Chapter 10 Section 10: The Code of Honor

When I was in Japan last year, the Minister of Education, Baron Kikuchi (25), asked me how to translate the four Chinese characters in the book I mentioned that Confucius told about his country's beliefs.These four words are the meaning of the name.I translate them as great principles of honor and duty.It is for this reason that the Chinese make a special distinction between Confucianism and all other religions, and they do not call the system taught by Confucius Jiao--the Chinese name for other religions, such as Buddhism, Islam, and Christianity Generic term--instead, this honorary belief is called Mingjiao.In the teachings of Confucius, the term Gentleman's Way, which Dr. Legge (26) translated as "the way of the superior man", is the closest equivalent in European languages ​​to the moral law—literally, the The meaning is the law of the gentleman.In fact, the entire system of philosophy and morality taught by Confucius can be summed up in one word: the law of the gentleman.Confucius wrote down the law of the gentleman and developed it into a religion—the state religion.The first article of belief in this state religion is the principle of honor and duty - it may also be called: the code of honor.

In this national belief, Confucius taught that the only true, rational, eternal, and absolute foundation, not only of the state, but of all society and civilization, is the law of the gentleman, the human sense of honor.Now you, all of you, even those who believe that there is no morality in politics -- I think you all know and recognize the importance of such a sense of honor in human society.But I'm not quite sure that all of you are aware of the absolute necessity of this sense of human honor for the maintenance of any kind of human society; indeed, as the proverb "a thief has his way" suggests.Without human honor, all societies and civilizations would immediately collapse and be unable to exist.Allow me to explain to you why this is so?Let us take, for example, such a trivial matter as gambling in society.Gambling would not be possible unless people, when they sat down to gamble, acknowledged and felt that they were bound by a sense of honor, and paid when a certain color of cards or dice came up.Merchant—Unless the merchant recognizes and feels bound by a sense of honor to honor the contract, all transactions are impossible.But you will say that businessmen who break the contract will be sent to court.True, but what if there were no courts?Plus, the courts—how can the courts enforce the contracts of merchants who break their promises?through violence.In fact, without people's sense of honor, society can only be temporarily held together by violence.But I think I can show you that violence alone cannot hold society together forever.The police who force the businessman to fulfill the contract, use violence.But a lawyer, a magistrate, or the President of the Republic—how does he make the police do their job?You know he can't do it with violence; so with what?Either with police honor or with deceit. (z-29)

In this day and age, all over the world - unfortunately including China - lawyers, politicians, magistrates and presidents of republics are cheating the police to fulfill their responsibilities.The modern lawyer, politician, magistrate, and president of the republic tells the policeman that he must do his duty because it is good for society, good for his country; and good for society means that he, the policeman, gets his salary on time, Without this salary he and his family would starve to death.I say that lawyers, politicians or the President of the Republic use deceit when they tell the police this.I say it's cheating because it's good for the country, it means fifteen shillings a week for the policeman, which just keeps him and his family from starvation, but it means one to two shillings a year for lawyers, politicians, magistrates and presidents Tens of thousands of pounds, a good house, lights, cars and all the comforts and luxuries that require the hard work of tens of thousands of people to support.I say it's cheating because without the sense of honor that makes the gambler give the last penny out of his pocket to the person who has won him, all that leads to rich and poor in society The transfer and possession of unequal wealth is like the transfer of money on a gambling table, without any legitimacy and binding force.Thus the lawyer, the politician, the magistrate, or the president of the republic, though he speaks of the interest of society and the state, relies on the policeman's unconsciousness of honor, which not only enables him to do his duty, but to respect the rights of property, and to be content with fifteen shillings a week. Salaries, while lawyers, politicians, and the President of the Republic earn twenty thousand pounds a year.Therefore, I say it is a deceit, because they demand honor from the police; and they, the lawyers, politicians, magistrates and presidents of the republic of modern society, believe and speak and act openly according to principles that are immoral and honorless in politics .

You will remember, I said, Carlyle said--that the king's right to rule over us is either a divine right or a diabolical error.This deception of modern lawyers, politicians, magistrates, and presidents of the republic is what Carlyle calls a diabolical error.It is this kind of deceit, the slippery doctrine of civil servants in modern society, who speak and act according to politically immoral and honorless principles, but pretend to talk about social interests and national interests; it is this slippery doctrine, as Carlyle said He said that it led to "universal suffering, rebellion, frenzy, fanaticism of radical uprising, ruthlessness of restoration of autocratic rule, mass animal depravity, and excessive ignorance of individuals" seen in today's social civilization.In short, it is this combination of deceit and violence, slippery doctrine and militarism, lawyers and police, that has led to the anarchists and anarchism of modern society, the combination of violence and deceit that rapes people's moral sense, This leads to the madness that makes anarchists use bombs and explosives against lawyers, politicians, magistrates, and the President of the Republic.