TOPIC: ISSUE 178 - "It is possible to pass laws that control or place limits on people's behavior, but legislation cannot reform human nature. Laws cannot change what is in people's hearts and minds."
WORDS: 459 TIME: 1:09:31 DATE: 2006-2-6
In the modern society, most people consider laws as the common pricinple and regulations of their activities, which is one of the symbols of the law-regulating society. However, what we cannot deny is that laws can exert their power on the behavior of human beings but can do less to reform people's nature than moral and education in specific field. Analysis that support my point of view is as follows.
To begin with, laws regulate people's activities effectively which protect the safety of people's body and wealth, and influent people's thoughts that prevent them to thinking to maintain their own benefit, whereas invade those of others or even the whole society. As we know, laws own the force, such as the police, the prison and even the army in some special times, in order to guarantee that every person once disobey the laws, he or she would be punished for his or her malpractice, and then keep the homony of the society. Moreover, laws not only hold the function of punishing crimes, but also preventing the thoughts of crimes. When people would like to surplace others' benefit through illegal methods, the punishment of the illegal deed would obstacle their activities, which reduce the losing. A survey conducted by the Law Department of Yale reflects that more than eighty people out of a hundred accept that the function -- preventing illegal behaviors -- of laws. Consequently, laws not only place limits on people's behaviors, but also influence people's thought.
Although people may not invade the benefit of the others, in the consideration of the punishment, which is more severe than what they had gained from their activities, it is not the most effective method that could change people's minds which make sure that there is less likely that such kinds of ill-behavior would exist anymore, while moral and specific education could effect.
Moral and specific education are the basic solutions to changing people's hearts and minds. Moral and education in specific field could change the basic opinions of people, which strengthen of resisting attempting thought. For example, when people receive the education of protecting environment and morals which show them their responsibilities, and truely realize that protecting environment would benefic the whole society, whereas destruction would lead to disasterous outcomes, they would stop manufacturing high-polluted products and polluting the rivers. And with other consistent laws, pollutions would be less and less. Therefore, the power of the moral and education can not be ignored in the problems of reforming human nature.
To sum up, although laws play significantly important roles in regulating people's activities and influent people's thinking, they cannot replace the moral and education, which function is change people's thoughts and minds that decide what they do in daily life.作者: nknoback 时间: 2006-2-8 15:50:22