CHAPTER X

ON THE THEORY OF THE "ETHICAL CODE AND NATURE" IN WEI JIN METAPHYSICS

LOU YULIE

            Inevitably every one lives in a web of social, economic, political and human relations and must be restricted by his or her profession, social status, law and morality. We are, therefore, social beings. On the other hand, everyone has his or her own character, independent spiritual world, and free will. Hence, we are also individual beings. Everyone has these two aspects which constitute contradictory rela-tions in reality. Societies demand that individuals be subordinated to the integral web of social relations, whereas individuals want to act according to their independent character and wills. Sometimes so-ciety and individuals in certain societies are unified, but in others they may strongly contradict each other. Such contradiction between so-ciety and individuals has been one of the most important problems with which Chinese and foreign philosophers and thinkers have been mainly concerned throughout history.

            One of the characteristics of Chinese philosophy is that it has paid special attention to society, human life, and ethics, and that it has developed many theses on the relations between societies and indivi-duals.

SUBORDINATION OF THE INDIVIDUAL TO SOCIETY

            According to the classic Confucian idea, social beings were prior to individual beings, and it was an unalterable principle that indi-viduals should be subordinated to societies. This however, had many forms.

            Confucians emphasized the duty or obligation of individuals to societies. They considered that everyone who had a definite position in a society certainly had a title suitable to his or her identity, and therefore should implement this duty or obligation to society on the basis of his or her own identity or title. If people did not carry out their appropriate duty or obligation according to their identity, they would destroy the normal social order, and bring about a confusion of society.

            On this ground, Confucians demonstrated that everyone had the possibility of cultivating his or her own morality and becoming a moral example, thus that everyone had a conscious obligation to mo-rality. Hence, they advocated that all should harmonize the relations between individual and societies on the basis of the conscious prin-ciple of morality (Confucians seldom talked about voluntary principle of morality). From a certain point of view, Confucianism also attached im-portance to individuals, but in the sense that everyone raise their own moral consciousness, and submit themselves to society. It is obvious that Confucian theory is reasonable in sustaining social integrity, but Confucianism went further to have individuals submit totally to social relations while neglecting the function of their individual free will.

            Legalists in the pre-Qin Dynasty also emphasized subordination of the individuals to society, but their theory and practice differed greatly from that of the Confucians. Where the Confucians advocated curbing self by moral consciousness in order to submit to society, the Legalists did not believe that men had such moral consciousness. Thinking that men had no moral sense at all, they argued that human nature was so extremely selfish that only severe laws could make people submit to integration into society. Thus, the Legalists went farther in rejecting individuality than the Confucians, and their theory was the main basis of the feudal monarchies.

            Daoists in pre-Qin Dynasty, especially Zhuang Zi, developed ideas contrary to both the Confucians and the Legalists. As they thought that the individual was prior to the social, they condemned the varied limits societies put upon individual persons and emphasized the importance of acting according to the natural instincts of the individual. When people are too concerned with their position and title, right and wrong, gains and losses, they lose their personal freedom. Hence law systems and moral norms constructed by societies in order to maintain varied kinds of human relations not only restrict individual persons, but are the main sources of social unrest.

            Daoism thought that Heaven and Earth should allow myriad things to grow according to their nature and not disturb or limit their growth and development; this is called the Dao of "acting naturally". Human societies should not only consider nature as their example, but also follow the Dao of acting naturally in not limiting and disturbing individuals’ actions, but allowing them to develop on the basis of their natural instincts. Lao Zi thought that if a society followed the Dao of acting naturally, people would regain their simple and honest dis-position and lead peaceful lives; in this way societies would become stable.

            However, since as a matter of fact it was impossible for indiv-iduals entirely to break away from the yoke of societies, they could not fully gain their personal freedom. Zhuang Zi held that he was able to solve this problem by adjustment of methods of recognition, that is to say, people were able to free themselves from dependence on society and the trammels it put upon them; in this way individuals could gain full freedom in their personal spiritual lives. Obviously the Daoist theory is reasonable in emphasizing personal free will, but it went to the other extreme by setting individuals totally against society and hoping to free them completely from social relations.

            The theory advocated by Confucians, which stressed that every-one’s social duty or obligation was determined by his status and title, has been called the "ethical code". The Daoist theory, which main-tained that people’s action should conform to their personal nature, has been called "nature". The problem is whether there is any pos-sibility of harmonizing these two kinds of theories and transforming the relation between individuals and societies from one of tension or an-tithesis to one of harmony. The metaphysicians during the Wei Jin Dynasty inquired into this possibility.

WEI JIN METAPHYSICS ON THE RELATION

            BETWEEN NATURE AND THE ETHICAL CODE

            The Confucian theory of the "ethical code" played an important part in social life during the Han Dynasties, especially the East Han Dynasty when it was the main standard for appraising competency and selecting qualified personnel. Later it resulted in abundant abuses at the end of Han Dynasty when the "ethical code" became a useful tool not only of the rulers to oppress people, but also for cunning persons to gain fame by deceiving the public. This destroyed the personal character of human beings and corroded social morality. In order to correct the social evils, Wei Jin Metaphysics praised highly the theory of "Nature" and affirmed the essential and rational character of the natural instincts of individuals. The metaphysicians thought that the "ethical code" was constructed on the basis of the natural instincts of human beings that is, that the "ethical code" originated or resulted from "Nature". "Nature" was the original substance; the "Ethical Code" was its manifested function. They sharply criticized the theory that rigidly adhered to the form of the "Ethical Code" but threw away the original substance to retain only the manifested function. The main failure here was the separation of the "Ethical Code" from the essence or basic spirit of human beings. If their natural instincts were truly understood, if the basic spirit of "Ethical Code" was truly grasped, the social norms of "Ethical Code" would be not in conflict but in tune with people’s natural instincts.

            Wang Bi (A.D.226-249), one of the main pioneers of Wei Jin Metaphysics, was a talented thinker who died quite young. He ad-vo-cated that "nothing was the origin" and the "sage could experience nothing", meaning that people should follow the natural instincts of humans and things. He thought that pleasure, anger, sorrow and joy were natural human instincts, but that the sages could not have such feelings. For example, even though Confucius already had a fairly good idea of Yan Hui’s moral character and talent, when Yan Hui came to him and wanted to learn from him he could not help but feel de-lighted, and was filled with deep sorrow when Yan Hui died at a young age. It can be seen from this example that it is impossible for people to get rid of natural human instincts. He pointed out that people’s moral actions were natural expressions of their nature: for example, natural love for parents was a kind of expression of filial piety. Social norms of morality (and rules) expressed varieties of natural feelings in human nature, while giving full expression to men’s natural instincts. Thus, what sages taught was also able to rouse people’s natural instincts.

            Hence, Wang Bi argued that natural human instincts were the original substance, while the "Ethical Code" was its manifested func-tion. But as people had almost always given up the original sub-stance and looked for the manifested function in social reality, they could not cling to "Nature’, but were anxious vainly to pursue external reputa-tions by following moral norms. As a result, a hypocritical mood pre-vailed throughout the country, which completely destroyed the moral order. As these phenomena ran counter to the real intention of mo-rality, in order to eliminate them Wang Bi wanted to establish new social rules on the basis of folk customs. He suggested reviving in-nocent human nature to resist the hypocritical mood. In brief, Wang Bi thought that the "Ethical Code" should be controlled by "Nature", and that one should return to "Nature" on the basis of his theory of the "Ethical Code" originating from "Nature". In this way, he wanted to re-concile the differences between social ethical norms and the in-dividuals’ feelings and free will.

            Ji Kang (A.D.210-263) and Ruan Ji (A.D.223-262), represented another school of Wei Jin Metaphysics which further emphasized that "Nature" was the original substance. They held that people should let natural instincts take their own course and be rid of the trammels from the "Ethical Code". If people had no intention of self-glorification, they would thoroughly break away from the yoke of an "Ethical Code" and their natural instincts would develop fully.

            Therefore, members of this school acted unconventionally and unrestrainedly, paying much attention to the expression of the true feelings of "Nature", and showing contempt for restrictions from the "Ethical Code". For example, it was said that Ruan Ji was very filial to his parents. While he was playing chess with his friend his mother passed away. The friend asked him to stop playing, but he insisted on seeing who was the stronger. When his friend Pei Kai came to express condolences on the death of his mother, he was sitting on the ground with hair in disarray and legs stretched out straight. His eyes were drunken and bleary, and fixed on his friend. Their thoughts and actions exerted great influence on the society, and soon became so prevailing a social custom that many celebrities tried to imitate Ji Kang’s and Ruan Ji’s self-will and dissoluteness.

            This went so far that it endangered ritual and law, which were rudimentary in maintaining social order. The spreading of this social mood was obviously inconsistent with the real intention of Wang Bi. It went to another extreme, and caused many people much anxiety. A famous metaphysician, Yue Guang, criticized the people who tried to please the public with claptrap and sought fame. He said that since there was no lack of place in "Ethical Code" to express the true feelings of "Nature", they did not have to be unruly and artificial. This meant that it was unreasonable to completely scorn the "Ethical Code" and that feelings that strayed from the norm of "Ethical Code" were bound to be unruly and fantastic. Here Yue Guang restated Wang Bi’s theory advocating that "Nature" was the original substance, and the "Ethical Code" its manifestation; both were necessary.

            Guo Xiang (about A.D.252-312), a famous thinker of Wei Jin Metaphysics, pushed the theory of the metaphysics to a new level by enriching and improving Wang Bi’s thought about the problem of the relations between Ethical Code and Nature. We have been told that on the relations between original substance and manifest function Wang Bi emphasized that the original substance commanded the manifest functions, that is to say that "Nature" commanded the Ethical Code, which then should return to "Nature".

            There was more or less a vestige of separating the original substance and the manifested function, nature and Ethical Code in Wang Bi’s thought. From this there could arise a tendency to get rid of the Ethical Code in order to allow Nature to express itself freely. Taking note of this problem Guo Xiang, who emphasized the identity of the original substance and the manifest function, held that the "Ethical Code" existed in men’s natural instincts and that the natural ex-pression of men’s instincts was sure to be in keeping with the "Ethical Code".

            Guo Xiang said that moral norms, such as "humanity and righteousness", were complete human nature; we should allow them to unfold and reveal themselves in life. He also held that it was un-necessary to think that "humanity and righteousness" were not human nature at all. To illustrate that "humanity and righteousness" existed in human instincts he noted that cattle did not refuse having holes to pierce through their noses, nor did horses refuse to wear harnesses. By these examples he suggested that the norms of the Ethical Code, which seemingly resorted to external forces to establish themselves, actually existed in men’s natural instincts. Therefore, to submit to the norms of Ethical Code, such as "humanity and righteousness", cer-tainly conformed to the natural instincts of human beings.

            He further noted that humans and things had different natures from birth, each with his or her own quality that neither could be got rid of nor changed, just as natively clever people and fools could not be changed. He argued that every human being or thing should be satis-fied with its own nature; demands which go beyond their nature not only throw a society into conflict, but also do harm to themselves. If people or things, no matter how great the differences existing between them, were satisfied with the stipulations of their nature, what they achieved would be the same without any differences.

            Relations among men or things were no more than their acting according to their nature; there were no other kinds of relations than this. It was like a human body with a head at the top and feet below, the five internal organs within, and fur without: all the parts of the body tried their best to do their duty to construct the whole body. Beyond this one, there were special relations among them. Hence, Guo Xiang declared that men’s social strata were determined by their nature. If people were satisfied with their nature, the order of the Ethical Code naturally would be stable.

            In brief, Guo Xiang drew the conclusion that the "Ethical Code" was natural from the thought that "Ethical Code" should be in accord with "nature". Guo Xiang’s theory has been called the theory of the "Ethical Code and Nature". It integrated the external norms of social morality with internal human nature in such wise that the "Ethical Code" was a natural and rational form, and the "Nature" was satisfied to some extent.

            Wei Jin Metaphysics held that the Ethical Code originated from human nature and thereby provided a foundation for freely observing the norms of social morality. This was a supplement to classical Con-fucianism which had laid particular stress on moral consciousness, but neglected the theory of moral consciousness. Later the Song-Ming Confucians explained the "Ethical Code" as the Heavenly Principle and considered it to originate from human nature by the theory that "human nature was the Heavenly Principle". Obviously, the Song-Ming Confucians were influenced by Wei Jin Metaphysics.

            Tension between the individual and society will always exist, but its content and form will change as time goes on. So it is necessary for us continuously to seek new theories to harmonize this tension. The theory of "Ethical Code and Nature", as harmonizing relations between individuals and society, already has become a thing of the past, but it remains a useful reference in seeking new theories to harmonize the tension between individuals and society.