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Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
In Chinese history, Legalism (Chinese: 法家; pinyin: Fǎjiā; Wade–Giles: Fa-chia; literally "School of law") was
one of the main philosophic currents during the Warring States Period (and before), although the term itself was
invented in the Han dynasty and thus does not refer to an organized 'school' of thought. Legalism was a utilitarian
political philosophy that did not address higher questions like the nature and purpose of life.[1] The school's most
famous proponent and contributor Han Fei Zi (韓非子) believed that a ruler should use the following three tools to
govern his subjects:
• Fa (Chinese: 法; pinyin: fǎ; literally "law or principle"): The law code must be clearly written and made public.
All people under the ruler were equal before the law. Laws should reward those who obey them and punish
accordingly those who dare to break them. Thus it is guaranteed that actions taken are systematically predictable.
In addition, the system of law ran the state, not the ruler, a statement of rule of law. If the law is successfully
enforced, even a weak ruler will be strong.
• Shu (Chinese: 術; pinyin: shù; literally "method, tactic or art"): Special tactics and "secrets" are to be employed
by the ruler to make sure others don't take over control of the state. Especially important is that no one can fathom
the ruler's motivations, and thus no one can know which behaviour might help them get ahead, other than
following the 法 or laws.
• Shi (Chinese: 勢; pinyin: shì; literally "legitimacy, power or charisma"): It is the position of the ruler, not the ruler
himself or herself, that holds the power. Therefore, analysis of the trends, the context, and the facts are essential
for a real ruler.
Origin
The early thought behind Legalism was first formed by Shang Yang in the book of Lord Shang and was further
developed by Li Si as a realist reform oriented philosophy meant to strengthen government and reinforce adherence
to the law. Legalism fully emerged during the Warring States Period, a critical point in ancient Chinese history. The
Warring States Period and the preceding were marked by frequent violence and war, and many new philosophies
were founded to cope with the environment of the time including, Daoism, Confucianism, and Mohism.
Some of the first adopters of Legalism were the statesman Shang Yang of the State of Qin. The legal elements of
Shang Yang's theories were based on the Book of Law written by Li Kui of the State of Wei.[2] Overall, these
theories advocated the belief that all people are fundamentally flawed and that stringent laws and harsh punishments
are required to keep them in order. In addition, his theories thought all humanity was selfish and evil, which added
towards the cause for Shang Yang becoming prime minister of the Qin under the rule of Duke Xiao of Qin and
gradually transforming the state into a vigorously regulated machine, the sole purpose of which was the elimination
of all rivals. The Qin Dynasty would eventually conquer six other feudal states and create what is regarded as the
first true Chinese Empire. Shang Yang swept away the aristocracy and implemented a meritocracy – those who
achieved could reach high places and birth privilege was reserved exclusively for the ruler of the state. Previously
the army had been controlled by nobles and constituted of feudal levies. Now generals could come from any part of
society, provided they had sufficient skill. In addition, troops were highly trained and disciplined. From then on, Qin
was taking its shape to become the most powerful state in China before it eventually brought all of the six other
states together (Qi, Chu, Han, Yan, Zhao, and Wei) under Qin Shi Huang.
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Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
Roles of the Rulers
Primarily members of the ruling class, the Legalists emphasized that the head of state was endowed with the
"mystery of authority” (Chinese: 勢; pinyin: shì), and as such his decisions must always command the respect and
obedience of the people. The state (country) comes first, not the individual. The emperor’s very figure brought
legitimacy. In emphasizing the power of rulership, Legalists such as Shen Dao (ca. 350 - 275 BCE) and Shen Buhai
sought to devalue the importance of the charismatic ruler. Skillful rulers hid their true intentions and feigned
nonchalance. To ensure that all of his words were revered, the wise ruler kept a low profile. Thus, theoretically, by
cloaking both his desires and his will, the Emperors checked sycophancy and forced his subject to heed his dictates.
While Shang Yang (the Prime Minister of Duke Xiao of Qin) would allow rulers to listen to musical instruments
rather than focus on foreign policy, Han Fei (the Legalist scholar most admired by the First Qin Emperor, Qin Shi
Huangdi) demanded more of the wise ruler. A good leader, by Han Fei's standards, must not only accept the advice
of loyal ministers when shown to be in error, but must also extend courtesy to those beneath him or her and not be
too avaricious. The adept ruler also understood the importance of strictness over benevolence. Although the ruler
was expected to be paternalistic, the Legalists emphasized that being too kind would spoil the populace and threaten
the state's internal order. Interestingly, according to Han's Grand Historian Sima Qian (ca. 145-86 BCE), while the
First Qin Emperor hid himself from the rest of the world (perhaps due to a desire to attain immortality) and thus
maintained a low profile, he did not necessarily follow all of the Legalists’ advice on the role of the ruler.
Role of ministers in Legalist thought
To aid the ruler and help prevent misgovernance, for fifteen years – formalized the concept of shu , or the
bureaucratic model of administration that served to advance the ideal Legalist ruler’s program. To the Legalists, the
intelligent minister was the ruler's most important aide. Where as the minister’s duty was to understand specific
affairs, the ruler was responsible for correctly judging ministers’ performances. Stressing that ministers and other
officials too often sought favours from foreign powers by abusing their positions, Han Fei urged rulers to control
these individuals by the two handles of punishment and favour. Officials were required, through fear, to ensure that
ministers' accomplishments were neither greater than nor inferior to the assigned undertaking. According to the
eminent sinologist Robin Yates, newly discovered Qin Dynasty legal codes show that officials were required to
correctly calculate the exact amount of labor expected of all artisans; if the artisan was ordered to perform either too
much work or too little work, the official would be held accountable. Thus, in Legalist theory, ministers and other
officials were prevented from performing some other official's duties and were punished if they attempted to blind
the ruler with words or failed to warn the ruler of danger. One consequence of this situation was that the ministers
could always be held accountable for royal misadventures while the ruler’s name was never to be tarnished. By
emphasizing performance, however, over sophistry, the Legalists hoped to eliminate bureaucratic corruption and
intrigues amongst the officialdom through fear of being severely punished, exiled or executed.
Purpose of law
The entire system was set up to make model citizens behave and act how the dynasty wanted them to act against
their will. The laws supported by the Legalists were meant to support the state, the emperor, and his military. They
were also reform-oriented and innovative. In theory, the Legalists believed that if the punishments were heavy and
the law equally applied, neither the powerful nor the weak would be able to escape state control. The Legalists
especially emphasized pragmatism over precedence and custom as the basis of law. Guided by Legalist thought, the
First Qin Emperor, Qin Shi Huang, would weaken the power of the feudal lords, divide the unified empire into
thirty-six administrative provinces, and standardize the writing system. Reflecting Legalist passion for order and
structure, Qin soldiers were only mobilized when both halves of tiger-shaped tallies (one held by the ruler and the
other by the commanding general) were brought together. Likewise, all documents in the empire had to have
recorded the year they were written, the scribe who copied them, and up to the exact hour of delivery. Accepting
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Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
Shang Yang’s earlier emphasis on the standardization of weights and measures, the Qin Shi Huang would also accept
Shang Yang’s philosophy that no individual in the state should be above the law (by ensuring harsh punishments for
all cases of dissent) and that families should be divided into smaller households. While there is reason to doubt Sima
Qian’s claim that Qin Shi Huang did in fact divide households into groups of ten, certainly the other examples of
standardization and administrative organization undertaken by the First Emperor reflect the importance of Legalist
thought in Qin law. Based on promoting the interests of the state Qin, the law (Chinese: 法; pinyin: fǎ; literally "law,
method, way") served as a vehicle to both control the populace and eliminate dissent.
Legalism and individual autonomy
The Legalist philosophers emphasized the primacy of the state over individual autonomy. The lone individual had no
legitimate civil rights and any personal freedom had to strengthen the ruler. Han Fei, in particular, would be very
caustic towards the concept of individual rights. Fundamentally, the Legalists viewed the plebeian (common people
of lower class) and their actions as evil and foolish.
However, Legalism allowed the common people to gain in rank if they performed well. For example, soldiers would
gain in rank according to the number of heads the soldiers collected. A soldier may even gain noble rank. In contrast,
some other states allowed only the well-connected to gain higher ranks. An example of this would be Lü Buwei, who
originally a merchant, was able to become Chancellor of China, an occurrence that would never happen in the other
six states. He played a major role in King Zhuangxiang of Qin's rise to power.
According to Shang Yang's The Book of Lord Shang, the people themselves wanted a ruler to generate order. Social
cohesion in the Legalist state mandated that the populace never escape punishment. The Qin dynasty used the
people, for example, to maintain vigilant mutual surveillance over one another under threat of death.
This intrastate realpolitik would end up devouring the Legalist philosophers themselves. Shang Yang, in advocating
the state’s right to punish even the heir-apparent’s tutor, would run afoul of the future King Huiwen of Qin (circa.
338 -311 B.C.). Whereas at one point, he had the power to exile his opponents (and, thus, eviscerate individual
criticism) to border regions of the state, he died when torn into pieces by chariots. Similarly, Han Fei would end up
being poisoned by his envious former classmate Li Si, who in turn would be killed (under the law he had introduced)
by the aggressive and violent Second Qin Emperor that he had helped to take the thrones.
Decline
In later dynasties, Legalism was discredited and ceased to be an independent school of thought. However, both
ancient and modern Confucian observers of Chinese politics have argued that some Legalist ideas have merged with
mainstream Confucianism and still play a major role in government. The philosophy of imperial China has been
described as a Confucian exterior covering a core of Legalism (Chinese: 儒表法裡; pinyin: rú biăo fă lǐ; literally
"Confucian, the external surface; Legalism, the interior"). In other words, Confucian values are used to sugarcoat the
harsh Legalist ideas that underlie the Imperial system. During the Sui and Tang dynasty, Buddhist ideas were also
part of the external face of the imperial system.
There was a brief revival of Legalism during the Sui dynasty's efforts to reunify China. After the Sui dynasty was
replaced by the Tang dynasty, the Tang government still used the government structure left behind by the Sui
dynasty, albeit with much reduced punishments.
More recently, Mao Zedong, who had some knowledge of ancient Chinese philosophy, compared himself with Qin
Shi Huang and publicly approved of some Legalist methods. One such method approved in the 1980s under Deng
Xiaoping administration is the reward and punishment, which has increased the size of the Beijing government in the
process. However, since the 1990s the related concept of the rule of law has gained currency.
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Legalism (Chinese philosophy)
Related figures
The Confucian thinker Xun Zi is sometimes considered as being influenced by or having nourished Legalist ideas,
mostly because of two of his disciples (Li Si and Han Fei).
Related philosophies and concepts
• Platonism, the concept of a philosopher king in Plato's The Republic, a form of enlightened absolutism or the
"benevolent despot", similar to Statism and the concepts advocated by Thomas Hobbes and (arguably) Niccolò
Machiavelli.
• Meritocracy, Realism, and Rule of Law are important concepts in Legalism, although they are also important
concepts in other, unrelated philosophies.
• Confucianism, Taoism, and Mohism were traditional competing philosophies to Legalism, that rejected many of
the concepts advocated by the Legalists.
• Progressivism, Libertarianism, Anarchism, Agorism, and Classical Liberalism are modern philosophies that reject
core elements of Legalism.
• Zero tolerance, a philosophy of punishment which calls for a rigid and strict set of consequences for infractions
(although not necessarily harsh in nature).
References
[1] "Legalism" (http:/ / philtar. ucsm. ac. uk/ encyclopedia/ china/ legal. html). philtar.ucsm.ac.uk. . Retrieved 2008-06-28.
[2] “History of the section.
Sources
• Barbieri-Low, Anthony, trans. The Standard Measure of Shang Yang (344 B.C.) (2006)
• Creel, H.G. “The Totalitarianism of the Legalists.” Chinese Thought from Confucius to Mao Tsê-tung. Chicago:
The University of Chicago Press, 1953.
• Duyvendak, J.J.L., trans. The Book of Lord Shang: A Classic of the Chinese School of Law. London: Probsthain,
1928.
• Graham, A.C., Disputers of the TAO: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (Open Court 1993). ISBN
0-8126-9087-7
• Pu-hai, Shen. “Appendix C: The Shen Pu-hai Fragments.” Shen Pu-hai: A Chinese Political Philosopher of the
Fourth Century B.C. Translated by Herrlee G. Creel. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 1974.
• Qian, Sima. Records of the Grand Historian, Qin Dynasty. Translated by Burton Watson. New York: Columbia
University Press, 1993.
• Schwartz, Benjamin I. The World of Thought in Ancient China. Cambridge, MA: The Belknap Press of Harvard
University Press, 1985.
• Watson, Burton, trans. Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia University Press, 1964.
• Xinzhong,Yao, Introduction to Confucianism (2000). ISBN 9780521643122
• Potter, Pittman, From Leninist Discipline to Socialist Legalism : Peng Zhen on Law and Political Authority in the
PRC2 (2003). ISBN 9780804745000
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External links
• "Chinese Legalism: Documentary Materials and Ancient Totalitarianism" (http://www.worldfuturefund.org/
wffmaster/Reading/China/China Legalism.htm)
• Legalist texts (http://ctext.org/legalism) - Chinese Text Project (Chinese and English)
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Article Sources and Contributors
Article Sources and Contributors
Legalism (Chinese philosophy) Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?oldid=447556564 Contributors: -
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