Chinese Statecraft Maxims
LY 13:4
Against Expertise
(c0322)

Fan Chr asked to learn about agriculture. The Master said, I am not as good for that as some old farmer. He asked to learn about gardening. He said, I am not as good for that as some old gardener. Fan Chr went out.

The Master said, A little man indeed is Fan Syw! If the superiors love ritual, then among the people none will dare but be assiduous. If the superiors love justice, then among the people none will dare but be submissive. If the superiors love fidelity, then among the people none will dare but respect the facts. If these conditions obtain, the people of the four quarters will come with their children on their backs. What use has he for agriculture?

There is no need for the government itself to be expert in the people's skills. It should exemplify values, and the rest of society will be energized accordingly. In the process, the farming will get done. People will be streaming in from other states begging for a chance to do the farming. The work of government is not to do the farming, but to attract the farmers.

The drift toward increasing technical specialization in government is motivated by the need for closer, and more competent, control of the rest of society. The Analects Confucians here resist this trend, liking a smaller and more aloof government; such as had obtained in the previous feudal period. Kautilya, in Maxim #11 and elsewhere, like the Gwandz theorists in the Chinese 04c, is on the side of the new tendencies, and consistently defends them against older ways.

Here, "the superiors" (shang) and "the people" (min) denote rulers and ruled; the nearly contemporary LY 12:19 uses instead the redefined terms "gentlemen" (jywndz) and "little people" (syau-rvn). The fact that the historical Confucius in LY 4:11 had been on the side of rationalization, whereas his successors in the 04c are here resisting it, is only an apparent contradiction. Times alter issues. And not everyone who sees the point of a lawcode is really reconciled to government by accountancy. The Confucians are technicians only within a certain limit, which is here exceeded. For other instances, see LY 12:13 and 13:20.

 

Kautilya's Maxims is Copyright © 2001- by E Bruce and A Taeko Brooks

Contact The Project / Exit to Kautilya Page