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.
范文：
The study of the relationship between laws and human nature necessitates at least two prerequisites: the explication, if not definition, of human nature, and the understanding of the functions of law. In the examination of both, it is crucial that researchers pay sufficient attention to such factors as time, space, social settings, and the particular condition under which the law is studied.
Laws imposed among human societies are diverse in form and content. Viewed from micro-perspective, each law performs at least one particular function. Legislation system thus demonstrates chronological mutations and geographical heterogeneities. For instance, economic laws are not only designed to regulate the distribution of resources, energy, land, and comprehensive opportunities to benefit, but also imposed to restrict a certain person or groups of person from using or controlling certain advantages. Laws concerning the distribution of land have been the most critical to maintain the social order, if it has.
Viewed as a holistic whole, however, the spatiotemporal diversity of laws does not preclude the possibility to generalize some common functions of legislation. Laws are entrenched in general for the sake of the equality among men to live a happy life. In this sense, laws are not calculatedly forged to reform human nature although they have such functions. In fact, even if laws control or restrict the behavior of social members, they are compatible with human nature in that human nature does not essentially goes against restrictions. Restrictions by laws are as indispensable for the operation of the earth and the cosmos as for human nature. The nature of the earth does not reject the law of gravitation, or Newton’s laws. Similarly, human nature accepts the restriction of laws. Those who claim that laws cannot reform human nature have falsely assumed that laws are built among men for the purpose of altering human nature.
Human nature per se is volatile as far as a certain individual human being is concerned. But when denoting the human beings as a whole, the term “human nature” virtually refers to the fundamental commonness of human beings regardless of religion, race, or political ideas. The desire to live in peace rather than the war, the demand for freedom and equality rather than totalitarianism or discrimination, the hankering for the respect of human dignity, and the craving for reducing poverty and illiterate all are part of human nature. Bearing this in mind, we conclude that laws in general are designed to anchor or escort human nature.
Admittedly, it is invalid to claim that laws do not restrict the rampancy of the dark side of human nature. What is the dark side inherent in human nature? It is such wickedness as evil covetousness, malice, envy, murder, strife, deceit, craftiness, slander, insolence, haughtiness, and the like. Although there still has not yet a conclusive agreement on whether human nature is essentially divine or devil, these flaws mentioned above are generally accepted to be rooted in human nature. It is also acknowledged that all wickedness is subject to law regardless the differences in religion, culture, or other element. Therefore, laws in general are effective to curtail the devil while intensifying the divinity in human nature.
In this sense, laws are able to shape human nature by exerting considerable influences, but the purpose of laws is not to change human nature. Rather it is to escort human nature. Nevertheless, if we focus on the negative side of human nature, we will find laws’ power in restricting human behavior and altering the evil minds and hearts.
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