現在法律體系的基礎就是法律個體，誕生於西方文明而向其他文明擴散。近代中國文明被迫必須接受西方的法律體系，也製造了許多以法律個體為基礎的法律，但是我們是否真正理解法律個體的意義？尤其是法律個體為何可以說真話？我們幾乎視其為理所當然，而這正也是我們在繼受西方法律，依然跌跌撞撞所在，因為我們並未真正理解法律個體，特別是未能理解其為何會說真話？
本文試圖藉由詮釋泰勒（Charles Taylor）的社會思想，來說明西方的法律個體，正有其漫長的文明發展過程，是指謂性語言與表達性語言相互穿透，而誕生可以就事論事――合理化言說，並能清楚說明內在自我的思維與欲望。本文認為唯有真正理解法律個體會說真話的歷史基礎，方能真正藉由理解現代法律而產生真正的法律實踐感。

The basis of modern legal system is the legal individual, which is born
in Western civilization and extended to other civilizations. Today, Chinese civilization has produced many kinds of laws, but almost all of the Chinese still can not completely understand the meaning of legal individual and why legal individual has to tell the truth. So, modern Chinese society can not receive the Western laws and plant it in China successfully.
This paper tries to explain the process of the birth of Western legal individual, by interpreting the social thought of Charles Taylor. Because of the interaction between designative language with expressive language in the development of the Western civilization, legal individual can tell the truth, not only articulating the innate self’s rational thinking, but also her or his desires. While Chinese can really understand the meaning of legal individual, who can tell the truth, they can produce the sense of legal practice and believe the law.