requestId:68499ac31a38a4.40951228.
Travel and Law—The Most Basic Difference between Xunzi and Legalists
Author: Wang Zheng (School of Philosophy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences)
Source: “History of Chinese Philosophy” 2018 Issue 4
Time: Confucius was in the 2570s and the second day of the month of Jihai, Pu, Renshen
� Xunzi’s reign was still based on Confucius’ thinking, that is, good reign was improved according to the Zhou Dynasty’s reign, and his reign was focused on a wide range of people. The legalist rule of law believed that the Zhou Dynasty’s tribute system was no longer suitable for the new political form, so the rule of law of monarchs should be used to govern society, and its legal knowledge is a special thinking for this purpose. This difference determines that the Legalist learning has a special value of the times, while Xunzi’s teachings have a broader meaning.
Keywords: Xunzi/Legalist/Legend/Fa
Title notes: This article is a phased result of the National Social Science Foundation Youth Project “Pre-Qin Dynasty Contemplation of Moral and Philosophy of the Pre-Qin Dynasty” (17CZX025).
Although Xunzi used the Legalists’ emphasis on institutionalization and civilization, he used the Confucian gift to build civilization and institutionalization to build civilization with the certain “law” color, in fact, his conception and management methods of the Legalists were expelled and resisted; after learning Confucianism in systematically, Legalists instead used their own teachings to build their own teachings by criticizing Confucianism. ① Therefore, Xunzi and the Legalists are not related to harmony, but are rejected by each other. One of the most important differences in this relationship is the two concepts that seem similar but actually very different – gift and law. Xunzi’s rituals and Legalists’ laws are both characterized by civilization and institutionalization, but they have the most basic and major differences. This article focuses on these two concepts and tries to clarify some misunderstandings to this problem.
1. Xunzi’s teachings
When Xunzi established his foreign kingship, he attached great importance to the thoughts of the Legalists who were thriving at that time, especially the Legalists’ emphasis on institutionalization and civilization. Therefore, he had a saying of “teaching”, and some scholars believed that he was the strangeness of Confucianism. But in fact, Xunzi only paid more attention to the usefulness of the design and management of political system, which seemed to be different from Confucius and was even more far from Mencius’s thoughts. But if we can carefully examine his thoughts on the outside king, we will find that the way of governing the country he discussed is still within the authentic paradise of Confucianism.
Xunzi believed that “the way cannot last for three dynasties, and the law cannot be used to pay attention to the king; the way has the word that the three dynasties has the indecent view of the king of the second dynasties. Clothes are in order, palaces are in moderation, and people are insignificant. All the sacrificial instruments are suitable for the use of sacrificial instruments. Anyone who does not speak elegantly is desolate, any one who does not have old writings rest, and those who does not use old instruments are desolate. This is the ancient one. This is the system of the king.” (“Xunzi·King System”) The great way to manage the country is not the governing power of the Xia, Shang and Zhou dynasties, while the great way to manage the country is obeyed the Zhou dynasty’s ritual. If the way of governing the country is a pervert outside the three generations, it is a misunderstanding, and if the way of governing the country is a misunderstanding if it is different from Zhou Rong. To this end, Xunzi even proposed the initiative of “returning the ancients”. From this we can see that what Xunzi called “respecting law” is different from the law of the Legalists, and what is more different? In Xunzi’s view, “respecting the favor and respecting the favor and being king, emphasizing the law and loving the common people and being overwhelming, and fond of profit and danger, and having power over the misfortune and perishing the misfortune” (“Xunzi·Strongguo”), the rule of virtue and governance should still be more elegant. Therefore, Xunzi’s method was still in Confucius’ political path: to survive in accordance with the Zhou Dynasty’s ruling system, and to make some improvements according to the conditions, we can achieve good governance.
It can be said that whether it is Confucius, Mencius or Xunzi, they are just “reforming schools” in terms of political problems, rather than the “reform schools” like the Legalists. The reason why Xunzi adopted this attitude to treat the management of the country was, on the one hand, because he believed that the modern sage kings used great wisdom to set up a series of gift-giving styles by seeing the conflicts in the world, so these gifts had a long-lasting meaning; on the other hand, although the social atmosphere had changed, the most basic kinds of people’s sects and kings were not changed, so the system of ancient sages and kings was still applicable. Therefore, Xunzi believed that the way to govern the country should still be based on the Zhou Dynasty’s method, and then appropriately improved. The foundation of the Zhou Dynasty’s rule of the country was gifts, so Xunzi’s thoughts on the outer king also focused on gifts. However, in order to adapt to the changing shape, he participated in some methods in the ceremony, that is, to become civilized and reorganized. ②
From this basic understanding, we will examine the focus of the way to govern the country that Xunzi believed – “Longrong”. In Xunzi’s view, any work must be based on gifts, otherwise it will not be completed. “If a person has no gift, he will not be born; if a person has no gift, he will not be successful; if a country has no gift, he will not be peaceful.” (“Xunzi·Self-cultivation”) From being a human being to governing the country, it will not be successful without gift. This is easy to understand in terms of dealing with people, because “food, clothes, residence, and tranquility are caused by mercy and festivals, and the appearance, attitude, advancement, and movement are caused by mercy; appearance, attitude, advancement, and conduct, and elegance are caused by mercy, and the elegance is not the elegance, and the elegance is not the elegance, and the elegance is not the elegance, and the elegance is not the elegance.” (Xunzi·Self-cultivation”) However, why should we pay attention to elegance when governing the country? This has nothing to do with Xunzi’s understanding of the origin of the gift. In his opinion, “Why does the gift arise? He said: People are born with desires, but they cannot get it, but they cannot seek it; seeking without any boundaries, but they cannot fight; fighting is a chaotic one, but they cannot fight. The ancient kings were worried about the troubles, so they set up gifts to divide them to nourish people’s desires and give them their desires, so that desires will not be destroyed by things, things will not be destroyed by things.It must be unfair to desire, and the two will stand against each other and grow. 博取 is where the gift is born. “(“Xunzi·Travel”) The birth of gift is certain, because it is caused by human nature’s needs. People have a desire to see it in their lives, and if they are not satisfied with it, they will try their best to seek it; and if this desire does not have a boundary, it will cause conflict; conflict will lead to confusion, and confusion will lead to a further step of the situation. When the modern sage king saw this situation, he created a gift to change it. Therefore, Xunzi believed that gifts were to be born to govern the community. The birth means that the population should be classified differently through the gift and each treated according to its categories; thus, the unlimited resources can be distributed fairly, so that countries will not be buried in the face of the situation, and the people will not fall into battle. It can be found that Xunzi discussed the generation and the main value of the gift for management from a broad humane perspective. The focus of the gift is a sensory energy and periodic attitude; the real gift (or gift method Short-term maintenance) means to implement this energy and attitude on a specific written system. This is the true meaning of Xunzi’s gift. ③
As a civilization-making system, the tribute, of course, needs the executor, or perhaps say that the education is taught to the people, so who is carried out? It is the “teacher”. Xunzi believed that to manage a good country, one must respect teachers. “If the country is happy, one must be respected by teachers and respect
發佈留言