[Objective] This study aims to re-examine the “Unity of Heaven and Humanity” (Tian-ren he-yi)-a cornerstone of Dong Zhongshu’s philosophy that internalized Legalist governance within a Confucian framework-through the lens of modern publicness. By doing so, it seeks to propose a multifaceted resolution to the contemporary crisis of teachers’ rights, grounded in both institutional respect for protective legislation and a spontaneous, moral reverence for educators as ethical exemplars.
[Contents] Current discourses on the protection of teachers’ rights are predominantly centered on legal reforms and external coercion. However, such approaches are inherently limited; they enforce heteronomous compliance while failing to foster the subjective moral autonomy essential for a functioning educational community. Dong Zhongshu’s thought offers a critical intervention in this regard. While it justifies institutional deterrence against rights violations by incorporating Legalist principles of punishment, it simultaneously addresses the vacuum of moral autonomy through “Virtue-Centric Governance” (Dezhi) and “Ritual” (Li) rooted in the cosmic authority of Heaven (Tian). This study highlights how the expertise of care, embodied by teachers, can serve as a moral compass to bridge the gap between institutional regulation and ethical practice.
[Conclusions] Projecting Dong’s insights onto the modern educational landscape, this research proposes a tripartite paradigm for recovery: Re-envisioning legal enforcement as a manifestation of public justice to secure social legitimacy for teachers’ rights legislation. Establishing teachers as ethical paradigms who embody the “professionalism of care,” thereby eliciting spontaneous reverence (weijing) from students and parents. Cultivating an environment of mutual courtesy to realize a modern “harmony of governance and education” (zheng-jiao) where law and ethics act as complementary forces. Ultimately, this study advocates for a new educational paradigm that harmonizes heteronomous legal compliance with the autonomous cultivation of virtue.