Question 8: Compatibility of Confucianism with the rule of law Introduction Since the early days of man, different societies have had different mechanisms of dealing with individual that go against accepted norms. These norms formed part of the basic education mechanism that a society practised to in the past. Foreign practises were however introduced during the colonial error when the colonial master imposed their own conflict resolution system on the different society. After the assimilation of the foreign system, researchers have now turned their attention to testing whether those systems are compatible with the traditionally practised mechanism within a society. A significant example of such a dilemma is on assessing whether Confucianism is compatible with the rule of law. The two system represent societies that are different and practised by individual that do not share any historical relationship. The growth of an international community has led to the adaptation of the rule of law by most if not all nations in the world. The paper seeks to find out whether Confucianism is compatible with the rule of law and how the two systems can be adopted by a society. In order to assess the possibility of compatibility, it is important to first understand how the two system works individually. The analysis will involve the assessment of the whole functionality of the two policies. Confucianism Confucianism refers to the social, ethical and political teaching that were developed
In the book Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee (Dee Goong An), the main character is Judge Dee, a magistrate in China’s Tang dynasty. The roles of a magistrate include, but are not limited to, being a judge, detective and police officer. The book follows three of Judge Dee’s cases, the Case of the Double Murder at Dawn, the Case of the Strange Corpse and the Case of the Poisoned Bride. In order to be a distinguished and powerful magistrate, one must lead with Confucian and Legalist values. Judge Dee is an effective magistrate because he blends both Confucian and Legalist values seamlessly, and is well aware of the Tang dynasty’s social hierarchy.
Celebrated cases of Judge Dee, a detective novel which describes crime cases which happened in China during the Tang Dynasty, in the 7th Century. In the book Judge Dee is a well known magistrate of Chang Ping, whom and is famous for solving crime and maintaining justice, particularly amongst common the Chinese People. In the book, Judge Dee is faced with three murders. As Judge Dee begins solving the crimes, the story unfolds slowly and presents historical, social, legal, philosophical and even religious pictures of ancient China. Tang Dynasty China was a period in which society was strongly influenced by Confucianism, due strongly to the previous influence of the Han Dynasty. These
The idea of ruling a powerful government based on the principle of using two conflicting ideologies at the same time appeared foreign to most dynasties of early China. In early Chinese times, after the Period of the Warring States, two ideologies emerged: Legalism and Confucianism. Legalism stressed a strong central government that expressed harsh laws while Confucianism had a decentralized government, placing trust in conscientious and learned individuals to work together to solve political issues. These two schools of thought were in stark contrast to each other and, up until the Han dynasty, had never been combined with each other through government policy. The Qin dynasty, for example implemented a strict Legalist government while the
The Bull of Innocent VIII is a text written in 1484 that explores many problems that are being formed by people who are moving away from the catholic faith. This document encouraged witch hunt and the killing of witches suggesting that it would be the ideal way to free humankind from such scheming. The first problem described was that they gave themselves away to sex devils (Pope, Innocent VII,1484). These devils are called the Incubus (the one that lays on top) and Succubus (the one that lays on the bottom). Incubus is known to be a male demon that has sexual intercourse with females by paying them a visit at night and Succubus is known to be a female demon that has sexual intercourse with males (Awakening, 2013).
Amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era, arose many intellectual thinkers that brought such a profound impact in the fields of politics, religion, and philosophy. Even to this day, their influence can be seen on the many matters of China. Confucianism became the paramount school of thinking and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism gained immense recognition as well. Each party had their own proposals for creating an idealistic political society where the many problems they faced in their everyday lives could be eliminated. All three approaches were very distinct but at the same time, they contained similarities as well. In my reasoning, I find that Confucianism and Daoism
Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism, are three Chinese ideologies in Classic China that held influence on how society should be, how to achieve order and what made government strong. Anyone that was a practitioner of these three philosophies would have had no idea how the Roman Republic or Empire worked in those regards. It would not be surprising if a Confucian, a Daoist and a Legalist had praise and dislike for how Rome was ran.
All societies have rules and regulations as well as penalties for those who violate them. There are numerous theories about the philosophy behind these laws and punishments, and the reasons we implement them. A short analysis of two of these perspectives can shed light on the differences between the various ideas while illustrating that, in reality, each theory carries some validity.
Masters Mozi and Laozi are two famous philosophers from the Warring States Period; however, their theories about how to govern a state are opposed. Master Mozi advocates for impartial caring and non-offence in the application of enforceable rules, while Master Laozi favors “trying not to try”. In this paper, I will analyze these two Chinese philosophers’ ideas regarding solutions to crime. This analysis will include a brief comparison and comments on their thoughts.
The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee takes place in Tang Dynasty China and it revolves around Judge Dee (Dee Goong An). Judge Dee was a magistrate (or a judge), who solved different crimes around China. In this book, it includes three main crimes and Judge Dee examines them all. Judge Dee included both Legalist and Confucian methods to help move along each case and eventually solve them. He used these different techniques to help him solve each case, but three certain Confucian values helped him truly become a good magistrate. The three Confucian values were Ren, Xiào, and Li. Judge Dee used all of these values in order to become a good magistrate.
In China during 406-221 BCE, the battling states between the Zhou and the Han Dynasties? were in a state of governmental disorder. Although the era was in a disruptive state, it ushered in a cultural opening that left a long lasting imprint on the Chinese history. As a result, three major belief systems surfaced Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism in an attempt to achieve a sense of political order in a disorder period. There are distinctions in the way each of the belief systems approached the many problems that plagued the Chinese society. First, all of the founders were contemporaries in China. As well as considered philosophies, who studied the future, and sat out to focus on the present rather than the past. In contrast, Confucianism, Daoism and Legalism established various paths in search of an optimistic future for the success of China. Second, both Legalism and Confucianism developed a social belief system, but are considered a religion. However, both Legalism and Confucianism purpose was to create an orderly society in the hopes of prosperity. In contrast, Daoism does
To begin, Confucius was one of the best lawgivers in Chinese history. Confucius did not respect or admire the written laws of his legal system, he believed that experienced rulers were the best people to provide justice. The legal system of the United States runs on the rule of law and it is for the people, which is stated directly in the constitution. The rule of law means, that everyone is accountable and held to the standard of the law that is laid out by the constitution. I believe that this is fair because here in The United States no matter how much power or wealth you have, everyone is under the law and has to follow the law written by the law makers. For example, the leader of North Korea does exactly what he wants when he wants and
In Beauty and the Beast, the storytellers use the small town and the evil figure with a good heart to show that we as humans tend to be judgmental and push away the people who are different from us without really knowing both sides to the story because we often jump to conclusions and assume that we’re right. In the movie, Belle and the Beast fall in love even though they are very different from each other. They looked passed their differences and what people would think of them.
Legalism was very different from both Confucianism and Daoism because Legalism was the belief that people needed to be controlled because they were evil. Legalism is found in China and was founded by Han Feize. While it is unknown when Legalism was established, it is known that Han Feize was born in 280 B.C. so that gives a general time when legalism started. Legalism didn’t deal with much religious concerns but was more of a political philosophy instead. Citizens were seen to be responsible for actions of one another. A person who is considered guilty, their relatives and neighbors should be punished as well. This was a way to make sure that the laws are followed. The laws are strict with harsh punishments. People who spy on others and report anything that they do wrong to the authorities are thought to be doing right of the law. Both Legalism and Confucianism are belief systems within a group of people, not religions, and both are intended to lead to an orderly way of life, how they approach their teachings are complete opposed.
This essay discusses the main differences between traditional Confucian values and modern values. Confucian society seems backwards compared with modern society. In the traditional Confucian society, wives must obey every man in the family before she makes any decision on her own. She even obeys her sons. This would never happen in the modern world, especially in the West. Women and men cannot even talk to each other in a normal fashion unless they are already married, or being set up to be married. The author claims that a sister cannot even ask her brother-in-law a question. It is believed to be inappropriate for a woman and a man to speak, and there is even some mention of women covering their faces.
For as long as our country has been in effect; we have created a culture of killing through the use of the death penalty. Capital punishment used to be very popular back in the 1600s but this is 2015 and things need to change. This USA is in league with Syria, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Iraq in enacting the death penalty. Why are we still accepting it as a form of punishment when so few accept it? Furthermore, several studies and research have shown that taking the life of another human being through capital punishment only perpetuates a cycle of violence. Also other research has shown that flaws in our justice system has led to innocent being prosecuted, guilty being set free, and a plethora of other biases being present during capital punishment cases. The whole process is flawed in many ways, but the scariest part about it is that very little has been done to change it. In this great and wonderful country we say that we value tolerance and diversity but in most cases we seem to forget this and instead look for vengeance and death. The death penalty is a heinous crime which enacts the very principles with which; we are condemning an accused individual. Due to its racial and economic injustices, and the inhumaneness of the torturous death penalty; the penalty of death should be abolished.