Abstract
Mr. Chang Wejen’s 張偉仁 In Search of the Way: Legal Philosophy of the Classic Chinese Thinkers (Chinese version) (Xundao: Xianqin zhengfa lilun chuyi 尋道: 先秦政法理論芻議) is named “In Search of the Way” to understand the theory of political and legal affairs in the Pre-Qin Period. It originates from the entanglement between classics and laws and principles. How to reconcile traditional classics with contemporary laws and how to express principles in them has become a major issue throughout the book. The idea highlighted in his new book is to reveal or suggest that “the classics are the common way, and the classics and the law have the same origin” (jing wei changdao, jing fa tongyuan 經為常道, 經法同源). His method of searching the way focuses on “the unity of facts and principles, and searching the way in the law” (shi li buer, fa zhong xundao 事理不二, 法中尋道). The first is “to express one’s ideas through words, and the principles are in the facts” (jiyan chuyi, li zai shi zhong 寄言出意, 理在事中). The second is to “polish the mirror on the mind, and searching the way in the law” (xin shang mojing, fa zhong xundao 心上磨鏡, 法中尋道). The reason why Mr. Chang did this was because he had a sense of “communicating wisdom and life” (goutong hui ming 溝通慧命) within him, and his purpose was to find some possible way out for people who were wandering on the path of “In Search of the Way.”
Keywords
Classics, law, truth, Chang Wejen, in search of the way
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