Mozi's Theory of “Ming Gui” and the Prevailing of Pre-Qin's Legal Concept of “Rewarding the Good and Punishing the Evil”(PDF)
《南京师大学报》（社会科学版）[ISSN:1006-6977/CN:61-1281/TN]
- Issue:
- 2023年05期
- Page:
- 116-125
- Research Field:
- 法学研究
- Publishing date:
Info
- Title:
- Mozi's Theory of “Ming Gui” and the Prevailing of Pre-Qin's Legal Concept of “Rewarding the Good and Punishing the Evil”
- Author(s):
- MA Teng
- Keywords:
- Mohist School; Ming Gui; Gui Shen Zhi Ming; Fa-chia; rewarding the good and punishing the evil; rewarding and punishing
- PACS:
- -
- DOI:
- -
- Abstract:
- Since Gui Shen Zhi Ming 鬼神之明(The Wisdom of Spirits and Deities)of Chu bamboo slips was made public by Shanghai Museum, there has been a lot of discussion about whether it belongs to the Mohist School. The interpretation of the main idea of Gui Shen Zhi Ming should return to the currently existent Mozi which has a broader vision and covers the issue of Ming gui明鬼(bright ghost). The Mohist School advocates “universal love”, and likes to persuade people to do good and dissuades them from doing evil. Therefore, Ming Gui should be originally a special expression of the Mohist School's concept of justice. Such an appeal to norms that value righteousness is invariably in contradiction with the reality, hence Mozi's resumption of the elements of the traditional theocratic law to establish the authority to fill the absence of faith. Therefore, the discourse of Ming Gui highlights its political and legal function by “rewarding the good and punishing the evil” all the time and specifically expresses the principle for the crime and punishment, insisting that “the innocent should not be prosecuted and the guilty not set free”. The theory of Ming Gui of the Mohist School is the discursive origin for the governance model of rewarding and punishing but it is also close to severe penalty theory as it tends to stress the evil of human nature. This theory and the main idea of Gui Shen Zhi Ming both indicate the development of the history of the theory of rewarding and punishing in the pre-Qin period, thus also constituting a paradigm to examine the theory of the relationship between belief and law.
Last Update: 2023-10-25