"Kong Congzi·Criminal Theory" And Confucius's Thought Of Punishment

It is a sticky problem whether Confucius had ideas of penalty or not, which is now unsettled inscholar field. The "Xing Lun" passage in Kong Conglzi which records the relating words aboutpenalty and reflects the penalty ideas of Confucius, but lots of people even now are unwilling tobelieve its truth because the opinion of Kong Congzi was fake in their mind. Whit that problem,this essay will examine the "Xing Lun" passage chapter by chapter in order to seek for thefundamental meaning of Confucius penalty ideas. Since criticism is based on the completelyunderstanding of the original context, it is necessary to explain every chapter before the researchand the explanation adopts illustration of the chapter in order-explain its meaning directly. Toexamine the material is to make a contrast between the material of "Xing Lun" passage and theprevailing literature from a letter perspective, to abstract the penalty and political ideas embodiedin it, and observe the degree of those ideas conform to the Confucius ideas in Analects ofConfucius, or to observe the way of Confucius talking from a language angle.It is to be found that there were some original resources of Xing Lun, some scattered recordsof Confucius penalty ideas existed during Pre-Qin periods. The passage of Xing Lun wasconsisted of those scattered materials. Furthermore, the passage of Xing Lun can be seen inShangshu Dazhuan, Hanshi Waizhuan, Kongzi Jiayu, or there being certain same or familiarrecords in those documents. Through compare and adjust, it is to be seen that Xing Lun is moreancient. Whose ideas is identical to the ideas in Analects of Confucius and Kongzi Jiayu, all ofthem are the conventional ideas of Confucius and it is complemented by the ideas in Analects ofConfucius. In a word, it confirms that Confucius had a system of penalty ideas. Besides, thisarticle will conclude that the political ideas expressed in "Xing Lun" passage comply with theideas encompassed in Analects of Confucius. The style of language is also agreeable with thecustom of Pre-Qin period, and which is conforming to Confucius persistent way of talking, suchas be meticulous about words, a profound meaning in a few words.The quotations of Book are from the three passages of Da Yumo, Kang Gao and Lu Xing, whichare all related to penalty ideas and included the views of prior king on penalty and itsimplementation. From the correlation of Confucius penalty ideas, if can be seen that Confuciusideas was an inheritance and extension of the earlier ideas. From another perspective, Confuciusexplanations of Book of History which contains in "Xing Lun" passage are a complement forresearch the ideas of Confucius about it.Therefore, we believe that the material and penalty ideas recorded in "Xing Lun" passage arecredible. It includes the penalty ideas of stressing etiquette and belittling penalty, teachingbefore penalty, motivation of crime, cautious penalty, lenient prison, reducing penalty for sympathy, remitting small fault, moderate penalty. Altogether, the penalty is subordinate tomorality which is the substance idea of "Xing Lun" passage. That conclusion confirms thatConfucius had overall ideas of penalty.It is can be claimed that Xing Lun of Kong Congzi is real through the research done in thisarticle, which may provides evidence and reliable materials for studying Confucius penalty ideasin the future. The penalty ideas, political ideas and Confucius understanding of Book whichrefined from the "Xing Lun" passage may use for a reference when make some research onConfucius ideas.