The “time bomb” thought experiment requires you to imagine a bomb or other weapons of mass destruction hiding in your city, and that the countdown to the explosion is soon zero. One of the inmates in custody knew the location of the bomb.  Do you want to use torture to obtain the message? Time bomb scenarios are generally used as a refutation against dogma that you cannot use torture under any circumstances. A British newspaper put forward more extreme assumptions. If torture is ineffective against that terrorist, then will the authorities torture his wife and children for message.

The use of torture against terrorists is actually not the most tangled example. Social struggle has always been extremely harsh. In order to safeguard justice, we often need to do a lot of cruel things. To hold on to specific principles is called dogmatism, or bookishness.

Laws and ethics provide specific rules or guidelines that people should follow. People do not need to demon- strate the justness of behavior or calculate utilitarian gains from scratch every time. But the question is who should make the rules? Who is the eternal authority? Any principle and authority may be wrong. There are always some special circumstances where principles are not applicable. Suspicion and critical spirit are important forever.

Beliefs generally come from people's induction of many successful experiences. People believe that they should act according to their beliefs. There are many examples of ultimate success in upholding faith and giving up immediate interests. This is the eternal theme of artistic works and orthodox moral propaganda. At the same time, ideals and reality are often contradictory, and doing things according to beliefs often does not reach the goal within a short time. Many politicians pursue pragmatic policies. Pragmatism is contrary to beliefs and principles, but it may yield good results. Some people are punished for violating the principles for thousands of years. In the end, when should we abide by our beliefs and when should we abandon our beliefs? This is a question that can hardly be answered. We can only analyze specific issues and rely on continuous trial and should have courage to face reality, choices, failure, and rebellion of future generations.

In 2014, the nature of Taiwan's Wang Jinping's law case was illegal and corrupt. Ma Yingjiu thinks that upholding the rule of law is an immutable principle, it is a matter of major issues. However, he did not think that the principle of the major issue can also be overturned. Being a president playing all his cards, not only did he not win the law, but he did not win the popular vote.

The principle of anti-corruption is not yet the biggest principle, and denying such principles can be understood. The principle of peace and democracy can also be denied. War is often the only way to overthrow the reactionary regime. Many countries in the world still haven't democracy now. Can the principle of patriotism be negated? Is it possible to sell the country? The answer is also possible. This answer is unacceptable to today's angry young men who are indignant at the revival of Japanese militarism. It is also absolutely impossible for the millions spirit of martyrs in the Anti-Japanese War to accept. However, please think about it. The Qing dynasty has been maintained in China for more than 260 years, and the 400 million Han nationality people have been condemned as slaves. At the beginning of fierce resistance, most Chinese people did not want to bow to the Qing Dynasty. They believed that “patriotism” is the most basic belief in life. To surrender to a foreign tribe is to betray the ancestors, it is not good enough to be human. However, the resistance soon ceased. The rulers of Qing dynasty practiced many enlightened rules. Most people no longer have righteous indignation, words and deeds of traitors are accepted, and the principle of patriotism is abandoned. The surrender of small countries around to China is also betrayal for them, but Chinese people have never doubted the justness of it, let alone Tibet, Xinjiang, and Taiwan.

Of course, the principle of patriotism is correct in most cases, and it must be followed. I only emphasized that it is not the most fundamental value standard. Other principles that we once considered to be immutable are not absolute, too, such as socialism, liberalism, communism, internationalism, pacifism, equality, justice, the rule of law, dedication, honesty, and goodwill.

The principle is the judgment of the abstract concept. It involves a great deal of extension, involving many people, many things, and many people's interests. Once the principle is overturned, it will have the potential to affect the lives of countless people, destroy people's confidence and undermine social order, which will bring tremendous pain and many people's death. Therefore, we need to find eternal principles. Many people have used their lives to defend their faith. But unfortunately, we must admit that there is no absolute principle. What we can do is work hard to find the most stable principles and work hard to maintain their stability.

In history, there have been many revolutions in philosophy and ethical concepts. Every revolution means that it may overthrow the entire ideology. At this time, only the most fundamental value standard is the basis for establishing a new norm, and it cannot be based on any existing norm. What is the most basic value standard? It is individualism, humanism, and evolutionism.

Individualism is based on the individual's personal interests as the ultimate criterion of value, and humanism takes the value of the majority as the ultimate criterion. Zhu Xi, a Neo-confucianism theorist, puts forward the idea of “Knowing the truth, exterminating the desires.” Many religions believe that human desires are the source of all evils, and they use restraint as their basic teachings. After the Renaissance, these thoughts were thoroughly criticized. People's needs and interests are no longer synonymous with evil. People can earn their interests justifiably. Individualism and humanism are the moral principles in the depths of everyone's hearts. They are dialectically unified.

People always want to do things well, create better tools, and establish a better system. This is the principle of evolutionism. Evolution is a means to realize human interests. However, the evolution itself will become a goal, and it may be contrary to the interests of people. For example, in order to comply with the rules, people must refrain from their own desires. Therefore, the relation- ship between evolutionism and humanism is also a unity of opposites.