The Qin Dynasty relied on the legalists to govern the country, which directly caused the Qin Dynasty’s demise. Why do we still advocate the rule of law?

We now advocate the rule of law and emphasize the importance of the rule of law.

This reminds us of the distant Qin Dynasty. At that time, the Qin Dynasty chose Legalism among the hundreds of scholars and governed the country according to the requirements of Legalism.

However, because the Qin Dynasty eventually perished in the legalist governance they adopted, the later generations actually had a very bad evaluation of the Legalists. Starting from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, Confucianism was clearly raised to the highest position. Not only did he mention the highest status, but he also "rejected a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism." Of course, Legalists are naturally also among the "dismissed".

However, now we have once again proposed "ruling the country by law". So, how should we understand this problem? Is it because we are now the other way around and think that Legalism is more advanced than Confucianism?

Regarding this issue, we can discuss from the following aspects.

(Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty)

1. The "Fa" taught by the Legalists and the "Fa" we are talking about are not the same concept.

In the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period, although many legalists appeared, there were not many narrations of legalists' theories. The one who spoke the best and most complete at the same time was Han Fei. Han Fei proposed that the "law" of legalists should have three dimensions: law, magic and power.

"Law" is the rule. That is to say, there must be rules there, and without rules, the people will be at a loss. "Surgery" is the way. Once there are rules, there must be a way for the people to enforce the rules. There must be a way for the people to enforce the rules. "Position" is majesty. It is necessary to ensure the seriousness of the rules and the inevitability of implementing the rules. Let the common people be in awe. Only in awe, the people will regard this rule as their own code of action.

In fact, the "law" of "ruling the country according to law" we are talking about now also has such dimensions: there are laws to follow, laws must be followed, law enforcement must be strict, and violations must be investigated. After careful consideration, we will find that the dimensions of our current "ruling the country by law" are closely related to the dimensions mentioned by Han Fei.

However, even so, the "fa" we are talking about now is still not the same concept as the "fa" that Han Fei is talking about. Why do you say that?

Han Fei's "fa" was the method of the totalitarian ruler at that time to maintain his own rule. And our current "law" is a rule that the entire society needs to follow. In ancient times it was private, but now it is public. The ancient law did not have strong binding force on the ruler. This is the truth that "the doctor cannot be sentenced to punishment". The current "law" works for everyone. In theory, no matter how high your position is, the rules that you and ordinary people follow are the same.

is precisely because of this principle. Therefore, in order to maintain their own rule, the ancient rulers adopted severe punishments. Anyway, it's not against yourself, the law is naturally the stricter the better. The Qin Dynasty eventually perished under its own severe punishment.

The current role of the law is to maintain fairness and ensure fairness between those in power and ordinary people. Therefore, the law is naturally lenient and strict. Because it is the same for everyone, severe punishments are of course no benefit to anyone.

(Han Fei)

2. On the surface, ancient Confucianism emphasized benevolence, but it was actually for oppression.

Confucianism has always advocated "benevolence." It means to care about others and love others. Confucianism also emphasizes comity. In Confucius' speech, Yao Shun and Zhou Gong were mentioned many times. This kind of courtesy is also an expression of benevolence.

However, Confucianism was full of contradictions from the beginning. While they pay attention to benevolence and comity, they also pay attention to order, especially the class order established in the early years of the Western Zhou Dynasty. The emperor, the princes, the officials, the scholars, the commoners, and the slaves. Confucianism believes that this order cannot be broken casually. Because of this contradiction, the Confucian benevolence and courtesy of

are extremely limited, or even hypocritical. This hypocrisy is intended to deceive the people at the bottom who are oppressed by order.

In the Han Dynasty, when Emperor Wu of the Han "deposed a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism", the feudal rulers in order to maintain their rule, it can be said that the hypocrisy of Confucianism was brought to the extreme.

In this sense, Confucianism had become a substantial legalist by the time of the Han Dynasty. Benevolence and courtesy are just the outer cloak of Confucianism. It is the core purpose of Confucianism to require the people to observe the order of respect and inferiority and maintain the rule of the powerful.

(Confucius)

3. The current "rule by law" must be combined with "rule by virtue".

Through the above analysis, we should understand that legalism does not completely represent "law" and Confucianism does not completely represent "morality". Therefore, it is obviously wrong to separate "law" from "morality" according to the historical situation of Legalism and Confucianism. In a sense, "law" is an external norm, and "morality" is an inner constraint. If there are only external norms and no inner constraints, a good social order cannot be established. If there is only inner restraint and no external norms, a good social order cannot be established.

It can be seen that "ruling the country by law" and "ruling the country by virtue" must be perfectly combined for society to achieve harmony and stability.

(Reference materials: "General History of China" etc.)