And sometimes we lack this, so neither Confucianism nor Taoism have developed this kind of science. So science is like this, and democracy is the same. Confucianism has a rule of virtue, but this kind of rule of virtue is not democracy. In terms of content, it has a bit of democratic meaning, but in terms of political system, it is not democracy. In ancient China, there was indeed a rule of virtue. Emperor Taizong of Tang admired the saying of Xunzi, "The ruler is a boat, the people are water, water carries the boat, and water can overturn the boat.
What is democracy?
In the West, democracy is more of a political system or the fundamental political system of a country.
So why is a person in China free?
Hegel said that because of authoritarianism, China's political system is not democratic. In ancient China, there was a concept of rule of virtue, such as "the world is for all", but it did not have this political system, that is, democracy in the political system. So Mr. Mou Zongsan clearly separated political system and democracy here. Of course, this is not Mr. Mou Zongsan's original creation. In this place, there was a very significant politician Sun Yat sen who inspired Mr. Mou Zongsan.
During the Xinhai Revolution, Sun Yat sen stayed in the United States for a relatively long time because his brother had industries in Honolulu and San Francisco. Sun Yat sen saw a big problem in the United States, which was the separation of powers. If these three powers are separated, democracy is not a problem, but it also has its flaws. Its biggest flaw is that due to mutual restraint, its decision-making efficiency is very low. Why is the decision-making efficiency very low? When you propose something, you have to discuss it repeatedly, and in the end, you have to vote. After the vote, if it is confirmed, it can be implemented. Some things are too inefficient, while others can be like this.
For example, determining the constitution can be done slowly because the constitution is more important. Everyone can discuss it slowly. For example, if North Korea launches a satellite and wants to intercept it or not, it cannot wait because it will be launched soon. If you say intercept or not intercept, and you propose to intercept, there will be opposition in Congress immediately. What are the reasons for not intercepting? Then both sides will debate for three months, and if you have three months to debate, then the satellite has already been launched and recovered from space. This situation also exists.
Sun Yat sen saw this issue at the time, and there was another one like this. For example, when Obama came up, he said, 'Hillary, I asked you to be my Secretary of State, who I asked to be my Secretary of Defense, and who I asked to be my Treasury Secretary.' These were all requested by the President. So once the president goes down, these people have to go down together, so this will also cause political turmoil, and even create a good measure that cannot be implemented. A few years later, he changed a batch of people.
So Sun Yat sen said, if I succeed in the future revolution, I will not only achieve the separation of powers, but also the separation of powers. The separation of powers is based on the three powers, and it also adds a supervision and examination. Supervision is the implementation of the functions of this department, conducting an inspection and examination. The examination is not our college entrance examination, not the postgraduate entrance examination, but an assessment of the qualifications of officials. In addition, Sun Yat sen clearly defined democracy, people's livelihood, and civil rights. In civil rights, he divided power into two types, one called political power and the other called governance power. For example, electing National People's Congress deputies and having them organize the government is called political power; What is governance? It means that after the political power, for example, who will be the governor of the People's Bank of China, who will be the director of the Development and Reform Commission, and who will be the minister of education? This is governance. Political power belongs to the people, and it must be through universal elections. To exercise power, experts must be sought.
You can't say I'm democratic, you can be the governor of the People's Bank of China, why can't I be, or you can be the minister of education, why can't I be? That's the difference here. From the perspective of political power, every individual is a citizen of the state and enjoys the political right of the state. This right is provided by you to the state. The state does not have this subject, just like political philosophy has this characteristic. The state, society, class, and political parties are all virtual, and the most real is the individual. Therefore, he believes that this regime can serve the people, but the governance should be handed over to experts because governing the world is a highly specialized discipline.
It's not that I have the qualifications to promote democracy at this time. I can also go, but that's not possible. Not to mention anything else, for example, when we write a small paper, we have to search for information and work hard to write it. Governing a country should be more complex than writing a small paper. So if you want to govern a country, not everyone can govern it. You need someone with experience and knowledge, who has expertise in this area and can govern it. This is called governance democracy and political democracy, which need to be separated.
According to Mr. Mou Zongsan's viewpoint, he believed that in ancient China, there was democracy in governing the Way, but democracy without it was the Three Provinces and Six Ministries system. It could be said that there was a form of democracy in it, such as the Central Secretariat, the Secretariat, and the Ministry of Personnel. However, he said that this democracy was called democracy in governing the Way, not democracy in politics. Democracy in politics means that when a regime is formed, it can adopt a democratic approach.
From ancient times to the present, the word 'da' has been used by Liu Bang to describe how he came to be in this world. Liu Bang was a revolutionary figure, and since then, there has been a new chapter in Chinese political history where commoners in plain clothes could become emperors, something that did not exist before. Prior to this, they were all aristocrats, and from aristocrats to commoners, this commoner was not democratic.
According to Mou Zongsan's understanding, he believed that the emergence of political power in Chinese history was not achieved through such democratic means, but rather with a noble reason that he passed on his position to me. For example, Emperor Taizu of Song used the Chenqiao Mutiny and the Yellow Robe, but behind the Yellow Robe, there was still a mutiny or a coup, so it was not democracy.
So, they believe that in ancient China, there was only governance without politics, or only official governance without politics. It can also be said that governance and governance were integrated, and politics did not gain its independent meaning. Therefore, China did not have strict political science.
Therefore, he believes that science did not emerge in China, which is his viewpoint. But science and democracy did not emerge in China in the future. In Mr. Mou Zongsan's opinion, he said that this is not something that is "not enough" but something that is "beyond". He said that China lacks a rational framework, so Chinese culture does not have this modern sense of national politics and law, nor logical mathematics and science. However, this kind of inability, he said, is "beyond" the limit, not "insufficient", which means it is moving too slowly and has not had time to develop. This is one of his views.
So, since that's the case, Chinese culture can emerge. If necessary, it can give rise to so-called democracy and science, national political and legal logic, and mathematical science. So how did it come about? He said that there should be a shift from comprehensive theory to decomposed theory, from the application of reason to the framework of reason, and to solve the problem of the lack of democracy and science in Chinese culture from the perspective of cultural origin. So, how can we change?
This raises a question of how to transition from this comprehensive and rational spirit to this decomposed and rational spirit, and how to transition from this application to this framework. In this regard, Mr. Mou Zongsan put forward a famous viewpoint called the "self trap theory of conscience".
This is to solve a theoretical problem. Conscience, also known as moral rationality, is a term he coined himself, "self doubt". In ancient China, "doubt" meant "great river" or "depression", which actually means descending and falling. "Self doubt" is actually self denial.
Democratic science is a positive external king, but it cannot be directly deduced from the situation of an internal saint. It must go through a twists and turns, a sudden change in direction, in order to reach the pinnacle of the external king.
The beauty of tragedy is sometimes beautiful and unforgettable. Assuming there is a tragedy like this, there is a boy who silently admires a girl in his heart, but during his four years in college, the boy has never expressed anything like this girl. This girl in his heart, he never knew that this boy liked her.
