On The Moral Integration On The Way Of China To The Rule Of Law

Moral integration is the state of affairs and maintenance mechanism of forming andkeeping moral consensus among all the members of a society. The moral integration of traditionalChinese society relied on political power. The political elites as the moral representations areimportant for moral integration. In the western society ruled by law, the religious system has thefunction of moral integration, which is helpful to avoid the moral crisis in the process ofmodernization. On the way of China to the rule of law, while people gradually understood andaccepted the ideal of the rule of law, they attempted to criticize and abandoned the traditionalConfucianism, which weakened the political power’s function of moral integration. Theinstitutional design of constitutionalism denied the moral authority of the traditional political elitestoo. The traditional mechanism of moral integration doesn’t work anymore, which significantlycauses the moral crisis on the way of China to the rule of law. For resolving the moral crisis, thekey is to revalue the relationship between politics and morality, and based on our tradition, toreconstruct the mechanisms of moral integration which fit the ideal of the rule of law. The politicalpractice of modern society to realize the ideal of the rule of law can’t completely exclude themoral responsibility of the political elites. The CCP has great advantage with respect to moralresources. It should play special role in moral integration on our way to the rule of law.