Abstract

ABSTRACT The theory of ‘Confucianization of law’ put forward by T’ung-tsu Ch’ü in his book titled Law and Society in Traditional China has a great academic influence in the world. However, ‘Confucianization of law’ is like ‘flowers in a mirror’ because its concept is too one-sided and ambiguous to describe ancient Chinese legal philosophy. Although it once has helped non-Chinese understand ancient Chinese legal philosophy, it is essentially a hypothesis of Ch’ü after reading limited historical materials and easily leading to a simple understanding of the dichotomy of Confucianism and Legalism in ancient Chinese legal philosophy. To distinguish the origin, concept, and related disputes of ‘Confucianization of law’ is helpful to discover the multicultural background of ancient Chinese legal philosophy and find the fact that Confucianism itself is alienated by politics. From the perspective of political pragmatism, there is no difference between Confucianism and Legalism in essence, but in means.

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