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Han Feizi

Ancient Chinese Legalist text attributed to Han Fei.

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Han Feizi

via Wikipedia: Han Feizi · see source

Pines notes that the Han Feizi is considered philosophically and literally more engaging than the Book of Lord Shang.[1] Attributed to the Legalist philosopher Han Fei, the Han Feizi is an ancient Chinese text that contains essays on state power and combines earlier approaches.[2] The Han Feizi is the only Legalist text whose complete 55 chapters, mostly from the Warring States period, have survived without loss.[2][1]

What happened

Han Fei was a scion of the ruling family of the state of Hán who was allegedly killed in the custody of the King of Qin.[1] The text includes the famous "spear-shield paradox" about a Chu man selling shields and spears.[3] Since its entry in the Hanshu's catalogue, the work has consistently been recorded as having 55 p'ien.[4] The earliest surviving source outside Qin that mentions writings linked to Shang Yang is the Han Feizi.[5]

What the cited sources add

Pines states that the Han Feizi expresses with clarity its belief that every member of the elite pursues his own interests.[1] The compound xing ming ("performance and title") is attested only in the Han Feizi, where Han Fei explains it refers to statements and tasks, with merit in accordance with the task and statement leading to reward.[1] Pines notes that the Han Feizi echoes Shang Yang's view that in the remote past people did not compete because goods were plenty, but later people compete because provisions are scanty.[1] Chen's 1975 article discusses how the Han Feizi's enlightened ruler strikes terror into his ministers by doing nothing (wu wei) and discarding his private reason and morality.[6][7]

Chen argues that the ruler must stay separate from his ministers, because when ministers gain power they become a threat to him.[6][7]

References

  1. Pines, "Legalism in Chinese Philosophy", Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2014. facts only, no text reused. plato.stanford.edu
  2. Wikipedia, "Han Feizi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Encyclopedia of World Biography; Lévi 1993, p. 115; ; ;; Pines, "Legalism in Chinese Philosophy", Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, 2014; Lu, "Rhetoric in Ancient China, Fifth to Third Century, B.C.E.: A Comparison with Classical Greek Rhetoric", Univ of South Carolina Press, 1998; Kenneth Winston p. 315. Singapore Journal of Legal Studies [2005] 313–347. The Internal Morality of Chinese Legalism. http://law.nus.edu.sg/sjls/articles/SJLS-2 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  3. Wikipedia, "Han Feizi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Han Feizi (韓非子), chapter 36, Nanyi (難一 "Collection of Difficulties, No. 1")'. (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  4. Wikipedia, "Han Feizi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Carson Loewe 1993, p. 117 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  5. Wikipedia, "Han Feizi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Pines 2019, p. 26; Knoblock 1988, p. 17 (original not read by us) en.wikipedia.org
  6. Wikipedia, "Han Feizi" (CC BY-SA 4.0), which cites: Chen, "The Dialectic of Chih (Reason) and Tao (Nature) in The Han Fei-Tzu", Journal of Chinese Philosophy, December 1975, p. 1–21 (we also read that source) en.wikipedia.org
  7. Ellen Marie Chen, "THE DIALECTIC1OF CHIHb(REASON) AND TAO (NATURE) IN THE Han Fei-Tzud", Journal of Chinese Philosophy (1975), doi:10.1111/j.1540-6253.1975.tb00378.x. OpenAlex metadata CC0; paper not read. doi.org

Each numbered sentence above was checked against the source it cites before publication. Sentences citing Wikipedia adapt text from the English Wikipedia article Han Feizi (contributors), used under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is available under the same licence. Other sources were used for facts only; no text or images are copied from them.

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Sources

Compiled from Wikipedia and the sources listed below. Text from Wikipedia is available under CC BY-SA 4.0; this entry is adapted from it.

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