“做事”:日常语言中朦胧的公共交往伦理观念

“Managing Your Own Affairs”: an Obscure Ethic Notion of Public Communications in Ordinary Chinese

Along with the notion of ‘making yourself a person’ (‘zuo ren’), the notion of ’managing your own affairs’ (‘zuo shi’) in ordinary Chinese is basically a notion of the norms of practical affairs in communications, carrying typically obscure meanings and denoting affairs in some ‘outside’ would. Ordinary Chinese language not only distinguishes these two notions from each other, but also defines a dictionary order with affairs of ‘inside’ world prior to those of ‘outside’ world. The reference to‘affairs’ (‘shi’) instead of‘person’ (‘ren’) of this notion indicates that the practical affairs of‘outside’ world are regarded not as so close to the person itself as those of‘inside’ world. Because of these qualities, although including no definite rules, the notion of‘managing your own affairs’still holds some normative meanings. These meanings are indirectly related to the notion of‘person’formed in private communications, out of the latter some obscure requirements like‘to do things according to your good sense’ and‘to do things seriously’ arising, and emerge as some mixture with an opportunist attitude out of the need of earning a life. The core world of family is marginalized in the public transition of communications. There are reasons to anticipate that in this process the notion of‘managing your own affairs’ will undergo more radical changes than that of‘making yourself a person’.