On The Relation Between Rule By Virtue And Rule By Law

The discussion over the relationship between rule by virtue and rule by law of Pre-Chin period can date back to Western Zhou Dynasty. Its assertion about the relation between virtue and law, namely,"Match heaven with virtue"and"Enhancing untarnished virtue and punishing with discreet"were the direct source of Confucian thought, such as"rule by virtue","policy of benevolence"and the theory of relations like"rule by elites as its main feature and law as its complement". Confucianism, whose representatives are Confucius and Mencius, put forward the relational structure between virtue and law as"rule by elites as its main feature and law as its complement". Absorbing law into ceremony, Hsun tzu overcame the weaknesses by acquiring the strong points of Confucius and Mencius'thought. At the same time, he assimilated thoughts from other schools and integrated the theory of"rule by virtue"primarily; moreover, he developed it creatively. Among the three sects of Legalist School in early period of Pre-chin times, Shang Yang advocated"rule by law", Shen Buhai stood for"rule by tactic"and Shen Dao claimed"rule by status". Han Fei inherited and developed their thoughts, representing the generalization of their views and ideas. He pointed out the defects of carrying out rule by"law, tactic or status"individually and proposed the combination of these three."Guan Zi"is a masterpiece that can represent this accommodation. It assembled the thoughts of Confucianism, Legalist School, Taoism, yin and yang, military and political strategists so as to form the comprehensive strategies to govern the country. In addition, the relation between virtue and law, because of its historical specificity, has drawn wide attention of other schools of Pre-chin times.The main feature of the relation between virtue and law in Pre-chin times is that both the theory of"rule by virtue"and the theory of"rule by law"showed one-sided and unbalanced point of view, in the meantime, neither of them could all sidedly and reasonably solve the problem of the accommodation between virtue and law, however, they have provided reference for the later generation to settle the problem globally. In Pre-chin period,"rule by virtue"and"rule by law"have both merits and demerits. The accommodation between these two is necessary because of their defects and is possible due to their merits, and in terms of the practical level, it is the choice of history which can be seen in the integration between virtue and law after Qin dynasty. Pre-chin period is a special period, during which the appearance of the relation between virtue and law has been witnessed and the doctrines as well as schools have been formed, contradicted and gradually accommodated. Studying the relationship between"rule by virtue"and"rule by law"in Pre-chin period has its important practical and long-term significance as to solve the ills in modern China and enhance the dynamic integration between"run the country by virtue"and"govern the country by law".