Reflection On Hsün Tzu’s Thought Of The Rule Of Man From The Perspective Of “Speech And Argument”

Hsün Tzu has noticed the fact that people are inevitably being-with others,he thinks about the possible advantages and disadvantages of this matter and aware that,instead of being-with other,people can and ought to purse the life that living together.Thus,Hsün Tzu conceive a political ideal of living together in harmony and unity.What’s more,he had put forward a series of methods to pursue this ideal,which can be divided into two parts,that are “Make Social Distinctions Clear” and “Construct a Human Community”.If reflect on Hsün Tzu’s political theory from the perspective of“Speech”,it can be found that,Hsün Tzu inherited the political ideological tradition of “The Rule of Man” of Chinese ancient political theory,on the other hand,the feature of subjectivity and directness of “Speech” also outline the basic characteristics of the political governing pattern of “The Rule of Man”,that is “Individual and politics are one”.Defending by the excuse of “Sage takes precedence of good laws”,the notion that individual and politics are one has become a presupposition of political governing.It means that there is a presupposition——Individual and politics are one——hidden in Hsün Tzu’s political theory,when he think about the duties and lordliness of a monarch and finally complete the conception of “Saint King”,this presupposition unfolds.For this reason,Hsün Tzu’s political theory can be summed up all into the ideal political governing pattern——Governing by Saint King.The principle that “Conducting state affairs but rely on sage’s virtue” and the epistemological thought that “Measuring other people’s corn by one’s own bushel,understanding the world through analogy” argues the legitimacy and rationality of the presupposition as well as the political governing pattern that “Individual and politics are one”.However,history has demonstrated that the king is the greatest harm to community,and the government govern by a monarch has finally become a government that hurts the people.Hence,it is necessary to reflect on the presupposition as well as the political governing pattern that “Individual and politics are one”,unveiling the negative influence of the power(King)to virtue(Saint),unveiling the misunderstanding in thinking that result in the alienation of government——“righteousness” had changed into “truth” and so that the epistemological methods are applied to the fields of ethics and politics.In sum,the presupposition as well as the political governing pattern that “Individual and politics are one” are contradict with Hsün Tzu’s political ideal,and thus it should be sublated.Fortunately,Hsün Tzu’s theory of discourse and argument constitutes an opportunity to break through this presupposition.