A Fact-Based Refutation
Unkindness
Dêng Hsi Tse (c.546-501 BCE)
1. Heaven is not kind to man, the ruler is not kind to his people, the father to his son, the elder to the younger brother. Why do I say so?
Because Heaven cannot remove disastrous epidemics, nor keep those alive who are cut off in their prime, nor always grant a long life to good people. That is unkindness to the people.
Whenever people break holes through walls, and rob or deceive others, and lead them astray, want is at the root of all these offences, and poverty their main spring. Albeit; yet the ruler takes the law, and punishes the culprits. That is unkindness to the people.
Yao and Shun swayed the Empire, whereas Tan Chu and Shang Chün continued simple citizens. That is unkindness to sons.
The duke of Chou put Kuan and Ts’ai to death, that is unkindness to younger brothers.
From these examples, which may be multiplied, we see that there is no such thing as kindness.
Dêng Hsi Tse 1 — Unkindness — Chinese Texts in English
Deng Xi = Dêng Hsi = Têng Hsi
Preliminary: What meaning should we give to (un)kindness?
In the current formula, kind is a mere softener in a request to do a small favour for the speaker:
“Would you be so kind as to…”. « That’s not kind!” is a reproach to a child who is behaving badly, or, more generally, to someone who has done something slightly wrong. This meaning is not productive in the context we are considering.
Generosity is one of the first synonyms for kindness. In Descartes’ analysis of passions and virtues, generosity is defined by self-respect and free will, which regulate the attitude towards oneself and others. We take kindness in this cartesian sense, as a cardinal moral virtue implying consideration and care for oneself and others.
We will take (un)kindness with this general meaning, who possibly reminds Confucius’ dao, as characterized in the Analects, 4.15:
The Master said, “Shen, a single thread runs through my dao.”
Master Zeng said, “Yes.”
The Master went out, and the other disciples asked, “What did he mean?”
Master Zeng said, “The Master’s dao is nothing other than loyalty and reciprocity.”
Seen as a moral imperative, kindness is not refuted by the fact that, volens nolens, everyone can be unkind once in their life. It only shows that virtue is difficult.
If Kindness is seen as the organising moral virtue, the text refers broadly to human moral nature. But is there such a thing? Chinese philosophers argue extensively on this point.
Unkindness in the four basic relationships
Kindness is a relational virtue. In this passage, Deng Hsi considers four cases, four kinds of relationships (Heaven to people — Ruler to people — Father to son — Brother to younger brother), and considers them one by one.
The classical Confucian set of « five fundamental relationships” groups together the relationships between ruler and subject, father and son, elder brother and younger brother, husband and wife, and friend and friend, that is social relations and and family relations. [1] Deng Hsi’s list adds to this classical set the relationship between Heaven and man; Heaven rules the universe, and therefore human destiny. The “fundamental relationships” are five, but they are of the same nature: they are derived adaptations of the Ruler-Subject relationship. The corresponding society is sex segregated, male-dominated, patriarchal and despotic,
DengHsi’s refutation step by step destroys the idea of is kindness as a cosmological virtue, making all the more radical his critique of kindness as ruling interhuman social and family life.
1. Heaven cannot remove disastrous epidemics, nor keep those alive who are cut off in their prime, nor always grant a long life to good people. That is unkindness to the people.
The refutation is based on prototypical examples of the human condition
2. Ruler — Whenever people break holes through walls, and rob or deceive others, and lead them astray, want is at the root of all these offences, and poverty their main spring.
Punishment may be justified, but robbery is fully justified by poverty, and punish poverty is a systemic unjustice. Deng Hsi doesn’t base his refutation on the fact that judges can misjudge, or be corrupt. Social unkindness takes precedence over human unkindness.
3. Sons — Yao and Shun swayed the Empire, whereas Tan Chu and Shang Chün continued simple citizens.
According to Chinese mythology and traditional Chinese historiography, Yao and Shun are the last of the legendary emperors.
Yao disinherited his son Tan Chu [Danzhu], and entrusted the empire to Shun.
Shun dishinherited his son Chang Chun [Shangju], and entrusted the empire to Yu the Great, the founder of the Xia dynasty
Yao and Shun are mentioned in the Book of documents.[Shujing]. Arguments based on data from the Shujing are indisputable. As such, Yao and Shun they serve as models for their infallible capacity to make the right decision in all circumstances, both politically and morally.
In this case, their decision not to leave the kingdom to their respective sons and legitimate heirs is justified by the ineptitude of their heirs. But these legitimate heirs are no less prejudiced by the raison d’état.
The fact that the best kings commit “justified unkindness” while remaining model kings makes the argument a fortiori unndisputable.
It is also possible to consider that model kings are role models in politics, but none the less unkind. In that case, the question they had to decide should be considered as paradoxical.
4. Brothers — The Duke of Chou put Kuan and Ts’ai to death
The Duke of Zhou (Chou) is the founder of the Zhou dynasty, regent king of Zhou for his young brother. His brothers Kuan [Guanshu Xian] and Ts’ai [Caishu Du] rebelled against him, and the double fratricide, direct and indirect, was the conclusion of “The three Guards rebellion” (c. 1042-1039 BCE). The whole drama is told by R. Eno here.
On a par with Yao and Shun, who preceded him by a millennium, the Duke of Zhou is a traditional Chinese model, for the role he played in establishing of the Zhou dynasty.
The argument is similar to the previous one.
The four sources capable to be kind are actually severely unkind, hence the conclusion that, factually, there is nothing like “systemic kindness” under Heaven.
“There is nothing like kindness”
Qualifying the facts
The legal qualification of a fact is the process by which jurists attach the legal name and the corresponding legal category to a fact that they have to judge.
Along the same lines, Deng Hsi characterises facts facts he considers to be a case of unkindness. These facts can be considered as systemic, they imply the whole organization of the society, and not just one of its isolated component. These systemic facts are:
— Plagues, mortality
— Punishment of the all thieves, even they are poor.
— The rule of succession to the throne, and choice of one person, necessarily to the prejudice of others. This is the condition for any choice.
— Punishment of the leaders of a rebellion, even if they are the brothers of the sovereign.
All these very different cases are « unkindnesses”. The unkindness does not lie in the specificity of the events considered, but in their systemic aspect, for example in the fact that the father has the possibility of disinheriting their son, and this possibility is unkind.
Composing the arguments : the global claim
Taken together, the four arguments culminate in the claim that “there is no such thing as kindness”. Let’s consider three possible interpretations of this claim.
— Refuting of the universal claim that « [The world] is kind”
Deng Hsi’s argument can be seen as the refutation of an implicit factual assertion, “Heaven and People are kind to each another”. Such a claim is grossly false, as is “Heaven and People are unkind to each another”, i. e. « people and Heaven are wolves to people”.
— Refuting a prejudice: “[The world] is generally kind”
The refuted claim is better considered as a popular belief, “Heaven and People can be /are generally kind”. Such a belief underlies appeals to pity, prayers and sacrifices. However, the full expression of this belief includes a realistic counterpart, « But they don’t have to be”.
— Destruction of the very concept of kindness; “There is nothing like kindness”
The concept of kindness is fallacious. It follows that it cannot be used in a philosophical system, let alone as one of its fundamental concepts.
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[1] Keith N. KNAPP, 2009. Three Fundamental Bonds and Five Constant Virtues Sāngāng Wŭcháng 三 纲 五 常 . In Linsung Chen, Berkshire Encyclopedia of China.
https://chinaconnectu.com/wp-content/pdf/ThreeFundamentalBondsandFiveConstantVirtues.pdf