First, the rule of law rules the external world and the rule of virtue rules the internal world. The two are complementary.
As an important part of the superstructure of the socialist economic base, law and morality are both aimed at consolidating and developing the socialist system. Because of their unique position and function, they are highly complementary. Governing the country according to law is external. If people's behavior is regulated from the perspective of external force and coercion, then governing the country by virtue means consciously following these norms from the heart and from the quality of people. If the two complement each other, the construction of spiritual civilization will be better. The implementation of the law still needs moral soil. When the whole society is superstitious about the role of the market, the spirit of mutual assistance cannot be reflected in the judicial decisions of the courts. Vulnerable consumers are at a loss in the face of one seemingly just but completely different judgment after another. We don't lack the concept of the market, nor do we lack the care for the law. We lack moral support.
According to Marxist viewpoint, law is a tool used by the ruling class to govern, and it must be closely related to economic, political and moral factors and adapt to each other. The idea of combining the rule of law with the rule of virtue is based on the practice of China's reform, opening up and modernization, and it is a new understanding of the regularity of Socialism with Chinese characteristics's construction. Law and morality in China's market economy are essentially the same, with a common economic, political and ideological basis. The basic principles and contents of the law reflect different levels of moral requirements. Legal norms and moral norms are both forces that constrain and motivate people's behavior. They have the function of guiding people's behavior by constraining and motivating people's behavior, thus serving a certain social and economic foundation and certain class interests and promoting social development. Abiding by the law has become the basic moral requirement of social life, and law has lofty moral value. Rule by law and rule by virtue are two important means for human beings to manage society and class society to realize class rule, and they are two different but closely related social phenomena. Among them, the rule of law is the adjustment of important issues in morality and the strengthening of moral power. The legalization of morality casts human ideas into law. Rule by virtue is not only the internalization of the rule of law, but also the internalization of people's quality by law, and it is also an important supplement to the rule of law, bringing social relations outside the law into its own jurisdiction. The moralization of law and the legalization of morality are an interactive evolution process in the development of human society. Law is an effective means to spread morality. "Law shoulders the task of safeguarding the common morality of society."
1 "The ultimate goal of law is to make people moral and kind. In order to achieve the greatest kindness that all people can achieve, secular law adapts itself to various lifestyles recognized by various moral creeds, but it also resists the changes that people demand because of the real relaxation and degradation of moral concepts. It should always maintain the general direction of moral life and make common behavior tend to the full realization of moral laws on the first standard. "
"2" Morality is the evaluation standard and motive force of law and a useful supplement to law. In some cases, the two can be transformed into each other. "Morality and law are inseparable. Without moral support, the law is not a part of society, but the words written on official documents, which are empty and have nothing to do with society. "
"3" The two complement each other, echo each other and cooperate with each other to realize the adjustment of social relations. But the law itself belongs to the category of political superstructure, and it appears with the will of the state and the attitude that the whole people must abide by. It directly interferes with people's behavior, as long as the behavior of asking for help is illegal and constitutes a crime, and the degree of illegality or crime can be judged accordingly. Morality belongs to the category of thought, and ideological problems cannot be solved by state power. It interferes with people's behavior by interfering with people's thoughts and spirits, and the requirements for judging moral norms are much broader and higher than those of the law. This tells us that in the process of governing the country according to law and building a socialist country ruled by law, we must attach great importance to moral construction, and closely combine the rule of law with the rule of virtue to complement each other and promote each other. The full realization of the law will inevitably improve the moral level of ordinary citizens and state workers, and conversely, the improvement of social moral level will inevitably promote the formulation and realization of the law. To create a socialist civilized legal environment, we must grasp the complementarity, compatibility and consistency of the rule of law and the rule of virtue.
Second, the difference between the rule of law and the rule of virtue.
Although the rule of law and the rule of virtue are consistent, they are always two different ways to govern the country and society and cannot be confused. The difference can be seen from the difference between law and morality, that is, they have different conditions, different forms of expression, different implementation methods and different adjustment ranges. "The difference between law and morality is very obvious: law is formulated and implemented by the state, while morality is realized through people's inner beliefs, beliefs and public opinion; The law has clear mandatory sanctions, while moral punishment mainly depends on public opinion, which disapproves, ridicules and rejects specific social groups. ..... The differences between law and morality in objectivity and execution are as follows: law focuses on behavior, while morality focuses on will and feelings; The effectiveness of legal rules is universal and absolute, while moral standards vary from person to person and from environment to environment. "
Generally speaking, legal provisions always avoid questions involving conscience, but ask about their intentions and only consider their behaviors and attitudes; On the contrary, the scope of moral choice is intention. For the law,' whatever is not prohibited is allowed'. On the other hand, however, people can say that in terms of sanctions, law is more mandatory than morality. Violation of a moral code will lead to accusations, which can not be ignored, because accusations, even ridicule, may lead to serious consequences, such as mental disorders, ruin the future, and even suicide. But after all, it is not branded like the behavior of public power such as criminal judgment. "
"5" From the perspective of "basic legal courses" and "ideological and moral cultivation courses", the rule of virtue emphasizes serving the people as the core and collectivism as the principle; The rule of law emphasizes civic awareness. All citizens are equal before the law, and the law takes into account the interests of the state, the collective and the individual. When the legitimate rights and interests of citizens and organizations are infringed by state organs and their staff and suffer losses, they have the right to bring an administrative lawsuit and demand state compensation. Rule by virtue requires people to do more obligations and dedication; The rule of law requires the protection of human rights. While enjoying rights, citizens should fulfill their obligations stipulated by law, and their rights and obligations are consistent. The rule of virtue requires carrying forward the traditional virtues and revolutionary traditions of the older generation, while the rule of law requires following the existing laws and the rule of law to be in line with international standards. Rule by virtue regulates people's inner world and behavior from the perspective of governing the mind, and the standards for implementation are a bit empty and inconvenient to operate; The rule of law is to regulate people's behavior from the perspective of governance behavior, and the implementation standard is law, which is clear, specific and easy to operate.
The relationship between the rule of law and the rule of virtue has experienced a historical development in China. As early as the Western Zhou Dynasty, "virtue" was a comprehensive concept integrating morality, politics, belief and strategy. "Morality" is not only the main method to govern the country and win people's hearts, but also the guiding principle of judicial administration. The basic principles set by Zhou Li are "kissing" and "respect". "Rite" and "punishment" are used as follows: "Rite is no less than Shu Ren, and punishment is no less than doctor". In the Han dynasty, it was proposed to oust a hundred schools of thought and respect Confucianism alone. In the relationship between morality and punishment, morality is the main factor, punishment is the supplement, and Chunqiu is the basis of prison punishment. The Tang Dynasty continued and developed the trend of legal Confucianism in the Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, which was characterized by "one ceremony". Its guiding ideology is "morality is the foundation of politics and religion, and punishment is the use of politics and religion", and the relationship between morality and punishment is the relationship between "foundation" and "use". In the relationship between Germany and France, the Ming dynasty adopted the guiding ideology of "punishing the country with severe punishment", but it did not give up the educational role of ethics. The Qing Dynasty carried out the basic guiding ideology of "explaining the law in detail and participating in the state system" in legislation. Basically continued the practice of the previous dynasty. In the feudal society of China, the feudal dynasties of past dynasties pursued the ideas of "morality is the main punishment" and "ritual punishment". As a result, moral exhortation has the power of law, and even replaces the law, equating moral obligation with legal obligation.
In modern society, the rule of law is dominant, supplemented by the rule of virtue. Emphasizing the combination of rule of virtue and moral education, rule of law and rule of virtue is a scientific summary and deepening development of our party's theory and practical experience in governing the country. It is an objective need for the healthy growth of individuals and the prosperity and stability of the country. It is an inevitable requirement for developing socialist market economy and building a well-off society in an all-round way. It is the urgent need to realize the long-term stability of the country, and it is the concept of governing the country that reflects the direction of China's advanced culture. It is an important means to establish and improve social order and market economic order. Although the law is strict, it also has its own difficulties. Because violating the law is generally a violation of the lowest moral requirements, it cannot be considered that all violations of morality are violations of the law. There are strict boundaries between legal behavior and moral behavior, and between legal obligation and moral obligation. The law stipulates people's rights and obligations, and morality generally emphasizes obligations. Promote the implementation of the law through moral obligation. As far as people are concerned, both law and morality are externally enforced. Morality and law regulate people's external behavior and internal activities. However, the law focuses on adjusting people's external activities, which is guaranteed by the state's coercive force. Morality focuses on regulating people's inner activities, which is generally reflected in the condemnation and self-discipline of public opinion. Law is an external compulsory control, and morality is a self-restraint from the heart and an external force of public opinion acting on the heart. The long-term stability of the country can only be achieved by combining internal and external factors. Because there are still some inequalities in the real society, people's social status, education level, knowledge and skills, as well as personal genetic talent, intelligence and so on are actually unequal. Only by adhering to the correct moral orientation in a society ruled by law and paying full attention to protecting the vulnerable groups in society in policy formulation can the society be stable, orderly and civilized.
The basis of law is morality, and the purpose and destination of law is justice, which can also be regarded as the category of moral requirements. The process of law enforcement is a mechanical process and must be based on morality. Moreover, whether a country's legal system is sound or not mainly depends on the number of moral norms incorporated into legal rules. Morality is not compulsory by the state, but a norm of individual will and mutual nobility based on individual's independent creativity and determination. It mainly appeals to conscience, distinguishes good from evil, and is self-discipline in people's minds. "Law requires external obedience to existing rules and regulations regardless of potential motives, while morality relies on people's conscience. Moral rules require people to act according to noble intentions-first of all, according to moral responsibilities-and it also requires people to pursue good for the sake of good. "
The realization of "6" rule of law can only be achieved by legislators, law enforcers and law-abiding people embodying their moral cultivation and personality charm in the rule of law activities, so that the legal spirit and moral spirit can be coordinated, the law can be supported by moral internalization, and the legal spirit and moral spirit can jointly become the common value of the whole society. Only in this way can the construction of the rule of law be possible. Generally speaking, the social relations field of moral adjustment is wider than that of legal adjustment. It is difficult for law to touch people's hearts and solve people's ideological problems, and the foothold of rule by virtue lies in people's hearts and their ideological consciousness. Laws cannot solve the problems of beliefs and values. Only morality can make people establish correct beliefs, values and outlook on life, and take it as their own guide to action. Law cannot manage all aspects of social life, but some areas must be managed by morality. Morality is the spiritual force that guides and restricts people's thoughts and behaviors, and the relative independence of morality is the prerequisite for the social value of morality to be brought into play. In the process of moral construction, we should adhere to the principle of "being the foundation", rely on education, guidance, training and edification, supplemented by corresponding social management systems and regulations, strive to advocate and cultivate moral norms that are compatible with the socialist market economy, vigorously advocate new fashions of social civilization, and gradually form and establish some public moral norms as new legal norms with ideological and moral education as the content, guidance as the bridge, position construction as the support and strengthening management as the means.
Third, society needs the unity of rule by law and rule by virtue.
"The concept of the rule of law comes from the West, while the rule of virtue comes from the traditional legal culture of China. The combination of the two conforms to the trend of combining root-seeking consciousness with global consciousness and combining nationality with the times. "
"7" In a certain sense, the market economy is the economy ruled by law, which is mainly manifested in the close relationship between the influence and function of law on the economy. The important role of law in socialist market economy can not be separated from law or rule of law. Law plays a guiding, promoting, guaranteeing and restricting role in the operation of market economy. The law confirms the legal status of the subject of economic activities, adjusts various relations in economic activities, resolves various disputes in economic activities, and maintains the normal economic order. Although the role of law in safeguarding and promoting the economy and society is enormous, we should also realize that law is general, which provides standards and models for the behavior of ordinary people, while real life is concrete and ever-changing, so the role of law also has its limitations: law is not the only means to adjust social relations: "Good is not enough to govern, and good is not enough to self."
The remedy for these defects of the "8" law is morality. Morality is a concept and norm permeated in economy, politics, administration, culture, education, habits, traditions and public opinion. No matter how well the law is formulated, it also needs the right people to implement and apply it correctly. If a legal worker does not have the ideological and moral level, how to correctly implement the law closely related to morality? It is hard to imagine that this law will be effectively implemented. In addition, no matter how well the law is formulated, it also needs the support of the vast majority of social members. If members of society lack the ideological and moral fashion of obeying the law and have no moral resistance to any illegal acts, the law cannot be effectively implemented. Moreover, the law is imperfect and has loopholes. If members of society lack the minimum moral level, they will do behaviors that are not illegal but endanger social morality and affect the healthy and orderly development of society. Finally, it needs to be mentioned that the breeding of bureaucratic corruption, first, the concept of the rule of law is weak, the idea of official standard is prominent, and the law is considered to be "exclusively under the control of the people", second, the moral constraints decline and the psychological defense line collapses. Market economy needs both morality and law, and both hands should be hard. Promote and influence the development of morality through law, and promote the formulation and implementation of laws through morality to make up for the shortcomings of laws.
In the west, governing society depends on the law on the one hand and the Bible on the other. The law governs behavior, and the Bible governs soul and mind. "Law and morality represent unreasonable normative order, and their control ranges overlap. Some areas of morality are beyond the jurisdiction of law, and some departments of law are almost unaffected by moral judgment. However, there is a substantial system of legal norms, the purpose of which is to ensure and strengthen the observance of moral norms, and these moral rules are crucial to the soundness of a society. "
In China, social governance depends on comprehensive governance. However, under the condition of market economy, the reform in China has developed from economic reform to comprehensive reform in economy, society, politics and ethics. The overall moral evaluation of market economy has turned to the concern and evaluation of moral order and behavior norms in the market, and law and morality have become an indispensable and important means to govern society and economy. To build a socialist market economy, it is necessary not only to establish a corresponding legal norm system, but also to establish a corresponding moral norm system. We should not only strengthen the construction of socialist legal system and rule of law, but also strengthen the construction of socialist morality and rule of virtue, and combine rule of law with rule of virtue. The two are interdependent, complementary and complement each other.
China's market economy has promoted people's self-reliance, competition, efficiency and pioneering spirit, but the weaknesses and negative aspects of the market itself will also be reflected in the spirit and morality. Market economy is a competitive economy, and its principle is to require equivalent exchange, that is, the exchanged goods should be genuine and mutually beneficial, and at the same time, it is absolutely not allowed to engage in power and money transactions. At present, the social situation and problems in China are first of all credit crisis, which is manifested as follows: on the macro level, on the one hand, government managers use the "three chaos" to increase fiscal revenue, even small coffers and indiscriminate bonuses; On the one hand, social units (including enterprises, institutions and associations) transfer and conceal profits in various ways of tax evasion. Taking advantage of the long-standing dual-track system between social organizations (especially enterprises), "triangular debt" is the most prominent manifestation of large-scale illegal occupation and transfer of rights and interests. Within social organizations, managers make use of the "absence of all owners" of the country and the "autonomy" given to them by the reform to seek benefits for individuals; Workers generally use the abstract "master" status to go slow and pursue the expansion of distribution interests, while the state has laid off workers without social security and their interests have been damaged. In this way, on the one hand, the credit problem almost curbed the social and economic activities, on the other hand, the society unanimously condemned the credit crisis, and the establishment of the credit crisis became a universal need of the whole society.
Secondly, it is the motivation and orientation of pure profit, which is manifested in materialism, money worship and hedonism; Third, the problem of unscrupulous means shows that getting rich is related to commercial bribery, commercial deception, commercial speculation, commercial theft and predatory development and management; The second is the attitude towards economic interests, which is manifested in bullying the market, buying and selling hard, trading unequally and signing contracts forcibly. There is also the problem of "hitchhiking" or "riding without a ticket". Many people still hold the idea of "having the right not to use it, and it will become invalid when it expires", which leads to the abuse of state power and the repeated prohibition of corruption and bending the law in society. Although various measures have been taken, all kinds of duty crimes are still rampant. The seriousness of these phenomena lies in that social organizations and individuals generally "fall into" the network of immoral economic behaviors, lose trust in the moral rules that should be followed, and seek benefits by immoral means as the universal code of conduct. Solving this phenomenon by legal means is powerless to ordinary problems. Therefore, as China's economy enters the stage of comprehensive "institutional integration", comprehensive market integration needs comprehensive ethical construction as the foundation, and institutional integration needs the integration of ethical concepts as the necessary condition, and the society's demands for standardized ethical concepts of market economy are becoming stronger and stronger.
The whole society should act together, make concerted efforts, coordinate and cooperate, and give full play to the authoritative role of law and moral influence. People's congresses at all levels should give full play to the leading role of power organs, actively exercise the powers entrusted by the Constitution and laws, and strengthen supervision. In particular, the People's Congress and its Standing Committee, which have legislative power, should actively adapt to the requirements of the situation and, according to the actual situation, promptly formulate laws and regulations necessary for the establishment of a socialist ideological and moral system, so as to provide a strong legal guarantee for the establishment of a socialist ideological and moral system. Law enforcement agencies should, in accordance with the requirements of governing the country by law and by virtue, administer according to law, strictly govern politics, impartially administer justice and strictly enforce the law. At the same time, through various specific law enforcement activities, we should integrate the requirements of basic moral concepts into various specific policies and social management, and constantly promote the formation and improvement of the socialist ideological and moral system. Vigorously rectify social order and market economic order, create a socialist civilized legal environment, and further promote social progress and economic development.
Fourthly, the coordination between rule of virtue and rule of law.
In recent years, due to the wave of market economy and the impact of western culture, the tradition of "natural morality" led by Confucian ethical culture collapsed, and the moral system in the planned economy era lost its social binding force and integration force because it could not meet the requirements of market economy. The Confucian thought of "moral education first" based on the theory of human nature covers the basic moral order from politics to daily life, which is closely related to the Confucian thought of "ruling by virtue" and the general plan of governing the country. Confucianism and morality have exerted great influence on the laws in China's history, especially the ideas of "morality is the pillar of punishment", "exposing the lessons of punishment" and "giving gifts to punishment". Its advantage lies in emphasizing that people can be educated and must be educated. The disadvantage of this kind of education, including family morality and social morality, is that it is based on governing the people, that is, educating the people to express themselves to the feudal rulers and obey the feudal autocracy and hierarchical exploitation system. The morality needed under the condition of market economy is completely different from that of traditional society. Under the new historical conditions, the fundamental purpose of "rule by virtue" is not to rule the people, but to serve them. It is through moral and legal means to adjust the relationship between social interests, maintain normal social order and realize the best interests of the people. Moral education is not an education that enslaves ignorance, but "arming people with scientific theories, guiding people with correct public opinion, shaping people with noble spirit and inspiring people with excellent works". Everyone has the right to pursue the satisfaction of his life without hurting others; Moral norms stipulate individual obligations on the basis of equality of rights and obligations; In daily life, people can live in a practical and utilitarian moral environment and a legal environment.
To develop the socialist market economy, we must improve the socialist legal system and form socialist market morality. The market economy and the rule of law require us to carry forward and inherit the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation. Under the condition of socialist market economy, we should build a socialist moral system and framework with the characteristics of the times and do a good job in strengthening the education of social morality, professional ethics and family virtues advocated at present. It is necessary to let traditional virtues and new norms penetrate each other, and the rule of law and the rule of virtue complement each other, constantly improve the rule of law, and let the rule of virtue be deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Create a good social environment for reform and development.