“If you try to lead the common people with governmental regulations and keep them in line with punishments, the laws will simply be evaded and the people will have no sense of shame. If, however, you guide them with Virtue, and keep them in line by means of ritual, the people will have a sense of shame and will moreover reform themselves.”
I disagree. Confucius believes that order comes best from religious moral standards rather than governmental laws. Considering later events in Western history, this is flawed logic. Firstly, religion isn’t even logical. The Puritan witch-hunt in Salem is a great example of what happens when people’s “ritual” attempts to instill order. People are not motivated by virtue; they are motivated by punishment. Even if we look at religions that seemingly do motivate people to be “good,” the fact remains that this motivation comes not from their own selflessness but still from the threat of punishment. Catholics, for example, don’t do good works because they’re just such selfless people; they do good works because they are afraid of where they will go if they do not (i.e. hell).
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