Wen | Yan Xiao'er to write a philosophical text
The phrase "everyone thinks of themselves as right and people as wrong", Han Fei pointed out that people have an exclusive and self-interested nature, and we call this "nature" "self-made" below. As for Why is Han Fei's view of human nature this way? Let's first understand Han Fei's influence, and then talk about the reasons according to where and when he studied.
Han Fei was a master of the Fa, and regarding the evaluation of Han Fei by later generations, the "Records of History" once said: "Si thinks that he is inferior to non-right." Who is the "Si" here? He is also another representative figure of the Fa, also known as the Eternal One Phase, he is the "Li Si" who helped Qin Shi Huang unify the world. Let Li Sidu feel ashamed of himself, which shows the superiority of Han Fei's theory.
It is worth noting that Li Si and Han Fei are in the same door, that is, the great sage Xunzi of Confucianism, and both of them have achieved something in The Idea of the Fa, in fact, there is also a reason why Han Fei believes that "everyone thinks that everyone is right for themselves and people are wrong".
We know that XunZi's "theory of sexual evil" takes "maintaining the ritual law" as the starting point and points out the nature of "being born for oneself", and Han Fei gives play to Xunzi's thought, combined with the characteristics of the era when Han Fei was "competing for strength", so it is not surprising that Han Fei pointed out people's "self-nature" with "everyone thinks of himself and people are not".
In a nutshell, Han Fei believes that people have "self-characteristics with exclusivity" In Yan Xiao'er's view, first, it has a lot to do with his master Xunzi's "sexual evil theory", and second, it also has a lot to do with the era of "competing for strength" where Han Fei was located.
1. Xunzi's "Sexual Evil Theory" and Han Fei's "Everyone Is Self-Made"
Friends who have some understanding of Confucianism should have heard that although Xunzi is also one of the representative figures of Confucianism, it is controversial because of his "sexual evil theory", for example, in history, there has been a situation in which Xunzi was removed from the Confucius Temple.
In fact, it would be better to experience Xunzi's "sexual evil theory" without "moral evaluation color", and to taste the connotation of "sexual evil theory" with a "rational and correct" attitude.
Returning to the main topic of this article, in Yan Xiao'er's view, the formation of Han Fei's theory of "everyone is self-reliant" has a lot to do with Xunzi's "sexual evil theory".
Regarding the theory of sexual evil, Xunzi said this:
"Born with the desire to see and see, there is a good voice, and it is good to be born of fornication and righteousness."
Although Xun Zi's sentence is short, he sharply points out a fact, that is, he is born with the desire to listen to the eyes and ears, like to listen to the good, look good, eat delicious, and point out that this is a normal phenomenon.
But once normal is "excessive", it is not normal. In this regard, we cannot overdevelop our sensory needs, which are born to tend to be self-satisfied. In order to limit our desires to reasonable limits, Xunzi pointed out that we need to accept "indoctrination" in order to abide by the "law of etiquette."
In other words, Xunzi pointed out "sexual evil" in order to emphasize indoctrination and etiquette. I don't know whether it is intentional or unintentional, posterity likes to make a big fuss about "sexual evil", but it is a pity that "Xunzi said that the original intention of sexual evil" can be easily ignored.
And Han Fei's "everyone is self-righteous" is obviously inheriting the blunt exposure of people's "desire for eyes and ears" in XunZi's "theory of sexual evil".
Regarding "self-righteousness", Han Fei once said:
"When a public opinion becomes a public opinion, he wants the riches of others; if a craftsman becomes a coffin, he wants the death of a man." Non-public opinion is benevolent and craftsman is also a thief, people are not expensive, public opinion is not sold, people do not die, coffins are not bought, love is not hateful, and the benefit is also in the death of people. ”
Han Fei takes "car builders" and "coffin buyers" as examples here, pointing out that the people who buy coffins want someone to die, and the people who build cars want people to be rich, not because of the distinction between "benevolence" and "unkindness", but because their "livelihood direction" is different, that is, "where the profit is" is different.
Three hundred and sixty lines, each industry corresponds to each need, and behind each need there is a "place of benefit", and it is often not safe to make a "moral evaluation" of the place of benefit of this "livelihood". The above is the last word, but what Yan Xiao'er wants to point out is that although Han Fei's example is somewhat extreme, it does objectively use "where the benefits are" to reduce the perceptual prejudice of "moral evaluation" to people's "desire for oneself".
As far as Han Fei's objective view of "serving oneself" is concerned, because it is possible to objectively understand "human nature", it is natural to be handy in "managing people". It is also foreseeable that the Fa jia will become a popular doctrine in the Warring States period.
2. Another reason that prompted Han Fei to point out that "everyone is self-reliant": the era of competition for strength
With the era's overall thirst for "material", people's desires seem to be expanding. The reason why Han Fei proposed that "everyone is self-made" is that in Yan Xiao'er's view, in addition to the influence of his teacher Xunzi, there was also the influence of the era of "competing for strength" at that time.
There is a passage in the Book of Rites that reads:
"Etiquette cannot be lower than a common man, and punishment cannot be a doctor."
Why is there such a statement? Putting aside the class stereotypes, we can objectively analyze the reasons for this, and we can glimpse the rationality of one or two points of this characteristic in that era.
This sentence points out two principles of western Zhou feudal society: one is to use "etiquette", that is, to use unwritten codes to praise and control the behavior of "gentlemen", that is, nobles; the other is to use "punishment" to govern "commoners" or "commoners".
Before Confucius, the restriction of "learning in the government" made it almost difficult for low-level civilians to access "education". Because of the lack of cultural influence, it is indeed difficult to obtain the "virtue of a gentleman". In the Western Zhou Dynasty, most of those who could become nobles were those who had contributed to the establishment or development of the Zhou Dynasty, and belonged to the people who were better at "insight" and "strategy" among the people of that era, so that, in comparison, they may be more qualified to receive the title of "noble" or "gentleman" than the people who were "blessed" by themselves, both in terms of objective contribution and in the true nature.
However, because of hereditary inheritance, the moral changes of the people after the first generation of nobles are uncontrollable, so in the Spring and Autumn Warring States period, for the so-called "nobles", with the "unwritten" etiquette to restrict them, to put it more directly, that is, let them abide by the etiquette "all rely on self-awareness", at this time, under the "hypocrisy", the "etiquette" is too pale and weak, and even very "ironic", it is no wonder that Confucius sighed "the etiquette collapses and is bad".
Based on the objective fact that "the ceremony collapsed and the music was bad", although Han Feizi was a disciple of the Confucian Xunzi, he understood that "traveling around the world" and preaching the Confucian "ritual law" like Kong Meng was not suitable for that era; at the same time, he also knew that in this era of "dragons without heads", as long as the "first" did not appear for one day, then the competition between the princely states would intensify, and the competition between people in the princely states would also intensify.
At this point, Han Fei sharply pointed out:
"The ancients competed for morality, the Middle Ages competed for wisdom, and today they competed for strength."
In an era based on the pursuit of wisdom and the competition for strength, "everyone is self-reliant" is just a microcosm of human nature in this era.
3, thinking determines the level of people: for self and selfishness, even if only separated by a layer of window paper, do not confuse them
Let's talk about Yan Xiao'er's own thoughts. In fact, after reading so many hundred schools of thought, I once confused self-interest with selfishness, until I had a certain understanding of the "Tao" of Taoism and then read Han Fei, and then began to face up to people's desire to "be for themselves".
It is normal to be born with a desire to hear and speak, don't deny it, deny it is not normal. And everyone has their own position, as long as they do not carry the malice of "exclusivity", but carry out reasonable "self-defense", the "self-nature" of grasp, why should they accept the senseless "judgment"? It is sad when moral evaluations motivated by "justice" turn into "kidnappings."
If Han Fei had taken his own "personal prejudices" to see that "everyone is self-righteous", then his heart would have naturally resisted the "desire" of "people for where profit lies under self-defense", because it is defined as "evil", so he will spurn and escape this objective fact, if he does not escape, then he will become the existence of "evil" and "greed" under mainstream values. Obviously, judging from the classic view of "magic potential", Han Fei did not look at "self-nature" with prejudice. And Yan Xiao'er can proudly say once again that this is precisely his rationality and height, which to a certain extent boosted the great cause of Qin Shi Huang's unification of the world.
In fact, how objective the perspective is, how big the world is under the field of vision. The successful distinction between "self-interest" and "selfishness" often symbolizes the rationality of human thinking to a certain extent. This is a manifestation of a hierarchy.
That is to say, the so-called "self-interest" is the nature of human beings; and the so-called "selfishness" is that people over-exert their "self-interested desires" in the day after tomorrow. Although selfishness and self-reliance are only separated by a layer of window paper, in Yan Xiao'er's view, there is a "world of difference".
The above Han Fei let me understand the truth, Yan Xiao'er here will also share this truth with everyone. If you are touched, you can share the article with the people you cherish and pass on the wisdom of the prophets.
[This article is Yan Xiao'er's original and exclusive release of zhewen, any infringement such as porting, plagiarism, etc., which must be investigated if found]