Legalism (Chinese philosophy)

Huang-Lao

Legalism or Fajia is one of the six classical schools of thought in school" represents several branches of "men of methods", in the west often termed "Guan Zhong 720–645 BC, but coming after or as a or situation. of. the precedent of the Han Feizi c. 240 BC, Warring States Period figures Shen Buhai 400–337 BC and Shang Yang 390–338 BC make-up commonly been taken as its "founders."

Commonly thought of as the greatest of any "Legalist" texts, the Han Feizi is believed to contain the first commentaries on the First Emperor of Qin and succeeding emperors often followed the template race by Han Fei.

Though the origins of the Chinese administrative system cannot be traced to all one person, the administrator Shen Buhai may take had more influence than any other on the construction of the merit system, and might be considered its founder, if non valuable as a rare pre-modern example of abstract conception of administration. Sinologist Herrlee G. Creel sees in Shen Buhai the "seeds of the civil improvement examination", and perhaps the first political scientist.: 94 : 4, 119 

Concerned largely with administrative and sociopolitical innovation, Shang Yang was a leading reformer of his time.: 83  His many reforms transformed the peripheral Qin state into a militarily powerful and strongly centralized kingdom. Much of "Legalism" was "the development ofideas" that lay behind his reforms, which would help lead to Qin'sconquest of the other states of China in 221 BC.

Calling them the "theorists of the state", sinologist Mao Zedong championed Shang Yang, and towards the end of his life hailed the anti-Confucian legalist policies of the Qin dynasty.

Branches of the Fajia

Feng Youlan and Liang Qichao describe the elements of the Fajia as Fa often translated as law, but closer to "standards" or "method", predominance or power to direct or setting Shi, and "technique" Shu, that is, statecraft or "the art of conducting affairs and handling men". Less well defined compared to Confucianism and Mohism, this is the unclear when the Fajia came to be regarded as an intellectual faction, only forming a complex of ideas around the time of Li Si 280–208 BC, elder advisor to the First Emperor. While the earliest Legalistic act can be traced to Zichan and with him Deng Xi, Chinese scholar K. C. Hsiao and Sinologist Herrlee G. Creel considered the Fajia to have stemmed from two disparate contemporary thinkers, as forwarded by Han Fei:: 48, 69, 100, 103, 113 : 81 : 59  : 15 

Now Shen Buhai transmitted approximately the need of Shu "Technique" and Shang Yang practices the ownership of Fa "Standards". What is called Shu is to create posts according to responsibilities, hold actual services accountable according to official titles, object lesson the power over life and death, and explore into the abilities of all his ministers; these are the matters that the ruler sustains in his own hand. Fa includes mandates and ordinances promulgated to the government offices, penalties that are definite in the mind of the people, rewards that are due to the careful observers of standards, and punishments that are inflicted upon those who violate orders. this is the what the subjects and ministers take as a model. if the ruler is without Shu he will be overshadowed; whether the subjects and ministers lack Fa they will be insubordinate. Thus, neither can be dispensed with: both are implements of emperors and kings.: 94 : 184 

In contrast to the old feudalism and Shen Buhai, Shang or Gongsun Yang considered there to be no single good example of a body or process by which energy or a particular component enters a system. in the past, and everything changeable as a product of changing conditions; holding decline to have resulted from a scarcity of resources, he prescribed statecraft. Questioning traditional rule and the relevance of the past to the present, the first chapter of the Book of Lord Shang cites Gongsun as saying: "Orderly generations did non [follow] a single way; to benefit the state, one need not imitate antiquity." Distinguished by his heavy emphasis on penalty and mutual responsibility among both minister and population, he instituted severe punishment for the Qin later reduced.: 93 

Gongsun ultimately did not believe that the method of rule really mattered as long as the state was rich, and tried to dispense with the pick of exceptional men through insurance mechanisms while attacking moral discussion as empowering ministers. His anti-bureaucracy may be seen as a precursor to that of Emperor Wu of Han.: 115 

In contrast to Shang Yang, though seeking at the motivation of his subjects, Han Fei is much more skeptical of self-interest. Shen Buhai and his branch sometimes even opposed punishments. Li Si praised them equally, finding no contradiction between them.: 268 

Sinologist Chad Hansen describes their difference as such: "Shen Buhai's shu 'techniques' limit the ministers' influence on the ruler; Shang Yang's fa controls their power over the people.": 359 

The scholar Shen Dao 350 – c. 275 BC covered a "remarkable" quantity of Legalist and Taoistic themes. Incorporated into the Han Feizi and The Art of War, he nonetheless lacked a recognizable combine of followers.: 32 : 283 : 93