VOLUME III, SEMESTER 4, CHAPTER 49, SECTION 2
The Position of Politics—Which Other Three Matters It Manages
The previous section counted the three matters managed by the position of economy and also counted three matters it cannot handle: setting rules, judging right from wrong, and enforcing compliance. These three matters will not vanish simply because no one is handling them. Chapter 43 stated a line: if a matter is real, removing its name cannot remove the matter itself. These three are all real, so someone must be handling them. This section looks at which position these three matters land upon, and sees clearly why they must land there, rather than falling into the hands of those making deals.
One, the first matter: setting rules, which is drawing boundaries
Look first at setting rules. This entire semester has spoken of boundaries so many times: boundaries between the four scales, boundaries between two scales segmented by stage, matter, and layer, and boundaries defining how far the fourth scale is permitted to go. But who, after all, draws the boundary? This question was circled around in previous chapters, but here it can no longer be avoided. Chapter 45 stated that boundaries can be negotiated and ought to be revised yearly; what cannot be negotiated is that a boundary must exist. What that chapter did not answer was: who puts pen to paper for that boundary?
The one putting pen to paper cannot be any person who steps onto the field to make deals. A single factory cannot set workplace rules that all factories must keep, a single trade cannot set units of weight and measure that all people must keep, and even the largest shop cannot set what time other shops open their doors. What sets these is that position that stays off the field.
Taking this matter one step further brings about that body of writing in black ink on white paper, followed by all under heaven. The origin, reasoning, and measure of that body of writing form the topic of Volume V, Legal Systems. This section merely lays out its position: boundaries must be drawn by someone, and the person drawing boundaries cannot be a player on the field.
Two, the second matter: judging right from wrong, which is mediating disputes
The second matter is judging right from wrong. When two parties quarrel over whether wages ought to be withheld, whether goods ought to be returned, or whether that signed contract ultimately counts, each claims plausible reasons, and often both sides can articulate sound reasoning. From the first semester down to this semester, it has been said many times that books are visible and words are open to discussion. Yet once the books are laid open and words are fully spoken, if both ends remain unconvinced, what is to be done? In the end, someone must step in to judge.
The person judging faces one non-negotiable condition: he cannot hold a share in this deal. If he sells the exact same goods, extends the exact same loans, and expects to draw a cut from this deal as well, then no matter how fairly he passes judgment, the losing end will not be convinced; and often they truly ought not to be convinced, because no one knows how much of his single line was spoken on behalf of his own share of goods.
This is the single most vital capability of this position: staying off the field. Chapter 47 spoke of that debate on salt and iron, where both sides argued fiercely, yet that quarrel could take place precisely because there was a venue that stood on neither side and was willing to invite both sides in. The matter of judging right from wrong relies on the exact same logic.
Three, the third matter: enforcing compliance, which brings people to acknowledge accounts
The third matter is the least pleasant, yet it serves as the legs for the first two matters. Once rules are set, if no one needs to abide by them, those rules are merely pleasant empty words; once right and wrong are judged, if the losing end refuses to accept the account, then passing judgment equals no judgment at all, and the person mediating becomes a laughingstock instead. Therefore, a force must follow behind: one capable of bringing people to acknowledge accounts.
This exact force is the fourth scale. Chapter 40 established that its position is the narrowest: no putting children down into wells, no adulterating food with what ought not to be mixed, acknowledging contracts agreed upon, and paying back money owed. This section can supply its origin: its sole legitimate origin comes from setting rules and judging right from wrong; separated from these two, it possesses no origin, leaving only force itself.
This layer must be seen with utmost clarity. Though both involve forbidding a person to leave, one instance is a court ruling that a debt must be repaid, thereby forbidding him from transferring money out; another instance is a contract stipulating that he is forbidden to work for other firms for three years. The former instance is this position conducting its own affair, managing to bring a person to acknowledge accounts; the latter instance is that wall growing out on its own, managing to pin a person to the spot without moving. On the surface both appear as forbidding one to leave, but underneath they are entirely different matters. Chapter 47 noted the need to distinguish two kinds of walls: those blocking harm versus those blocking others from doing the exact same thing. Here another layer is added: one must also look at which position that wall stems from.
Four, why these three matters must reside outside the economy
Viewing these three matters together reveals that they share a common backbone: they rely entirely on those three characters staying off field for support. If the person setting rules is himself on the field, he will draw the boundary wherever it suits him, and will mostly do so with full self-righteousness; if the person judging right from wrong is himself on the field, his scale will surely lean—so far that he himself will fail to perceive it; if the force enforcing compliance grows in the hands of those making deals, that becomes the worst scenario described in Chapter 40: using coercion to supplant the other three proper affairs.
A fair word must be spoken here: this is not to say that people making deals possess bad character. Chapter 41 established that position is not identity. When a person stands in that position, what his eyes see first are matters on his own end; he is not leaning intentionally, but standing where he does, his eyes simply cannot reach the other end. Chapter 45 stated that the person exerting effort sees the pay table first, while the person bearing risk sees the repayment date first, and none of the three are lying. The line from the end of the previous section is restated here: when an insider steps onto the field to serve as a scale, that scale will surely lean.
Therefore, what lies between these three matters and those three matters of economy is not a wall of distrusting people, but a boundary of positions. Both ends consist of people accomplishing matters, only the matters accomplished differ; neither is higher than the other, which is the old rule established in Chapter 40: set positions only, without ranking precedence.
Five, what this position provides is precisely those three paths of check and balance
Taking one step further forward reveals an even more vital matter: two of the three paths of check and balance in Chapter 47 rely on this position to provide. The first path is that people can still speak. In that quarrel two thousand one hundred years ago, it was the court that invited scholars from across the realm to the capital, allowing them to speak their mind in front of those managing the state treasury. That table did not grow out on its own; it was opened by this position. Today, when fixing wages in a factory, setting rules in a trade, or determining an affair concerning everyone in a city, whether a table enabling both ends to come up can exist still depends on the word of this position.
The second path is that books are visible. How books ought to be kept, which entries must be placed out in the open, who has the right to inspect, and what is done when discrepancies are uncovered—none of these are set by the bookkeeper himself. Chapter 44 stated that when books are visible, both ends need not rely on guessing; but who stipulates that books must be visible is this position.
The third path is that people can walk away. Chapter 47 noted that to be able not to buy, one must first be able to afford buying something else; to be able to walk away, one must first have no one pinning him down. Whether that document forbidding going to other firms for three years counts or not is precisely a matter of a single word from this position.
Therefore, these two layers do not live separately. The layer down below relies on the layer up top to guard its own boundary; this is what the previous chapter termed the two layers locked into each other.
Among these three paths, one detail should be kept in mind along the way: what this position gives are paths, not outcomes. It opens a table, but cannot finish speaking on behalf of both ends; it stipulates that books must be placed out in the open, but cannot read the books on behalf of others; it forbids writing contracts that pin people to the spot, but cannot save up the capital for a person to say no. The path remains open, but whether one walks it, or can walk it, still depends on individuals in the layer down below. Chapter 47 stated that formal freedom means possessing the right to say no, whereas substantive freedom means possessing the capital to say no; the former half is what this position can provide, while the latter half must be earned by the layer down below.
Six, what this position also cannot handle
Having counted what this position manages, one matter it cannot handle must also be counted, lest this section become mere praise on its behalf. It cannot handle that first matter of the previous section: bringing things into physical existence. No matter how densely orders are issued, grain will not grow out of the soil on its own; no matter how urgently pressed, machinery will not turn on its own, nor will raw timber turn into chairs by itself. Chapter 43 spoke of that exact collapse where enforcement grows exclusively dominant: people still stand there, hands still move, but hearts are no longer in it, and the things produced grow worse year by year.
Therefore, the matters this position handles are, in the final analysis, enabling others to accomplish matters: drawing boundaries clearly so both ends know where to exert effort; judging right from wrong clearly so those willing to keep agreements do not suffer losses; and keeping that single force in the narrowest place so those unwilling to keep agreements gain no unfair advantage, while those willing to exert effort can do so with peace of mind. It does not step onto the field itself, and precisely because it stays off the field, it can accomplish these few matters.
Confucius's saying lands here for the second time: He who is not in that position does not meddle in its governance. This saying is not calling on people to fold their arms and ignore things, nor telling people to shut their mouths. A person can naturally care and speak—the first path in Chapter 47 spoke precisely of speaking; but speaking is speaking, while deciding for that position is another matter entirely. Meddle refers to making decisions for it, not to caring about it.
How these two positions are divided, how they watch each other, and how they guard against the other reaching over are precisely the topics of two entire volumes: Volume IV, Political Systems, and Volume V, Legal Systems. This chapter merely draws the boundary up to this point, without exceeding its position further down.
Credit to the ancestors; the mistakes are mine: Tiger Lyon.
Section 3: Money Reaching over There, That Hand Reaching over Here