Confucian’s Thought Of "combination Of Morality And Law " Research

The Pre-Qin Confucianism of" morality" and "law" concept hasits unique insights. Inheriting the moral idea of the Zhou Dynastywhich has ethical tendency, Confucius perfected this concept. Thereare two key points in Confucius ’s thought of" governing byMorality": one is governing society through moral and culturaleducation. the other one is that rulers should strengthen their owntraining and make themselves examples for their people.The Pre-Qin Confucianism of" morality" and "law" concept hasits unique insights. Inheriting the moral idea of the Zhou Dynastywhich has ethical tendency, Confucius perfected this concept. In hissystem of moral idea, benevolence is the core idea and the kernelconnotation of benevolence is" loving others". Based on the idea ofbenevolence Confucius established a series of moral norms: inaddition to benevolence, there are still righteousness, propriety, filialpiety, loyalty, respectfulness, courtiness, modest, sensitiveness,benifeting, temperatemente, goodness, etc. Mencius and Xunzideveloped Confucius thought and put forward more detaileddeepening moral philosophy. Confucius concept of law has moremeaning than" punishment" , but lacks specific category. In the eraof Xunzi, Xunzi introduced rules of propriety into law, expanding theconnotation of law and making it have more modern sense of theconcept of law.There are two key points in Confucius ’s thought of" governing by Morality": one is governing society through moral and culturaleducation. the other one is that rulers should strengthen their owntraining and make themselves examples for their people. Menciusinherited and developed Confucius thought of "rule of virtue" andmainly has four concepts: first, the doctrine of Mencius "policy ofbenevolence" starts from"extending benevolence", followedbyadvocating " winning people by virtue", again is advocated for thepeople to carry out moral education, finally proposed"civilianproduction" policy. Xunzi believed that the evil of human nature, buthe also thought that human nature can remove the evil and follow thegood. To remove the evil and follow the good he advocated“highlighting Ceremony ". Ceremony in Xunzi is not only theprocedures of the rituals and daily observance of the code of conduct,but also the humanity and humane spirit in the social and politicalstandards, even the he laws of nature by which all orderly operate.Therefore, in Xunzi’s view, from the emperor to the common people,as long as they train themselves in rites and observe rites, abeautiful" kingcraft" society would not be difficult to establish.Pre-Qin Confucians advocated“rule of virtue”, at the same timethey did not ignore the role of legal system, but they did not think lawis the essential means of social management, so put forward" moremorality, less penalty " thought. In the pre-Qin period, " rule of law"especially in legalists, had great differences from that of moderntime. Firstly, it was too simple and had too many loopholes. Secondly,laws in Pre-Qin time were made in certain randomness, which notoly means that they were changed too frequently, but also refers tothe legal formulation of utilitarianism and instrumentalism. Due to the lack of specialized legislation mechanism and reasonablelegislative order, law became dictatorial autocratic products, thus thelaw itself also has the autocratic nature. Therefore, Pre-QinConfucians opposed the legalism, which seeks the quick success andadvocats the supremacy of penalty, but not against all forms of" therule of law". Confucianism has its own characteristics of the conceptof the rule of law. First of all, in Confucians law is not an instrumentfor rulers to realize their purpose, but to achieve a peaceful society bymeans of auxiliary. Secondly, the Confucians stressed the inheritanceof l aw and advocated the convergence between traditional idea andold law. Thirdly, Pre-Qin Confucians pursuited the justice andrationality of law. fourthly, Confucians considered people thefoundation of the society , emphasizing people in all social affairs inthe fundamental role, therefore attaches great importance to positivesignificance of education in legislation, law enforcement and lawobservation. Finally, conviction and sentencing of Confucianismadvocates careful, if appropriate, conviction, sentencing. In the faceof" comparatively well-off society" reality, Confucianism in socialgovernance actually adopts " rule of vertue and law".Confucian" rule of vertue and law" thought has historicalsignificance. On one hand It provides ideas and value for ancientChinese social governance and cultural cultivation. On the otherhand due to too much emphasis on the rule of virtue, law was ignored.Pre-Qin Confucian " rule of vertue and law" thought provides a goodresource of ideas and theories for our current construction of socialistharmonious society.