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Essays, Di Zi Gui:
(到简体版)

論文,弟子規:
Confucius' Teachings Are Conducive to
A Modern Society Based on Freedom and Free Will


孔子的教導有利於
自由和自願的現代社會
By Feng Xin-ming


馮欣明著


Table of Contents (click to go to section):
    1. Introduction
    2. Confucianism and Relationship-Defined Obligations
    3. Relationship-Defined Obligations and Mutual Help
    4. Buying and Selling Is Also Mutual Help
    5. Confucius' Supremacy of Relationship-Defined Obligations Is Suitable to
        Both the Past and the Present, Both China and Other Countries

    6. Confucius' Thinking Is Conducive to Making Modern Society Even Freer
目錄 (點擊到達片段)
  1. 簡介
  2. 孔教與人倫
  3. 人倫與互相幫助
  4. 買賣也是互相幫助
  5. 孔子的人倫至上思想古今中外都適合
  6. 孔子思想有利於把現代社會變成更為自由



1. Introduction

The teachings of Confucius are very suitable for and conducive to a modern society based on the principles of freedom and free will (volition). On hearing this, a lot of people will be surprised and will ask, how can this be? Doctrines from over 2,000 years ago - how can they be very suitable to life in a free society? Also, don't Confucius' teachings all advocate uniformity, submission and obedience? Aren't they against freedom and free will? Alas, not so, not at all! Where does Confucius or the original Confucian classics advocate slavish uniformity, submission and obedience? It is only later, especially since 1,000 C.E., when some "Confucian scholars" changed the essence of Confucianism and Confucian teachings, from being practical, based on the real material world, and dialectical, to being a priori, based on the imaginary world of thought, and metaphysical, and when they also added to Confucianism some Legalist ideas that advocate totalitarian rule, that some "Confucians" had in fact advocated slavish uniformity, submission and obedience on some occasions. On top of that, since the 1895 Sino-Japanese War but especially since the 1919 May Fourth Movement, there has also been the mistaken blaming by Chinese intellectuals of China's poverty and backwardness on Confucianism. This is a tragic case of an immense cultural wrong unparalleled in history, but still, since then, the charge that "Confucianism advocates uniformity, submission and obedience" has been exaggerated and blown up by Confucianism's detractors both Chinese and foreign. Let us see how real Confucianism's central thought is very suited and conducive to a modern society based on freedom and free will.


2. Confucianism and Relationship-Defined Obligations

Confucius’ teachings are, first and foremost, about the “relationship-defined obligations” or “ren lun (人伦)”.

What are relationshipship-defined obligations? Well, in traditional Chinese thought, what transpires between the parties in society's Five Cardinal Relationships or wu lun (五倫), is described by the term “ren lun (人倫)”, which I translate as “relationship-defined obligations”. So what needs to transpire between the parties in society's “Five Cardinal Relationships” are the obligations that the parties in each Relationship owe to each other and must fulfill.

As for the Five Cardinal Relationships, they are those between the ruler and the subject, i.e. today's government and citizens; between the father, i.e. the parents, and the son, i.e. the offspring; between the older and the younger brothers, i.e. siblings; between husband and wife, and between friend and friend. These comprise the most important relationships in society.

Today we have to add a Sixth Cardinal Relationship, that between the buyer and the seller. Most economic relations can be included in this relationship: for example, between the employer and the employee, the buyer is the employer since he's buying labor power, and the seller is the employee since he's selling his labor power. So the modern formulation of "The Five Cardinal Relationships" should be "The Six Cardinal Relationships".

Besides the most important traditional Five, or my Six, Cardinal Relationships, there are many other human relationships, too many to list. As long as there is a contact or a dealing among humans, even a very temporary or very occassional one, there is a human relationship, and all human relationships possess and are governed by relationship-defined obligations.

In traditional Chinese thinking therefore, what the parties in society's human relationships do or should do is to carry out obligations to each other.


3. Relationship-Defined Obligations and Mutual Help

How is this compatible with, nay, conducive to, a modern society? Well, modern society is based on exchange, indeed all human societies are based on exchange, and exchange is nothing but mutual help. And what is the essence of each of the Five, or Six (as proposed by me) Cardinal Relationships? That essence is mutual help.

Let’s go through each Cardinal Relationship one by one:

First, reflecting the fundamental property of human society, the Cardinal Relationship between government and citizens is but a relation of mutual help: the government is there to help its citizens by protecting them and keeping order, and in turn the citizens help the government by obeying the government’s laws so as to make order possible, and by paying taxes to sustain the government.

Second, the Cardinal Relationship between parents and offspring is a relationship of mutual help: the parents help the offspring survive, grow up, and receive teaching. When still immature the offspring help the parents by obeying and respecting them, cooperating with them, helping them with housework, following their guidance, and thus making teaching and raising of offspring easier. When grown up, the offspring help the parents by providing sustenance and care to them in their old age and infirmity.

Third, the Cardinal Relationship between older and younger siblings is a relation of mutual help: the older siblings look after the younger when they are still young and dependent, and the younger siblings help the older ones by obeying and respecting them, cooperating with them, following their guidance, and thus making it easier for the older siblings to help the parents look after the younger siblings; when grown the siblings help and cooperate with each other in career, conduct and daily living.

As for the Cardinal Relationship among spouses, the husband and wife help each other by building a life together.

As for the Cardinal Relationship between friends, mutual help is the real link underlying friendship. Friends encourage and advise each other, and can also help each other in career and daily living. Even when it comes to just mutually entertaining and amusing each other, that is also a form of mutual help.


4. Buying and Selling Is Also Mutual Help

Finally, there is the sixth Cardinal Relationship proposed by me, the Cardinal Relationship between buyer and seller – since the profit motive is involved here, is buying and selling also a relationship of mutual help? Yes, it is. The honest, non-cheating profit motive is not the same as dishonest, cheating "greed." The honest, non-cheating profit motive means striving to help one's customers with one’s profession, e.g. farmer, tailor, builder, etc. In turn, one’s cust mers help one by paying one money. With this money one can then obtain other’s help in the form of clothing, food, housing, etc. So the profit motive, pursued honorably, is nothing other than striving to conduct mutual help: I help you by giving me my services or products, you help me by giving me money, because when you have my money you can exchange it with others for services or products. Such laudable and honorable strivings are the only real ways to make profit honestly.

What about pursuing customers to collect payments from them; is that also mutual help? Yes, collecting on payments due is absolutely necessary to ensure that the provision of the valuable and useful good or service under consideration is sustainable. It is part of the honest profit motive. It is absolutely honorable, therefore, for a seller to demand and collect on payments due him, otherwise he will not be able to operate, he will become bankrupt and be unable to continue providing his product; the help he provides to others will become unsustainable. Soon no one else will be able to enjoy his product; soon no one will be helped by him. When a seller strives to collect on payments due him, he is only making the provision of his product sustainable, he is only being responsible to other consumers and would-be consumers of his product; he is trying to continue helping them.

By the way, here we should clarify that, on the other side of the coin, those customers who try to not pay their debts when due are carrying on dishonorable and shameful conduct, because they are violating their obligations, which in traditional Chinese thinking is called “forgetting kindness and shirking obligations (wang en fu yi)”, then a most derogatory epithet, and abandoning their promises to pay, promises whether explicit or implied, made when they purchased the good or service.

What about taking advantage of and cheating people as part of the profit motive? Taking advantage of one's customers, and this applies to the employer-employee situation as the employer is an employee's customer, in price, quantity, or quality is the surest path to ruin for a seller, because there is only a one-time, short-term profit; the customer will never come back. Worse, he’ll tell ten, twenty, one hundred people about it, and they will in turn tell others. Soon there will be no more customers as the cheater’s putrid reputation becomes known. So, pursuing the profit motive in a dishonest way is futile and foolish, while pursuing the profit motive in an honest way is effective and wise.

Actually, buying and selling is mutual help on the grandest scale:
"An extraterrestrial visitor will find the massive and intricate amount of mutual help in human society simply amazing. Millions upon millions of people go to their jobs at set hours and perform their tasks more or less to order, day after day, providing goods and services to help other people. These producers then go regularly to yet other people, like the grocer, the hairdresser, the doctor, and so forth, and receive help from them in the form of needed goods and services, just so much and no more, with little or no fighting, scrambling, or whining. Everything is very orderly, yet there is no one controlling or directing all this traffic!" (Excerpt from my blog entry "En- Yi` 恩義 or Kindness and Obligations, and the Modern World".)

Indeed, the level of wealth and modernization of a society can be seen as nothing other than the quantity and complexity of the mutual help in a society. A rich, advanced society is just one with a lot of new and complex goods and services that a poor, backward society doesn't have,and every new product or service is just another type of mutual help being brought into being. For example, whereas before we have no life-saving treatment for appendicitis, and appendicitis is a sure death sentence, with modernization and medical advance in a society a new type of mutual help is born, the persons called surgeon, surgical nurse, anesthesiologist, operating equipment designer, operating equipment manufacture worker, operating room architects, builders, maintainers, janitors, and so forth, who can come together to help people by providing them with the service called an appendectomy, come into being.

Since the level of wealth of a society is merely the quantity and complexity of mutual help, since buying and selling is mutual help on a grand scale, and since adherance to honesty and integrity helps the carrying out and the continuation of buying and selling, then should it be any wonder that, where there is prevalent recognition of buying and selling as being honorable and respectable, where sellers and buyers are usually honest and usually don't cheat, the society is relatively rich, and where the opposite is prevalent, the society is poor? This is not an accident; it is cause and effect.

In the old days, when China has been one of the richest if not the richest country in the world, the attitude prevalent in society has been that one must be honest, must not be greedy, and must not cheat. In the past, Chinese businessmen have had a sterling reputation for honesty, fairness, and being true to their word. In fact, an article in Readers' Digest that I've read during the sixties talks about how the secret to success of the overseas Chinese businessmen in Southeast Asia, besides an amazing work ethic, is their legendary honesty and integrity.


5. Confucius' Supremacy of Relationship-Defined Obligations Is Suitable to Both the Past and the Present, to Both China and Other Countries

From the above one can see that human society is not an arena of darkness and deceit, where ruthless struggle among one and all, the law of the jungle, and the your-loss-is-my-gain rule reign. Although that kind of thinking is very common, it cannot be more wrong. That is where a lot of the evilest doctrines of the twentieth century has arisen, like Hitler's Nazism, which thinks that between nations there is only a you-must-die-for-me-to-live struggle. Completely to the contrary, human society is an arena of brightness and integrity, where large scale and the most thorough going exchange, i.e. large scale and the most thoroughgoing cooperation and mutual help, reign.

And Confucianism's relationship-defined obligations is a code of honor that governs this cooperation and mutual help. What is prescribed by the relationship-defined obligations is exactly the mutual help conduct to be carried out by the various parties in relationships among human beings.

Therefore, making relationship-defined obligations supreme, treating them as the supreme value, as the Confucian-Chinese tradition has done for over two thousand years, is not only most suitable for the Chinese society back in history, but is also most suitable for modern Chinese society. Furthermore, that is not only suitable for China, but is suitable for any society, because the relationship-defined obligations thinking is most conducive to the operation of the fundamental nature of all human society whether past or present, whether Chinese or non-Chinese: mutual help, exchange.


6. Confucius' Thinking Is Conducive to Making Modern Society Even Freer

The Confucian thinking of the supremacy of relationship-defined obligations is not only suitable for modern society, but is also conducive to the development of an even freer society than what we have now. Why? It is because, except for the relationship between the government and its citizens, the obligations are voluntary, of one's own free will, and it is not necessary for government to take part, and government is coercion, i.e. forcing people to do things. Try not doing what is required of you by government and force will be used against you, first in the form of a lawsuit, then in the form of a judgment specifying fine or jail, then in the form of government personnel to forcibly impose that judgment. Even though government follows due process, perhaps even follows democracy where it is the will of the majority that is done, and has recognition from most members of society as being legitimate, government is still coercion and the opposite of free will. When people widely choose to follow the Confucian thinking of relationship-defined obligations, the coercive actions carried out by government will markedly decrease and will occupy a secondary role in society, while people's actions that spring from their free will will come to occupy the main role in society.

Since the relationship-defined obligations are all based on mutual benefit, one violates them at one's own peril. One gets punished by natural means; if one violates one's obligations then one loses the reciprocal obligations the other party owes oneself. Thus, if a son is not xiao (good to parents) he risks his parents becoming unkind, as the reciprocal of the offspring's xiao is the parents' kindness; and if a husband is not respectful and cooperative he risks his wife becoming disrespectful and uncooperative, as spouses' respect for and cooperation with each other are reciprocal.

Furthermore, other people who are in a relationship with the obligation violator, seeing that he does not carry out his Cardinal Obligations, may also cease carrying out their obligations to him. Thus the son who is not xiao to his parents risks having his own son being not xiao, and the seller who cheats his buyers risks having people who sell to him cheating him.

Not only that, but also other people who do not now have a relationship with the obligation violator will refrain from having any relationships with him, will not have any dealing or contact with him. Thus, a seller who violates his obligations to his buyers will find fewer and fewer customers, a husband who violates his obligations to his wife will have fewer and fewer friends, and so forth.

The supremacy of relationship-defined obligations is the supremacy of mutual help, nothing more. The supremacy of relationship-defined obligations is the honor code for mutual help, and codifies honorable conduct for relations of mutual help in human society, relations that can be life long, relations that no human can live without. Adopting this honor code is entirely voluntary, but extremely beneficial. It is most conducive to success and happiness. Having such weighty incentives, once people understand the idea, they will conduct themselves according to this honor code, and there is no need for external coercion in the form of legal authority and government.

People are free to adhere to the honor code or not. If they do, they get rewarded, automatically, without getting the authorities involved. If people don't adhere to the honor code, they get punished, again automatically, without getting the authorities involved. Of course, government authorities must get involved with conduct that violates the law, but even if such conduct evades the net cast by the law, such conduct cannot evade the natural punishment that results from society's framework of the supremacy of relationship-defined obligations.

When society widely treats relationship-defined obligations as supreme, the carrying out of nongovernmental relationship-defined obligations and the function of the nongovernmental market, will all follow honesty, integrity and the carrying out of obligations. Then government will no longer need to participate in various aspects of people's lives with its coercive measures, as it does now. Through methods based on the voluntary free will of participants, that is, through the operation of the relationships of family, clan and friends, and through the operation of the market, people can solve the problems in the various aspects of their daily lives such as housing, retirement, education, health care, and so forth. Government, which represents coercion, will then only need to maintain law and order and prevent foreign invasion.

Therefore government, which represents coercion, can be as minimal as possible, intrude into the lives of citizens as little as possible, and yet society runs harmoniously and justly, with everyone looked after. The weak, the aged and the disabled will be cared for by those who have relationship-defined obligations to them, that is, by those who know them and are close to them, rather than by some anonymous big brother government agency. Society will then realize the "Great Together" envisioned by Confucius, and will be much freer from government intrusion and government coercion than is the case now. Freedom can then truly reign.

As more and more people adopt the Confucian idea of the supremacy of relationship-defined obligations, it will usher in a new era of truly free societies.

(Written in English 2007, in Chinese and revised 2009, 2010)    



1.簡介

孔子教導非常適合和有利於一個建立在自由和自願原則上的現代社會。聽到這句話,有很多人會很奇怪,會問,怎會這樣的呢?超過二千年老的信條,怎能非常適合自由社會裡面的生活呢?再說,孔子的教導不都是提倡一致性、屈服和服從嗎?這不是跟自由和自願相反嗎?哎呀,不是,不是啊!孔子和孔教原著經典,那裡提倡過奴化的一致性、屈服和服從呢?只是後來,尤其是公元1000年以來,一些“儒家學者”把孔教的本質改變了,把孔子教導從實用的、唯物的、辯證的學說,變為先驗的、唯心的、形而上學的學說,同時把主張極權統治的有些法家論點滲入“儒學思想”,才會導致有一些儒家學者的確曾經提倡過,在某些情況之下採用一致性和服從。此外,自1895年甲午戰爭、特別是自1919年五四運動以來,中國知識分子錯誤地把中國的貧窮落後歸罪於孔教,這是一項千古奇冤的文化慘案,但是,“孔教提倡一致性、屈服和服從”這個控訴,就是從那時起被孔教的中外反對者所渲染誇大的。讓我們看看真正的孔子中心思想,是怎樣非常適合和有利於一個基於自由和自願的現代社會吧。


2.孔教與人倫

孔子教導的首要就是人倫

人倫是甚麼呢?在傳統中國社會的“五倫”關係裡,各方之間所需要進行的行為,是用“人倫”這名詞來描敘的。我把這名詞翻譯為英語的“關係所定義的義務和責任 (Relation-Defined Obligations)”。所以,“五倫”關係裡的各方之間所需要進行的行為,就是每方與對方所互相欠下和需要履行的義務和責任。

而“五倫”就是“君臣”即現代的政府和人民、“父子”即父母和子女、“兄弟”即兄弟姐妹之間、夫妻之間、和朋友之間這五種關係。這些是社會裡面最重要的關係。

今天我們需要添加“第六倫”:買者和賣者的關係。多數的經濟關係都可以包括於這個第六倫:例如,雇主和僱員之間,買者就是雇主,因為他是買勞動力的,而賣者就是僱員,因為他賣自己的勞動力。所以,“五倫”現代的提法,應該是“六倫”。

除了最重要的傳統五倫或我現代的六倫以外,還有很多人倫關係,不勝枚舉。只要跟任何人有接觸,有來往,儘管是很短暫或偶爾的,便有了人與人關係,而所有人與人關係都屬於人倫關係,受人倫規範。

所以,傳統中華思想認為,社會人與人關係裡的各方,所做的事情或所應該做的事情,就是履行欠下對方的義務和責任。


3.人倫與互相幫助

這個人倫思想怎樣跟現代社會兼容,不,怎樣有利於現代社會呢?這是因為現代社會是基於交換的,其實,無論古今中外,所有人類社會都是基於交換的,而交換只不過是互相幫助。而五倫或我提出的六倫之中的每一個倫,本質是甚麼呢?本質就是互相幫助。

讓我們依次看看六倫中的每一個倫吧:

第一,政府和人民之間的人倫關係,也反映了人類社會的基本特點,也不過是互相幫助的關係:政府是以保護人身安全和維持治安來幫助人民的,而反過來人民是以遵守法律以便治安能夠維持,和付稅供養政府,來幫助政府的。

第二,父母和子女之間的人倫關係,也是互相幫助的關係:父母幫助子女生存,長大,和獲得教導。年幼時,子女服從父母和尊敬父母,便會跟父母合作,幫助家務,聽從指導,以便父母可以比較容易地教養子女,從而幫助父母。長大時,子女為老弱的父母提供生計和照顧,從而幫助父母。

第三,兄弟姐妹之間的人倫關係,也是互相幫助的關係:弟妹年幼尚未能夠獨立時,兄姐要幫助父母照顧弟妹,而弟妹也要服從和尊敬兄姐,跟他們合作,聽從教導,以便兄姐可以比較容易地照顧弟妹,從而幫助兄姐;長大後,兄弟姐妹們在事業上、行為上、家庭生活上都互相幫助和合作。

第四,至於夫妻之間的人倫關係,丈夫和妻子以建設共同生活來互相幫助。

第五,至於朋友之間的人倫關係,友誼的真正基礎就是互相幫助:朋友們互相勉勵和提供意見,也可以在事業上和生活上互相幫助,而只不過是朋友們一同消遣、互相給予娛樂,也是互相幫助的一種。


4.買賣也是互相幫助

最後第六,就是我所提出的第六倫,即買者和賣者之間的人倫關係:既然這裡存在謀利動機,買賣也是互相幫助的關係嗎?是的,也是互相幫助。誠信、非欺騙的謀利動機,跟不誠信、欺騙的貪枉,是不同的。誠信、非欺騙的謀利動機是力圖用自己的專業,例如農夫、裁縫、建築家等專業,來幫助顧客。反過來顧客以付錢來幫助你。得到了錢你就可以獲取他人的幫助,而這些幫助則以多種形式體現,例如衣服、食物、屋宇等。所以正當地實行謀利動機,不過是力圖進行互相幫助:你給我貨物或服務來幫助我,我給你錢來幫助你,因為你拿到了我的錢,就可以跟別人換取貨物和服務。這種正當和值得贊賞的努力就是誠實謀利的正確途徑。

對顧客追債收賬呢,也是互助嗎?是,因為要保證一件有價值的貨物或服務能夠持續提供,收賬是絕對需要的。所以,賣者收取到期的賬務,是絕對符合道義的,是誠實謀利動機的一部分。不然的話,賣者就不能繼續經營下去,就要破產,便不能再繼續提供產品,賣者對他人的幫助便沒有了持續性,很快便沒有人能夠享用賣者的產品,便沒有人能夠獲得他的幫助。當賣者力圖收取他的賬務,他不過是力圖使他產品的供應具有持續性,不過是對享用或將會享用他產品的人們負責,不過是力圖繼續幫助他們。

這裡順便反過來說明,那些企圖不付到期賬務的顧客,行為是可鄙的,無恥的,因為他們違背義務和責任,中華傳統裡的說法是他們做了古時很令人鄙視的“忘恩負義”,背棄購買貨物或服務時所明言或不言而喻作出的、許下將會付錢的諾言。

那麼,追隨謀利動機時,欺負和欺騙人們呢?在價格、數量或質量上欺負顧客(而這也包括雇主和僱員之間的情況,因為雇主不過是僱員的顧客)只會是賣者走往破產的最可靠途徑,因為這樣做只會得到一次性的、短暫的利潤,而顧客則永遠不再回來。而且,更糟的是,受騙者會告訴十個、二十個、一百個人,而他們又會告訴其他人。很快這個欺騙者的臭名遠播,便沒有顧客了。所以,用不守誠信的手段追隨謀利動機,是徒勞和愚昧的,還是按照誠信原則來追隨謀利動機才是有效和高明的。

買賣確實是最大規模的互相幫助:
“人類社會大量和複雜的互相幫助會令星球來客覺得驚訝。千百萬人定時到達工作崗位,或多或少完成任務,一天又一天把貨物和服務供給他人,幫助他人。然後,這些生產者又經常到其他人那裡去,好像雜貨店商人、理髮師、醫生等等,從他們那裡得到幫助,拿到所需的貨物和服務,而且分量恰恰這麼多而不會更多,亦不用吵架、爭奪或訴怨。整個過程都很有規律,但是完全沒有人控制或指揮這麼眾多的交易!”(擇自我的博客文章“恩義即恩典和義務及責任,與現代社會”。)

的確,一個社會的富有程度和現代化程度,可以看為只不過是社會裡面互相幫助的數量和複雜性。富有先進的社會,不過是擁有貧窮落後社會所不擁有的很多新的和複雜的貨物和服務,而每一樣新的貨物或服務只不過是一樣新誕生的互相幫助。例如以前並沒有對盲腸炎的救命治療方法,盲腸炎那時是死刑,但是現代化和醫療進步就使到新的一種互相幫助誕生了:稱為手術科醫生、手術科護士、麻醉師、手術儀器設計師、手術儀器製作工人、手術室建築師、手術室建築工人、手術室修理工人、手術室清潔工人等等的人們出現了,把盲腸手術實現出來。

既然一個社會的富有程度不過是互相幫助的數量和複雜性,而買賣是大規模的互相幫助,同時遵守誠信道義就會幫助買賣的進行和持續,那麼,不是很明顯,那裡買賣被普遍地認為是遵守道義和值得尊重的,而買者和賣者都普遍地是誠實的、不騙人的,那裡社會就相對地富有,而那裡情況相反,那裡社會就貧窮嗎?這不是偶然,這是起因和後果。

古時,當中國是世界上最富有的國家之一或簡直是最富有的國家時,中國社會的普遍態度是,一個人一定要誠實、一定不要貪枉,一定不要騙詐。以前的華人商人擁有優秀的名聲:誠實、公平、遵守諾言。的確,六十年代我在《讀者文摘》看過一篇文章,說東南亞海外華人商人的成功秘訣,除了驚人的勤勞之外,就是傳說性的誠實和守信。


5.孔子的人倫至上思想古今中外都適合

從上面可以看到,人類社會並不是一個人與人勾心鬥角、叢林法則、要損害他人才拿到利益的黑暗奸詐場所。雖然那種思想很普遍,但是,是最錯誤不過的了。二十世紀以來很多最邪惡的思想,例如希特勒的納粹主義,以為民族與民族之間就是你死我方活的鬥爭,就是從那裡來的。完全相反,人類社會是一個人與人大量地、無微不至地交換,即大量地、無微不至地合作和互相幫助的光輝正義場所。

而孔教的人倫就正是規範這個合作和互相幫助的道義法則。孔教人倫所規定的,就正是人與人關係中,各方所必須執行的互相幫助行為。

因此,像中華孔教傳統二千年以來一樣,把人倫作為至上,看為至上的價值,不但非常適合以前歷史上的中國社會,而且非常適合現代中國社會。另外,不但適合中國社會,而且非常適合任何社會,因為人倫至上思想非常有利於古今中外人類社會基本特點的運作:互相幫助,交換。所以,孔教的人倫至上思想,適合現代社會,適合古今中外。


6.孔子思想有利於把現代社會變成更為自由

非常有利於人類社會互相幫助的的孔子人倫至上思想不但適合現代社會,而且有利於把現代社會變得更為自由。為甚麼呢?因為除了人民和政府的關係之外,人倫所定義的義務和責任都是自願的,不需要政府的參與,而政府就是強迫。只要違反政府對的規定,強迫手段就出現了。首先是控告,然後是判決罰款或坐牢,然後是政府人員強制地執行判決。儘管政府是有程序性的、也許遵從民主而執行多數的意願的、亦被社會成員廣泛認可的,但是,政府仍然是強迫,是自由自願的相反。人們廣泛地選擇遵從孔子人倫思想時,政府所進行的強迫行為就會很大量地減低,變為處於社會的次要位置,而人們出於自願的行為就變為佔有社會的主要位置。

因為人倫所定義的義務和責任都基於互惠互利,所以違反它們就會為自己招來風險。懲罰是自然而來的:違反你的義務和責任可能使到對方也違反對你所欠下的義務和責任。所以,如果兒子不孝的話,他會招來父母不慈的風險,因為子女孝的另一面就是父母慈。如果丈夫對妻子不尊敬和不合作的話,他會招來妻子也不尊敬和不合作的風險,因為妻子對丈夫尊敬和合作是丈夫對妻子尊敬和合作的另一面。

另外,其他跟你有關係的人,看到你不履行自己的義務和責任,可能也對你停止履行他們的義務和責任。所以,對父母不孝的兒子,自己的兒子也可能不孝,而欺騙顧客的賣者也可能自己買東西時被賣者欺騙。

而且,跟你現在沒有關係的人們,也會不肯跟你將來產生任何關係,不肯跟你有任何來往或交易。所以,違反對顧客義務和責任的賣者會越來越少顧客,違反對妻子義務和責任的丈夫會越來越少朋友,等等。

人倫至上只不過就是互相幫助至上。人倫至上是互相幫助的道義法則,規範人類社會裡所有人都擁有的、有些是終生的互相幫助關係。遵守人倫至上這個道義法則,是完全自願的,也是非常有益的,非常有利於人生成功和快樂。有了這麼重大的好處,多數人一旦明白了道理之後,就會自願地根據人倫至上這個道義法則做人,不需要施法當局或政府等外部力量施加強迫。

人們有自由遵守或不遵守這個道義法則。如果遵守,就會自動地得到回報,不需要涉及政府當局。如果不遵守,就會自動地得到懲罰,也不需要涉及政府當局。當然,違法的行為政府當局當然要管,但是,就算漏過了法律的羅網,也漏不過人倫至上社會構架的自然懲罰。

當社會廣泛地奉人倫為至上時,出於自願的非政府人倫關係運作和市場運作都遵從誠信和責任及義務的履行。那麼政府就不需要好像現在的以強制手段參與人們生活各方面。人們採用基於參與者們自己自由意志的手段即家庭、親戚、朋友等關係的運作和市場運作,就可以解決人們的生活各方面問題,例如房宇、養老、教育、醫療等。代表強制的政府就只不過需要維持社會治安及防止外來侵略而已。

這樣,代表強制的政府可以最大可能性地縮小,最少量地侵入人民的生活裡,而社會仍然會和諧地和公平地運作,不需要強迫而人人守法,亦不需要運用政府的強制手段而人人都得到照顧。老弱殘廢者都被跟他們有人倫關係的、認識他們和接近他們的人自願地來照顧,而不是被某個匿名的、運用強制手段的“老大哥”政府部門來照顧。孔子的“大同”便可以實現,社會便可以比現在擺脫很多的政府侵入和政府強迫,自由便可以真正遍地飄揚。

越來越多人採用孔教的人倫至上道理時,真正自由社會的新時代就會到來了。

     (2007年英語著,2009、2010年修改及漢語著)

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