Legalism

Founded by:

Han Feizi, Shangzi

Like Daoism, Legalism had no single founder but instead, a couple of people who had similar ideas.

Han Feizi, as a student, was taught in the Confucian tradition. Because of a problem with stuttering, he did not go the way most wandering philosophers of this age did: making the rounds of kings' courts and making speeches. Instead, he wrote. His book, the Han Feizi, brought him some prominence during his life and ended up being the main text of the school of Legalism. Han Feizi died as a result of political intrigue in 233 BC, but Legalism would go on to become the philosophy which finally managed to unify China.

Shangzi (Gungsun Yang) also contributed to Legalism. He traced the cause of the chaos of the time back to a growing population. According to him, this caused a scarcity of resources which led to war and strife. Shangzi saw a strong government according to law as the solution to the problem.

fa jia

fa: law

Summary of the Philosophy

jia: school (of thinking)

Legalism holds law as the supreme authority. There are three components to Legalism: fa (law), shi (legitimacy), and shu (arts of the ruler).

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fa

The law. Previously, the law was pretty much at the discretion of the ruler. No one was really sure what the law was, since the ruler could make and change the rules as he saw fit. Supposedly, this was to give the ruler the opportunity to show benevolence in certain circumstances. But obviously, this system made for easy corruption. In Legalism, the law code was written out and made public. All people under the ruler were equal in the eyes of the law. In addition, the system of law ran the state, not the ruler. The ruler and his ministers were simply parts of the state machine--a machine which would ideally run so well that no matter how unworthy the ruler was, the laws would still keep the state going. Laws were enforced by strict reward/punishment.

Daoism

Confucianism

shi

Legitimacy of Rule. Unlike other philosophies, which sought out the wise and virtuous to rule, Legalism puts the emphasis on the power of the position, not the person filling it. Legalism is a pessimistic philosophy--while conceding that it would be wonderful to have a sage for ruler, the reality was that there just weren't many sages around. The practical thing would be to have a system where even an average man could rule and the state would stay intact. Keeping order was the first priority. In other words, whoever was ruler was powerful because the position held power, not because the person possessed any special qualities.

shu

Discussions of morality and human nature are irrelevant in Legalism. Benevolence has no place in ruling a state because unless people are ruled by a strong, strict hand, they grow lazy and disrespectful of authority. Policies based on benevolence might work for the short term, but inevitably led to disorder and failure. Daoism and Confucianism looked to the past as the ideal and tried to recreate the past. Confucius' rituals came from the Zhou Dynasty and the Dao is the original state of all things. Legalism disregards the past--conditions were different back then, so what worked back then would not necessarily work in the present time.

Major Text

Han Feizi

The Han Feizi is considered the main text of Legalism. It is a comprehensive guide to ruling directed at kings. It consists of 55 chapters, each with its own theme. Some chapters are, strangely enough, Daoist in style, others deal with xing ming, and others tell the ruler what pitfalls to avoid while running a state. Many of the chapters contain lists of specific things to avoid (the 8 Villainies, the 5 Vermin, the 10 Faults), such as putting too much trust in your ministers and concubines, or offending more powerful states. Others discuss techniques of ruling--"Two Handles" talks about power over reward and punishment as the key to staying in power. If the ruler lets go of this power, he puts himself in danger of losing order in his state.

...rewards should be rich and certain so that the people will be attracted by them; punishments should be severe and definite so that the people will fear them; and laws should be uniform and steadfast so that the people will be familiar with them. Consequently, the sovereign should show no wavering in bestowing rewards and grant no pardon in administering punishments, and he should add honor to rewards and disgrace to punishments--when this is done, then both the worthy and the unworthy will want to exert themselves...

--Han Feizi

(from Sources of Chinese Tradition, Vol. 1, trans. and ed. Wm. Theodore de Bary. Columbia University Press (USA: 1960).)

Analysis

Legalism achieved what all the other philosophies strove for--unification of China. The Qin Dynasty, operating under the Legalist philosophy, finally unified China in 221 BC. In this light, Legalism was a success. However, the Qin Dynasty dissolved only 14 years after its founding. The Qin emperor was ruthless in his use of Legalism, punishing even small crimes with decapitation or the loss of a hand or foot. Books and scholars which held beliefs against Legalism (such as Confucianism) were destroyed. The people were heavily taxed and forced into labor on major government projects. He successfully put the fear and respect of the law and government into the people, but it was too much. After his death, a combination of plotting ministers and peasant rebellions caused the end of Legalism as the ruling philosophy of China. The harshness of the Legalist Qin would be remembered afterwards, and in response the following dynasty, the Han, distanced itself from Legalism and made its main rival, Confucianism the official philosophy. So although many parts of Legalism seem to make good sense (such as equality under the law, and government according to merit), memories of the abuse of the law under the Qin has kept Legalism in a bad light throughout Chinese history.