On Legalist Thought of Legalists

Legal Thought of Legalists in Pre-Qin Period

It is believed that "saints can strengthen the country, violate the law and benefit the people if they don't follow their rituals." ("Historical Records? Biography of Shang Jun) In political practice, they paid much attention to farming, destroyed poetry books, broke away from traditional culture completely and advocated the rule of law.

This school mainly prevailed in Korea, Wei and Zhao during the Warring States Period, and early legalists also came from these three countries, such as Shang Yang of Wei, Shen Buhai of South Korea and Shen Dao of Zhao. There are three schools of legalism: Shen Dao emphasizes "potential", Shen Bu Hai emphasizes "technique" and Shang Yang emphasizes "law". These schools of thought were combined by Han Feizi, a Korean, and formed the final core of Legalist thought.

Legalism is a purely utilitarian ideological system, and its core is mainly aimed at how the monarch can strengthen his rule. During the Warring States period, under the desperate competition of "giving gifts to fight again, abandoning benevolence and righteousness, bullying the city and only seeking strength", this idea of Legalists was indeed quite practical in the struggle, as evidenced by the unification of the six countries by Qin, while the Confucian moderate political proposition of sticking to the tradition was somewhat "stupid and extensive" (historical records? The Biography of Mencius and Xunqing). At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the legalist school was absorbed by Confucianism, which abandoned a hundred schools of thought and respected Confucianism alone, and began to govern the country with Confucianism and Taoism, and the independent legalist school was gradually excluded.

Some people think that legalism represents the ideology of the emerging landlord class.

Legalist school is one of the most important people in pre-Qin philosophers. They are famous for advocating the "rule of law" of "ruling the country according to law" and put forward a set of theories and methods. This provided an effective theoretical basis for the later establishment of the centralized Qin Dynasty. The later Han Dynasty inherited the centralization of authority and legal system of the Qin Dynasty and was the political and legal subject of the ancient feudal society in China.

Legalists have made great contributions to jurisprudence, and made fruitful discussions on the origin, essence and function of law and the relationship between law and social economy, requirements of the times, state power, ethics, customs, natural environment, population and human nature.

But legalists also have shortcomings. For example, it exaggerates the role of the law, emphasizes the use of heavy punishment to govern the country, and "punishes punishment with punishment", and also imposes heavy penalties on misdemeanors and superstitious about the role of the law. They believe that human nature is to pursue interests, and there is no moral standard, so we should use interests and honors to induce people to do it. For example, in the war, high rewards are given for meritorious service, including official positions, so as to motivate soldiers and generals to fight bravely together. This may be one of the reasons for Qin Jun's strong fighting capacity. The role of Legalists in destroying the six countries and unifying China should be affirmed, although there are still some shortcomings.

Legalist thought is briefly introduced as follows:

Oppose the ritual system

Legalists attach importance to law and oppose Confucian "rites". In their view, the emerging landlord class at that time opposed the hereditary privilege of monopolizing economic and political interests by nobles and demanded private ownership of land, which was a fair and correct proposition. The etiquette system of maintaining aristocratic privileges is backward and unfair.

The role of law

The first function is to "settle disputes", that is, to clarify the ownership of things. Shen Dao, one of the legalists, made a very simple analogy: "A rabbit went and a hundred people chased it. Accumulate rabbits in the market and ignore them. No rabbits, no arguments. " A rabbit ran away, and many people chased it, but they didn't look at so many rabbits in the market. It's not that you don't want rabbits, but that the ownership has been determined and you can't argue any more, otherwise you will violate the law and be punished.

The second function is to "make meritorious deeds and fear violence", that is, to encourage people to make meritorious deeds and make those who are lawless feel afraid. The ultimate goal of prosperity is to make Qiang Bing rich and win the war of annexation.

The theory of human nature of "likes and dislikes"

Legalists believe that all people have the nature of "liking advantages and avoiding disadvantages" or "seeking advantages and avoiding disadvantages". As Guan said, a businessman runs around day and night, driving thousands of miles doesn't feel far, because interests attract him ahead. Fishermen are not afraid of difficulties and dangers, and they don't care if they sail against the current for a hundred miles. It is also the pursuit of fishing interests. Based on the same idea, Shang Yang came to the conclusion: "There are likes and dislikes in life, so the people can cure them."

Historical view of "violating the past and not following the present"

Legalists oppose conservative retro ideas and advocate reform. They believe that history is developing forward, and all laws and systems should develop with the development of history, neither retrogressive nor conformist. Shang Yang clearly put forward the idea of "violating the past and not following the present". Han Fei further developed Shang Yang's proposition that "time-shifting chaos is difficult to cure", and he satirized the conservative Confucianism as a fool waiting for him.

The general plan of governing the country by combining law, technique and situation

Shang Yang, Shen Dao and Shen Buhai advocated attaching importance to law, potential and technique respectively, each with its own characteristics. When Han Fei, a master of legalism, put forward the idea of combining the three closely. Law refers to perfecting the legal system, and potential refers to the power of the monarch, and it is necessary to monopolize the military and political power. Art refers to the strategies and means of controlling ministers, mastering political power and enforcing laws and regulations. It is mainly to detect and prevent the crime of rebellion and maintain the status of the monarch.

Legalist thought is fundamentally different from the form of democracy and rule of law that we advocate now. The biggest thing is that legalists strongly advocate the centralization of monarchy, and it is absolute. Pay attention to this. We can selectively learn and make use of other legalist ideas. Created by Liu Hongping.

B] Han Feizi has two explanations. One refers to Han Fei, a Korean philosopher and legalist at the end of the Warring States Period. The second refers to a book, that is, Han Fei's work Han Fei Zi.

Han Fei (280- 233 BC) was an aristocrat in South Korea [now Xinzheng, Henan] at the end of the Warring States Period. He was "fond of learning the name of criminal demons" and was later called Han Feizi. Some people say he stutters!

He and Reese are both disciples of Xunzi. At that time, South Korea was very weak and was often bullied by neighboring countries. He repeatedly put forward plans for prosperity to the king of South Korea, but they were not adopted by the king of South Korea. Han Fei wrote a series of articles, such as Lonely Anger and Five Cheats, and was later included in a book, Han Feizi. Ying Zheng, King of Qin, read Han Fei's article and praised it. In 234 BC, Han Fei came to Qin as an envoy of South Korea and wrote a letter to the king of Qin, urging him to attack Zhao first and slow down Korea. Reese was jealous of Han Fei's talent and tried to frame him with Yao Jia. Han Fei was forced to commit suicide by taking poison.

Han Fei pays attention to the study of history and thinks that history is constantly developing and progressing. He believes that if today's world is still praising "the Tao of Yao, Shun, Tang and Wu", "it will be a smile of the new saints". Therefore, he advocated "repairing the ancient times unexpectedly", "the world is different" and "things are different" ("Everything is wrong?" We should make policies according to the actual situation today. His view of history provided a theoretical basis for the reform of the landlord class at that time.

Han Fei inherited and summarized the thoughts and practices of legalists in the Warring States period, and put forward the theory of absolute monarchy and centralization. He advocated that "things are in the quartet and in the central government; The saints insist on it, and the four sides come to work "("Everything is wrong? Property rights "), the power of the state should be concentrated in the hands of the monarch ("saint "), and the monarch must have the power and influence to govern the world. "Lord of a thousand riders, king of a thousand riders, so those who control the world, levy governors, with their rights" ("everything is done wrong?" Human democracy). To this end, you mainly use various means to get rid of hereditary slave owners and nobles, "disperse their party" and "seize their auxiliary" ("Everything goes wrong? "The Road"); At the same time, select a group of feudal officials who have been trained by practice to replace them. "The prime minister from the state department, Athens to send pawn" ("everything wrong? Fairy snow "). Han Fei also advocated reform and the implementation of the rule of law, demanding "abolishing the teaching of the former king" ("Han Feizi? Ask Tian), "teach by law" ("everything is wrong? Five cockroaches "). He stressed that when a "law" is formulated, it must be strictly enforced, and no one can be an exception, so that "the law is not expensive" and "I don't avoid officials after punishment, and I don't leave anything behind" ("Han Feizi? Have a degree "). He also believes that only by imposing severe punishment can people obey, society be stable and feudal rule be consolidated. These propositions of Han Fei reflected the interests and demands of the emerging feudal landlord class, and provided a theoretical basis for ending the vassal regime and establishing a unified centralized feudal country. After Qin Shihuang unified China, many political measures were the application and development of Han Fei's theory.

Han Feizi is the work of Han Fei, a Korean legalist at the end of the Warring States Period.

Han Feizi focuses on promoting the rule of law theory of combining illegality, technology and power in South Korea. Han Fei's "Fa" and "Shu",

The theory of "potential" reached the peak of the pre-Qin legalist theory, which provided a theoretical weapon for Qin to unify the six countries.

At that time, it also provided a theoretical basis for the later feudal autocracy.

Han Fei's simple dialectical thought is also outstanding. He first put forward the theory of contradiction, using the fable of spear and shield to say

The truth that "an indestructible shield and an indestructible spear cannot coexist" in the Ming Dynasty.

It is worth mentioning that Han Feizi records a large number of fables, the most famous of which is the self-spear.

Shield ","waiting for the rabbit ","avoiding illness and doctors ","filling in the blanks ","knowing the way when you are old "and so on. These vivid fables

The story contains profound philosophy, and the perfect combination of ideology and artistry gives people wisdom and inspiration.

It has high literary value.