A Study On The Priority Problem Of Right And Good

Essentially,communitarians and liberals have special psychological complex.The former reflects obvious virtue preferences,while the latter shows fears of authoritarian centralization.In any case,these ideas are justifiable in themselves.Nevertheless,it should be noted that most of the social crises in real life are caused by the inherent imbalance between right and good.Especially in the Chinese context,the lack of validity and consistency of people,s understanding and exercise of right is due to the lack of continuity argxument and fundamental institutional guarantee of right.In modern society,right is indispensable,but at the same time,right needs to be transcended,as is the case with good itself.Thus,if we want to achieve the harmonious coexistence and effective balance between right and good,we must give concessions to individual right while imposing corresponding restrictions on common good,which is called�limited right and moderate good�,and the realization of this goal must be carried out in the framework of the rule of law.In general,the debate between communitarians and liberalists on the priority of right and good will run through the whole discourse of this paper,aiming at profoundly revealing and effectively summarizing the unity of opposites between right and good.In the process of research,the methods of literature,content analysis,historical analysis and comparative analysis are uesd.In addition to the introduction and conclusion,this paper is divided into six chapters,which are presented in a progressive logical order.Chapter ? mainly discusses the theoretical basis involved in the dispute between the priority of right and good,and reveals the essence and core of the priority problem.Specifically,this chapter first gives a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the two criticisms of communitarianism on the priority of liberal right,thus demonstrating the uniqueness of communitarianism on this problem which is different from liberalism.Accordingly,liberals responded to these two critiques respectively.In this process,communitarians and liberals argue from the standpoint of holism and individualism respectively.Liberals adhere to the principle of value neutrality,but this principle does not fully correspond to the claim that "right takes precedence over good".Therefore,communitarians strongly deny it.In addition,liberals interpret that individual as subjects of right is atomic individual.The theory of right priority advocated by liberals emphasizes universality,but communitarians should safeguard the sociality and historicity of right.Thus,communitarians and liberals hold significant differences on the priority of right and good.It is undeniable that communitarians have their legitimacy in criticizing liberalism's right priority theory,which is worthy of affirmation and praise,but we cannot deny that they also have biases.If we want to discuss the dispute between the priority of right and good,we must find the essence and core of the problem.Therefore,this chapter attempts to achieve this goal by tracing the historical origin of priority and discovering the true meaning of the concept of priority.Chapter ? mainly explains the accurate definition of the two concepts of right and good from the theoretical level,which constitutes the premise and basis for discussing priority problem.Although communitarians and liberalists have contributed many valuable ideas on the priority of right and good.But unfortunately,the two confrontations about the priority of right and good have not fully realized the difference of this concept,and the two interpretations of right and good have not reached a unification.Thus,it is necessary to emphasize and attach importance to it,otherwise it will lose its essential significance.On the different understandings of right between communitarians and liberalists,this chapter systematically discusses from three dimensions,including individual right and collective right,legal right and moral right,negative right and positive right.On the different understandings of good between communitarians and liberalists,this chapter introduces supreme good,common good and individual good,in order to show that there are differences between the two doctrines in their understanding of good.When thinking about the relationship between right and good,communitarians and liberalists will fall into two misunderstandings:neutrality and embeddedness as well as form and essence.In this regard,this chapter tries to make timely corrections.Chapter ? mainly targets on the liberal's idea that�right takes precedence over good�as the object of reflection.Its purpose is to clarify that we must be vigilant about the tendency of absolute priority of right.As the main trend of thought in the field of contemporary philosophy of law,liberalism has been criticized and refuted by comnunitarianism.Many original opinions reveal the defects and omissions of liberalism's theory of priority of right.In the process of fierce criticisms and repeated debates,people realize that various situations in real life cannot always be expressed in the form of�dialogue of right�,and the development of the right-based theory to the extreme will cause rigidity and division,which will lead to more serious social problems.Moreover,the principle of value neutrality of liberalism is contradictory,and its right-based theory gradually exposes its value limitations.In view of this,in order to ensure that the right advocated by liberals are more realistic,it is impossible to leave good as a substantive value guide,while maintaining an absolute rational view of priority of right at all times.In fact,there will always be a good idea behind the right as a support,and there is a close relationship between the right and the good,especially the good will have a profound internal impact on the right.Therefore,communitarianism around the content of�good is prior to right�will emerge at the historic moment.Chapter IV mainly discusses about�good takes precedence over right�,which is put forward by communitarians as the object of reflection,and this purpose is premised on effectively grasping their concern and attention to community as well as accurately understanding their advocacy of good.Under the background and pattern of value diversification,the priority of right and good will evolve into a dispute among the good.Common good 1s usually placed in a more important position by communitarians than individual good,which is rooted in the overemphasis on community.But in fact,the common good does not always take precedence over the individual good,and therefore common good need to be�disenchanted'.At the same time,the original state in the perspective of liberalism 1s not completely formalized,it has a substantial orientation from the beginning,and communitarians have misunderstood the self-presupposition of the original state.Moreover,whether it is�self-identity in moral space�or�narrative self�,these are rational constructions made by coumunitarians,whose reasoning ideas are based on criticizing liberal individualism.However,this criticism lacks comprehensiveness and accuracy,and the perspective and scope chosen by communitarians will expose serious limitations,during which the value and function of the community are exaggerated,and there are even some misunderstandings and deviations,which results in communitarianism that cannot be completely distinguished from the liberal right priority theory.In fact,the relationship between individuals and communities is not as tense as what communitarians believe,but they artificially oppose these two,even suppress or ignore the existence of individuals themselves intentionally,which is lack of scientificity and rationality.Chapter V mainly argues that right and good are not at opposite ends of the priority problem,and this�middle line5,between communitarianism and liberalism is difiicult to establish from the beginning,which may even cause serious inversion and reverse intensification of the priority problem.On the priority of right and good,the debate between commmitarians and liberalists has always been remaining at the ideological level,especially communitarians' denial of this problem is more than construction.In this regard,communitarianism is not enough to fundamentally subvert or challenge the theory of liberal right,because it does not yet have the abilities and conditions to stand on the opposite side of liberalism.Essentially,there is still some internal eonsistency between the two�doctrines�,which shows a certain degree of consensus and tacit understanding between them,but sometimes the two doctrines are too idealistic and extreme.Furthermore,the communitarian view of right is an extension based on liberalism.In this sense,if we want to fully ensure the effective realization of right and good,we must promote the ideas of communitarians and liberals to play an active role in the appropriate fields respectively.Chapter ? mainly uses the method of reflective balance to solve the priority of right and good,while reflective balance is based on non-fundamentalism and quasi-coherence theory,which has different perspectives from subjective to intersubjective and then to objective.On the priority of right and good,the theoretical creation of Communitarianism and liberalism is deeply influenced by their own methodology and values.In order to avoid overly emphasizing one side of right and good but ignoring the negative consequences that the other side may bring,we may adopt a balanced method of reflection to resolve this priority problem.Essentially,reflective balance aims at arguing against differences.There are individual and general,single and complex,simple and complex types within it,which can complete the systematic construction of multiple reflective balance.In order to transcend the dispute over the priority between right and good,the existing understanding of right and good is taken as a deliberate judgment,which serves as a starting point to make them refer to each other and adjust each other so as to achieve the ideal goal of pursuing the principle of justice.Although reflective balance itself implies practical rationality,this practical rationality ultimately has its limits,so it must be treated with caution.In short,the balance of multiple reflections around right and good will always be open and dynamic,which reflects peopled unremitting pursuit of justice.In general,the priority of right and good is earried out at the theoretical level,but it should reflect a high degree of practical characteristics,so as to better serve the legal construction in China.When the priority of right and good 1s projected into the Chinese context,it will show an important value and a positive significance.At present,the differentiation of interests in Chinese social transformation has its particularity,which is reflected not only on the vertical social strata and the horizontal social groups,but also on the fact that the original state-individual dualistic social structure is gradually turning to the state-community-individual ternary structure.The community mentioned here may be either a community of interests of liberalism or a community of values of communitarianism.It depends on whether good is expressed as a real interest or a metaphysics that transcends the real interest.However,people need to analyze and deal with the priority of right and good with a positive attitude,especially learning to understand right and good from other dimensions,so as to form�limited right�and�moderate good�.In view of this,discussing the problem of interest differentiation from the perspective of right should not be confined to the analysis path of liberal right theory,but should put forward the concept of�virtuous citizen�as the subjectivity of right on the basis of absorbing and drawing lessons from communitarian ideas,and then try to construct a kind of right development model based on good.After all,contemporary Chinese society are facing the double challenges of modermity and post-modernity.Nevertheless,liberalism is still the main basis of right theory and practice,and the introduction of communitarianism is to help them find the crux of the problem.Of course,exploring the priority of right and good must be implemented under the guidance of the concept of rule of law in order to promote its theoretical function to serve real life.