Chapter 8 rule of law

Generally speaking, "rule of man" and "rule of law" are symmetrical, and they think that the West is a society of rule of law, and we are a society of "rule of man".In fact, this symmetrical statement is not very clear.The rule of law does not mean that the law itself can rule and maintain social order, but that the relationship between people in society is maintained according to the law.The law must be supported by power and enforced by people. The rule of law is actually "people rule according to the law", not without human factors. Some scholars of modern jurisprudence attach great importance to the human factor.They noticed that when applying the law to actual situations, it is necessary to go through the judge's interpretation of the legal provisions.Although the object of the judge's interpretation is the legal provisions, there are many factors that determine the content of the interpretation. The judge's personal prejudice, whether he has stomach problems, and public opinion in society are extremely important.So they think that the law is nothing but the judgment of the judge.This is a one-sided statement, because a judge cannot make a judgment arbitrarily, and his judgment must at least be considered to be based on the law. However, this view also tells us that the so-called rule of law must never lack the human factor.

So, what is the difference between the rule of man and the rule of law?If the rule of man is the opposite of the rule of law, it should mean "government without law".If rule refers to the maintenance of social order, it is difficult for us to imagine that a social order can be maintained without relying on any force, and the relationship between people can be self-coordinated without any rules.If not by law, by what?As the name implies, the rule of man seems to mean that those with power let their own likes and dislikes determine the relationship between people in society.I very much doubt that such "rule of man" is possible.If the mutual behavior, rights and obligations of people who live together do not have certain rules to abide by, but are determined according to the likes and dislikes of the ruler, and if the likes and dislikes are unpredictable, the society will inevitably be chaotic, and people will not know how to act. That is wrong. It is possible, so it cannot be said to be "cured".

The so-called difference between the rule of law and the rule of law does not lie in the two words of people and law, but the force used to maintain order and the nature of the norms it is based on. The maintenance of rural social order is different from the maintenance of modern social order in many aspects.But the difference is not that the rural society is "lawless" or "no rules".Indeed, some people have thought so.Returning to basics, Lao Tzu believes that as long as the scope of the community is narrowed, in a society of small countries and few people where chickens and dogs know each other but do not communicate with each other, social order does not need external force to maintain, and everyone can live in peace simply by relying on instinct or conscience. It's all right.This idea is not limited to Lao Tzu.Even under modern transportation, when the economies of the world have been closely related to become one, most people in the United States still believe in the ideal of free competition in classical economics and oppose artificial "planning" and "control" to maintain Economic order, and think that under free competition, there are a pair of invisible hands in the dark, which will sort out a moral economic order for people.No matter in the social, political, or economic fields, there are people who believe that "anarchy" is the most ideal state. Of course, the so-called "anarchy" is by no means equal to "chaos", but a kind of "order", a kind of state that does not require laws. The order of society, an automatic order, is a society of "rule without rule".

But rural society is not this kind of society. We can say that it is a "lawless" society. If we limit the law to the rules maintained by state power, "lawless" does not affect the order of this society, because rural society is "lawless". rule of law" society. Let me explain first that a society ruled by courtesy does not refer to a society that is refined and polite, like the gentleman country described in Jinghuayuan.Ceremony does not carry the meaning of "civilization", or "charity", or "nodding when meeting people", and it does not mean evil.Rites can also kill people, and they can be very "barbaric".For example, in some places in India, when the husband dies, the wife has to be burned to death at the funeral. This is a ritual.It also seems that in some places in Myanmar, when a person becomes an adult, he must kill a few heads and return to complete the ceremony for the coming of age ceremony.We also often read in old novels that killing people to sacrifice the flag is a military salute. ——The content of the ceremony may be very cruel by modern standards.Cruelty is not a matter of propriety. "Zigong wanted to tell Shuo's sheep. Zi said, give it to me. You love his sheep, and I love his gifts." Compassion did not make Confucius agree to cancel the rather cruel behavior.

Etiquette is a socially recognized and proper code of conduct.Proper means that these behaviors are done right, right means proper.If we only talk about the norms of behavior, the book is no different from the law, and the law is also a norm of behavior.The difference between ritual and law is the power to maintain norms.Laws are enforced by the power of the state. "Nation" refers to political power. Before the modern state was formed, tribes were also political power.Rites, on the other hand, do not need this tangible authority to maintain them.It is tradition that maintains the norm of etiquette.

Tradition is the accumulated experience of society.The purpose of the code of conduct is to cooperate with people's behavior to complete the tasks of the society, and the tasks of the society are to meet the life needs of each molecule in the society.To meet needs, people must cooperate with each other and adopt effective technologies to obtain resources from the environment.This set of methods is not designed by everyone, or a few people are gathered temporarily to plan.People have the ability to learn, and the effective results of the experiments of the previous generation can be taught to the next generation.In this way, a set of methods to help people live has been accumulated from generation to generation.From everyone's point of view, before he was born, someone had already prepared for him how to deal with the problems that may occur on the road of life.As long as he "learns and learns from time to time", he can enjoy the pleasure of satisfying his needs.

Culture is tradition, no matter what kind of society it is, there will never be no tradition.We don't need to bother about the most basic matters of food, clothing, housing and transportation, because we have the blessings of our ancestors - there are established laws that can be followed.But in rural society, tradition is more important than modern society.That's because tradition is more effective in rural society. Rural society is a society in which the land is resettled and relocated, where people are born, grow up, and die here.Not only is there little population movement, but the land that people take for resources rarely changes.In such an environment where there is no distinction between the Qin and Han Dynasties, and generations are the same, individuals can not only trust their own experience, but can also trust the experience of their ancestors and fathers.What an old farmer farming in a rural society encounters is only the change of seasons, not the change of times.Once a year, again and again.The solutions used by the predecessors to solve life problems can be copied as much as possible to serve as a guide for your own life.The more effective it has been proven in previous generations, the more it is worth keeping.So "words must be Yao and Shun", good ancient times are the guarantee of life.

During the Anti-Japanese War, I was evacuated in the countryside of Kunming. My newborn child was crying all day long, and I couldn't find a doctor. I had to consult the old lady of the landlady.As soon as she heard the cry, she knew that "false teeth" had grown on the root of the tooth, which was a kind of parasitic bacteria. It would hurt when she was breastfeeding, and she would be hungry if she didn't breastfeed.She calmly asked us to wipe the child's mouth with pickles and blue cloth.Sure enough, a day or two was fine.There is this disease in this place, and it happens to every child, so every mother knows how to treat it, which is an effective experience.As long as the environment remains unchanged and no new bacteria invade, this set of unreasonable coping methods is always effective.If it works, there is no need to ask why.

There is no need to know about such traditions, as long as we follow them, the method of guaranteeing life will naturally produce a set of values.When we say "efficiency", it means that there is an unknowable magical power behind it.If you follow it, you will be blessed, if you don't follow it, you will go wrong.So people have a sense of awe for the tradition. When we do not make any inferences about the relation between action and purpose, but only follow the prescribed method, and when we have the unfortunate belief in the prescribed method that we will not do it, then this set of behavior becomes what we commonly call "Ritual".Ritual means to do according to the ritual.The word Li was originally from Feng Congshi.Feng is a kind of sacrificial vessel, and showing refers to a ceremony.

Ceremony is not carried out by an external power, but a personal sense of awe is cultivated from education, which makes people obey; people take the initiative to obey the ceremony.Ceremony can be liked by others, the so-called "wealthy people are good at etiquette".Confucius attached great importance to the initiative of serving the ceremony, and he made it very clear in the following passage: Yan Yuan asked Ren.Zi said. "Self-restraining and returning to the rites is benevolence. One day self-restraining and returning to the rites, the world will return to benevolence. Is benevolence up to the self, but to others?" Yan Yuan said, "May I ask its purpose." The Master said, "Do not see what is wrong with the rites, and do not listen to what is wrong with the rites. Don't say anything that's wrong with etiquette, don't do anything that's wrong with etiquette." Yan Yuan said, "Although Hui is not sensitive, please speak like this."

This is obviously different from the law, and even from the common so-called morality.The law restricts people from the outside, and the punishment for not obeying the law is imposed on individuals by specific powers.People can evade the law, and if they escape, they can be proud and proud of themselves.Morality is maintained by public opinion. It is not good to be shamed by doing immoral things; it is shameful to be scorned by others.Etiquette is more important than morality: if you are rude, not only is it bad, but it is wrong, inconsistent, and unacceptable.This is maintained by personal habits.What the ten eyes see, what the ten hands point to, even in places where there are no people, you can't help yourself.Zeng Ziyichun is a good example.Ritual is a proper way, and it is a habit of obeying tradition that has become active through the process of enlightenment. On the surface, the rule of ritual seems to be an order formed automatically by people's behavior without being restrained by laws.In fact, it is not true to say that it is automatic, it is just an active submission to the established rules.Confucius repeatedly used the word "ke" and "covenant" to describe the cultivation of rites. It can be seen that the rule of rites is not an order formed by instinct or providence apart from society. The possibility of the rule of ritual must be based on the premise that tradition can effectively deal with life problems.Rural society satisfies this premise, because its order can be maintained by Lilly.In a rapidly changing society, the validity of tradition is not guaranteed.No matter how effective a way of life has been in the past, if the environment changes, no one can deal with new problems according to the old way.If the problem to be dealt with needs to be dealt with by a group, everyone must accept an agreed method. To ensure that everyone cooperates to deal with common problems under the prescribed method, there must be a force to control each individual.This is actually the law.That is the so-called "rule of law". The rule of law and the rule of ritual occur in two different social situations.The so-called rule of rites here may be the common so-called rule of man, but the term rule of rites is not as easy to cause misunderstanding as the term rule of man, so that some people think that social order can be maintained by personal likes and dislikes.The rule of ritual is far from this kind of rule of personal likes and dislikes, because ritual is a tradition, and it is the entire social history that maintains this order.A society governed by rituals cannot emerge in an era of rapid change, which is a characteristic of rural society.