On the Roots of Law in the Perspective of Traditional Philosophy of Law

Abstract

If asked what law is, then both Chinese and Western jurists would answer that it is a product of reason. Even the religious philosophy of law, which worships God, asserts that although law depends on the will, reason alone is the fundamental nature of law. In response to this problem, from Plato to Kant, from Laozi to Zhu Xi of Chinese and foreign countries have put forward their own views, although these views are very wonderful, but because of the limitations of the times, often nowadays is regarded as “metaphysics” of the backwardness of the ideal product. In fact, the traditional law philosophers skillfully argued the origin of law, from “reason” to
“rationality”, from “natural law” to “man-made law From “reason” to “rationality”, from “natural law” to “human law”, they are all the crystallization of human wisdom. This article takes this as the core and argues the root of law based on the ideas and views of Chinese and Western traditional legal philosophers, with a view to presenting a most spectacular view of traditional legal philosophy and pointing out the direction for the present and even the future legislation.