Mr. Lin Yutang wrote: "The disadvantage of Confucianism lies in flouting the law and governing the country with gentlemen. I don't know where there are so many gentlemen in China who can be ministers, directors, county heads and principals. " Gentlemen are not allocated enough, villains are in place, and gentlemen are waiting for them. If the country wants to be chaotic, how can it be done? If you are a gentleman, you don't have to watch it. A gentleman extorts money without the consent of the people and with his conscience. A gentleman who abuses power for personal gain can get away with it without looking at his account book and listening to it; A gentleman colludes with foreign enemies and does not have to listen to his own treaty through the Legislative Yuan. Politics in China has always been just the account of a stupid gentleman. If a gentleman has a moral policy, he must set up a memorial arch for it; If a gentleman breaks the law, he will go to jail if he is not bound. This is a commercial company. It treats the manager like a gentleman. No audit, no report, no investigation. Who dares to invest in such a company? Unexpectedly, Gu regarded this as the advantage of China's political philosophy. He said: "China does not need a constitution, because the people of China have a sense of shame-they have extremely high moral standards, and because the China government is based on morality, not commerce." I'm glad to hear that, but I don't want to be a shareholder in this company. I don't want to be a shareholder now, but I have to invest. "
It seems that Mr. Lin Yutang is not only a master of humor, but also very insightful politically.
Those people insisted on constitutionalism and democracy in 1945. As soon as they entered the room, they said that constitutionalism and socialism were incompatible, and they could only seek fish from the wood. It is shameful to go back on our word like this. It's shameless
History is often driven by little people.
Of course, the original intention of villains is by no means to contribute to history, they are only for their own self-interest. As Adam Smith, the originator of economics, once wrote, "The dinner we expect is not from the kindness of butchers, brewers and bakers, but from their concern for their own interests."
This passage by Adam Smith reveals the externality of individual behavior. Actions taken by individuals or organizations for their own interests will not only affect themselves, but also affect other individuals or organizations in the surrounding environment. This is externality.
There are many famous villains in the history of China. Although their roles are obscene and their status is light, they are good at dancing and calculating, and they have done "earth-shattering" events, which almost changed the course of history.
Chu is one of the most successful nations. For example, Ann wrote in detail in his book Whip Chu that Fei Wuji may not have thought that when he began to consider his own interests, the externality of his follow-up behavior would actually affect the rise and fall of the Three Kingdoms, as well as the joys and sorrows of countless families and individuals (from monarchs to ordinary people) living in these three countries. King Chu Ping married his son and sent a doctor, Fei Wuji, to marry him. Fei Wuji saw that the bride was so beautiful, so he had evil thoughts. He went back to the palace at all costs to describe the beauty of the girl in detail to King Chu Ping, and suggested that King Chu Ping marry her before he met the prince. The lecherous King Chu Ping was persuaded by the eloquent Fei Wuji. In a blink of an eye, the girl of Qin, who was supposed to be the prince's wife, became the concubine of King Chu Ping. The price of replacing flowers with wood is mowgli, which has become the confidant of King Chu Ping. But he is guilty because he knows that the prince will take over sooner or later. So he framed King Chu Ping for saying that the prince was going to rebel. King Chu Ping then ordered the killing of the Prince and his teacher, Wu She and his son. Later, the Prince and Wu Zixu had to flee from Chu. A few years later, Wu Zixu led an army to take revenge, and Chu was thus destroyed. Tracing back to the source, Fei Wuji really contributed.
Jiang Chong of the Western Han Dynasty was the bravest villain. First, he disturbed Zhao Wang's father and son, falsely accused Zhao Wang of desecrating the harem in retaliation for personal grievances, which led to Zhao Wang almost being sentenced to death by Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty. Although his capital crime was pardoned, his status as a prince was revoked. Later, he bewitched Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, provoked the relationship between father and son, created a large number of unjust, false and wrong cases, and finally drove the prince to be killed. This chaos, known as the "curse of witchcraft" in history, not only killed tens of thousands of people in vain, but even Emperor Wu himself almost destroyed the country.
Bao Miao was the most insidious villain in the Southern and Northern Dynasties. It turned out that he was a eunuch around Prince Xiao Tong, and he was trusted. The prince's mother died soon and asked a eunuch to stay overnight, so the prince let the little eunuch go. Unexpectedly, he went AWOL and fooling around with the ladies-in-waiting, which happened to be caught by the prince during his inspection. If others don't kill, they will be severely punished. The prince was generous and didn't punish him, but he was not as close as before. I just know that the little eunuch is ungrateful, but bears a grudge. He found that the emperor was unwell, so he ran to tell the prince to let the Taoist priest do it, buried the wax goose and cursed the early death of the emperor, plotting to usurp the throne. The prince was wronged and he couldn't explain it. He was so angry that he couldn't even get up. Soon he drove the crane west, at the age of 3 1. It should be noted that this prince is the prince of Zhaoming who compiled the famous Selected Works of Zhaoming. "Selected Works" is rotten, and the scholar is half "is a high praise for him. I didn't expect to die at the hands of scum.
Gong Banlun is also a "famous" villain that we don't want to mention and can't avoid. His father Gong Zizhen was a famous thinker and patriotic poet in Qing Dynasty. Unexpectedly, his son Gong Banlun became an accomplice in the invasion and burning of Yuanmingyuan by Britain and France in order to seek glory. After the British and French allied forces invaded Beijing, "those who burned and plundered Yuanmingyuan were guided by Gong Banlun. Britain entered Beijing with a split ship, burned the Yuanmingyuan, and left with it ... and came back with gold and jade. " For the sake of self-interest, he did not hesitate to lead the wolf into the room, kill the family and destroy the nation, and burn down the "Garden of Ten Thousand Gardens". After Gong Banlun's death, it is forbidden to be buried in his ancestors.
So far, there are many controversies in the study of Han Feizi, the most representative of which is: Is Han Feizi an evil person? Is Han Fei's morality immoral? What is the core idea of Han Feizi? Is it power rule, rule of law or artistic rule? Does the demise of the Qin Dynasty mean the complete failure of the legalist thought of governing the country represented by Han Feizi? The above-mentioned differences in scholars' understanding of Han Feizi are not only related to the deviation of their understanding, but also to the contradiction in some specific expositions of Han Feizi. Han Feizi is a compilation of dozens of papers written by Han Fei in different periods and environments, and there are some inconsistencies and contradictions in the discussion in the book. This led later scholars to adopt the way of "six classics to note me" when discussing Han Feizi, holding one end to explain their own theory; Others simply list some chapters in Han Fei Zi that are different from their own understanding of Han Fei's ideological purpose as other people's works. As a result, many people have treated Han Feizi throughout the ages, but there are few arguments that can really be accepted by everyone.
So, does this mean that our understanding and evaluation of Han Feizi can only be divided and inconclusive? I don't think so. Because when we don't stick to a few words about a certain problem in Han Feizi, but go deep into the grasp of the internal logic of Han Feizi, many contradictions and doubts can be solved.
So, what is the internal logic of Han Feizi? I take the liberty to think that Han Feizi's internal logic is based on the theory of human nature, with the grasp of the characteristics and status quo of gentlemen and villains as the intermediary and the concrete exposition of the way of governing the country as the main content.
It seems that the theory of human nature is the basis of Han Fei's way of governing the country, which is a relatively consistent view in academic circles. However, the discussion between gentlemen and villains does not occupy an important space in Han Feizi. How to become an important part of Han Feizi's internal logic?
In order to better explain this problem, it is necessary for us to briefly describe the internal logic of Confucianism represented by Confucius, Mencius and Xun in the pre-Qin period. Because Han Feizi was almost written in the confrontation with the Confucian theory of rule by virtue, the internal logic of Confucianism can help us see the clear context of Han Feizi's thought.
A close study of Confucianism represented by The Analects of Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi gives people the deepest impression in three aspects: first, the thought of benevolence, benevolent government and rule by courtesy; The second is a rich exposition of gentlemen and villains; Third, the theory of good and evil of human nature. In fact, these three aspects are the core content of Confucianism. Moreover, further research makes us find that the above three aspects of Confucianism are not unrelated, but interrelated, which constitutes the strict internal logic of Confucianism: the theory of human nature is the basis for the distinction between gentlemen and villains, and the profound understanding and strict distinction between gentlemen and villains is the basis for Confucian governance. Specifically, Confucianism believes that everyone's innate nature is the same, which determines the possibility of acquired good and evil; Everyone can become a gentleman through strict moral education; However, in the real society, due to different education levels, gentlemen and villains coexist, so the best way to govern the country is to cultivate one's morality with benevolence, which is what Confucius called "governing the country with morality" (the Analects of Confucius), and finally let everyone become a moral gentleman.
Confucianism believes that in a society where everyone is a gentleman, there will be harmony, tranquility and joy, and there will be no struggle, fraud or tyranny. Therefore, whether Confucius, Mencius or Xunzi, it is their noblest goal to cultivate all people into gentlemen. As the Book of Rites University said, "From Tianzi to Shu Ren, all of them are based on self-cultivation." They set a standard for a gentleman and divided people into different levels of cultivation, hoping that everyone can follow it and eventually become a gentleman.
Although this goal set by Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi was considered pedantic and unrealistic by many people at that time, Confucius and Xunzi thought it was easy to achieve. Because according to their logic, no matter in history or in real life, there are gentlemen, except for a few, most of them are cultivated through the day after tomorrow; Since gentlemen can be cultivated, the situation of "the country of scholars" is so fascinating, why don't we fight for the ideal of "the country of scholars"
Of course, they also admit that in real life, the influence of gentlemen is still limited, and society is full of villains, but we can't give up the goal of cultivating villains into gentlemen through benevolence, righteousness and morality. Mencius used the example of "a drop in the ocean" to illustrate: "Benevolence is better than goodness, and water is better than fire. Today, the benevolent still saves a car with a glass of water. If they don't die, they will say that water is invincible, which is the same as that of heartless people. " ("Mencius told the son") Because in their view, the reason why the current society is in such a chaotic situation is entirely because the rulers do not realize the importance of cultivating gentlemen. Once the supreme ruler realizes the importance of cultivating a gentleman and sets an example to implement it, it is easy to produce a "scholar country": "a gentleman is ruthless; Elegance, there is nothing wrong. " (Mencius Li Lou) The reason why the monarch's rule of virtue has such a great influence is that the implementation of morality will be as rapid as the popularity of spring breeze, that is, the so-called "wind of gentleman's virtue, grass of villain's virtue, grass wind will be suppressed" (The Analects of Yan Yuan).
Of course, we say that Confucianism advocates the rule of virtue only in the sense of the most fundamental strategy of governing the country, because Confucianism does not deny the role of the rule of law, and Mencius also clearly said: "Being good is not enough to govern, and learning the law cannot be done." (Mencius Li Lou) But from the standpoint of rule of virtue and rule of law, Confucianism emphasizes rule of virtue and ignores the rule of law. Because Confucianism believes that moral perfection is the noblest goal in life, and to achieve this goal, it is impossible to rely solely on the rule of law: "The Tao is political, the people are punished, and the people are free, shameless." (The Analects of Confucius Governing Politics) Noble morality can only be established by moral means, so the rule of virtue is the most important.