we have to return to the moral elements of "filial piety, loyalty and trustworthiness".It is equivalent to explaining "the world", and we have to go back to the specific ethical relationship of "father and son, brother and sister, and friend".

Not only is there no concept of "love" like that in Christianity in our traditional moral system - universal love without distinction; and it is not easy for us to find the moral elements of the individual to the group.In a society with a Western group structure, official duties and fulfilling obligations are a clear code of conduct.But there is no such thing in Chinese tradition.Now we sometimes lift the word "loyalty" into this position, but the meaning of the word "loyalty" is not the same in the Analects.The loyalty in the sentence I quoted above, "being loyal to others", is the annotation of "loyalty and forgiveness", and it is "sincerity to others". The loyalty of "the Lord is faithful" can be connected with the word xin, which means sincerely.

Zi Zhang asked: "Ling Yin Ziwen's three officials are Ling Yin, and there is no joy, and the three have nothing, and there is no anger. The old Ling Yin's politics must be reported to the new Ling Yin. How is it?" The son said: "Loyalty." Although the word loyalty is The character "loyalty" is close to "loyalty to duty", but it does not include "loyalty" to the group.In fact, in the Analects of Confucius, the word loyalty is not even a moral element in the relationship between monarch and minister.The monarch and his ministers are combined with "righteousness". "A gentleman is an official, and he does what is right." Therefore, the concept of "loyalty" can be said to be a latecomer, and loyalty to the emperor is not an element of morality for individuals and groups, but is still a relationship between monarchs and individuals. The lack of group morality is more clearly seen in public-private conflicts.Even a king with political responsibilities must first complete his private morality.Mencius's "First Part of the Heart" has: Tao Ying asked, "Shun is the son of heaven, Gao Tao is a scholar, (the upper drum and the lower blind) the old man kills, what is it like?" Mencius said: "Just stick to it." "But Shun Can't help it?" Said: "Husband Shun hates what he gets and forbids it, and what he has received." "But what is Shun like?" Said: "Shun regards abandoning the world as if he abandoned my poor house. Stealing the burden and fleeing, obeying Living by the seaside, I will live my whole life with my life, and forget about the world when I am happy." This means that when Shun became emperor, he could not treat his father with the same attitude as he treated other citizens.What Mencius answered was the ideal solution to this conflict. He still wanted to have both, so he thought of a way to escape to a place on the coast where the law would not reach.It is all right for him to answer that way, since the question is not a question of fact either.On the other hand, the problems encountered by Mencius show even more the lack of universality of moral standards.Wan Zhang asked: "Xiangri made it his business to kill Shun, and if he was established as the son of heaven, he would let him go. Why?" If there is a 庳, if there is a 庳, how can a benevolent person be punished? For others, he should be punished, but for his younger brother, he should be sealed?" Mencius replied, "As the son of heaven, and my younger brother is like a husband, can you say that you love him?" A society with a differential order is a network of countless personal relationships.Every knot in this network is attached with a moral element. Therefore, if there is no other general moral concept found in traditional morality, all value standards cannot exist beyond the differential order of human relations. Both morality and law in China are stretched and contracted according to the relationship between the object of application and "self".I have seen many friends who scolded corruption severely. When encountering his father's corruption, not only did he not scold him, but he even concealed it for him.What's more, he can also ask his father for the money obtained from corruption, and at the same time scold others for corruption.When you are corrupt, you can still explain yourself with the word "competent".This may not be considered a contradiction in a differentially ordered society; because in this kind of society, all universal standards do not play a role, and you must ask clearly who the object is and what relationship it has with you before you can decide what to offer. Come standard. In a society with a group structure, people in the same group are "both good", that is, they are "same".That is what Mencius opposed the most.He said, "If the husband and the things are not equal, the feelings of the things are also the same, and the world is in chaos." Mohism's "love without distinction" is exactly the opposite of Confucianism's human relations, so Mencius wanted to scold him No father and no king.