| I use the Analects of Confucius in this thesis refers to the Versionof Today Analects of Confucius, namely the one Wang Su Note.Analects of Confucius was a detailed record of the words and deedsof Confucius and his disciples, and the countries affairs. It has a greatvalue for the study of Confucius and Confucianism before Qin Dynasty.Academia has been debating on the authenticity of this book for a verylong time. I obey the principle of textual criticism before quoting inorder to enhance the persuasiveness of the thesis according to reliableevidence.Academic has been producing numerous fruits on the study of Confuciuslegal thoughts. But there is no scholar who involves in study a largenumber of valuable legal thoughts in the Analects of Confucius. Confuciuslegal thoughts is an integrated system:“Nature Law†provides evidencefor his legal thinking, namely legal ideology shows the starting pointand the ultimate standard; Ritual and Punishment is its legal thinkingprojected onto the main manifestations of the human world. Confucius,increasing and loss of the Ritual of the Western Zhou Dynasty, citedHumaneness into the Ritual, and injected vitality into the Ritual, and also given its legal thoughts the characteristics of warmth. Confuciusbelieved that Ritual and Punishment was indispensible, but the role ofRitual was more important than Punishment which acted as a supporting role.He talked detailed on the origin, function of the Punishment. Both of themsupported each other to jointly build the tower of legal thoughts. In orderto achieve the desired effect, Confucius believed that the perfectideological system needed to be carried out by humans who were called theSaint and Noble Character, Saint is a more upper concept compared to the“Noble Characterâ€He possessed the highest authority of all institutionsbecause of the ability of communication with the heaven, and he was thecreator of all the system also including Ritual and Punishment. NobleCharacter had three apparent features namely Humaneness, Wisdom andCourage. Confucius required the dominators to achieve thesequalifications. Throughout the entire legal system of thoughts ofConfucius, the subject was Noble Character and the tool was Ritual andPunishment. Noble Character used Ritual and Punishment to operate thewhole country, but the Noble Character could not do what he wanted at will,because of restraint of Natural Law and Saints. The authority ofinterpretation of the ultimate meaning of Natural Law and Saint was firmlyin the hands of the Confucian scholars, which supported the operation ofancient feudal China for more than two thousand years. |
