This may be a lot of people's doubts, today we continue to introduce Legalist thought, today's content is a bit long, but it may make you have a new understanding of the real Legalist thought, please read it patiently, or like it and collect it to read it a few more times.
The rule of law or the rule of man are two opposing concepts and principles of governance. The rule of law is based on objective law as the supreme principle, while the rule of man is based on the will of man as the supreme principle. As a concept of governing the country, the most basic question is whether a country should rely on a set of objective principles and rules for its long-term peace and stability and the prosperity of the country and the strength of the people, or whether it should rely on the subjective will of a few wise political leaders.
In ancient Greece, Plato advocated the "philosopher-king", the politics of the virtuous, and the "ideal state" proposed by Plato was governed by the philosopher-king, which is a typical "theory of man's rule"; On the contrary, Aristotle put forward and discussed the theory of the rule of law for the first time, but the realization of the Western legal system did not wait until the bourgeois Enlightenment around the 17th century, the representative of the emerging bourgeoisie, the British philosopher Locke put forward the concept of separation of powers, and proposed that everyone is equal before the law. The idea of the rule of law based on the separation of powers later became the main principle of the bourgeois political system.
This was the overthrow of the feudal aristocracy and religious monarchy by the Western bourgeoisie at that time, and this process actually began in the pre-Qin Legalist thought Han Feizi's Legalist thought was actually a challenge to the privileges and interests of the feudal aristocracy at that time, of course, Legalist thinkers were also suppressed in various ways, and many of the Legalist thinkers we introduced earlier were very radical reformers and practitioners at that time, but also because they touched the interests of the elite class at that time, so most of them did not get a good death and died unexpectedly. History is written by the victors, and there may be no truth about whether they are martyrs or conspirators.
Well, let's go back to the rule of law and the rule of man, Plato in ancient Greece advocated philosopher-king, sage politics, and ancient Confucianism in mainland China also advocated "the rule of the holy king", compared to the "rule of law" of Legalism, Confucianism is "rule by man" Confucianism believes that the state should rely on the virtue and wisdom of the sages to govern, while Legalism advocates the rule of law rather than the rule of the sage, and Legalism believes that in order for the country to be truly rich, it must overthrow the privileges and interests of the nobles, and the law needs to be above people, and the law is only subordinate to the Tao, not to people.
Why can't the state rely on the rule of virtue and benevolence of a few saints? Han Feizi put forward two core reasons: One person is inherently evil in human nature, and the other is limited in human ability. In the view of Legalist thought, human nature is to be good at life and evil and death, to gain good fortune and fame, and to be selfish, so no matter who is unreliable, we must rely on the Fa. Han Feizi proposed in the chapter "Han Feizi Youdu": The country is not permanently strong and weak, and if the rule of law is resolutely implemented, then the country will be strong, otherwise the country will be weak.
In order to prove the evil of human nature, Han Feizi gave an extreme example in "Han Feizi: Six Antis", parents have children for selfish interests, not benevolence, righteousness, kindness and love. When a boy is born, he celebrates happily, and when he gives birth to a girl, he is depressed and even killed. The same are all flesh and blood, and the result is completely different. Because there are benefits to raising boys, raising girls loses money. Parents are so calculating, they can do anything for the sake of profit, let alone those who are not related by blood? In the face of interests, there is no benevolence, righteousness and faithfulness. The Holy Ming monarch governs the country by "magic", and only "rewards and punishments" can mobilize "selfish" people. This is the "foundation of human nature" of Legalist thought.
Therefore, the Legalists scoffed at the Confucian "rule by virtue and benevolent government", and Han Feizi believed that morality, as a good, can only encourage good people to do good deeds, and has no effect on evil people. Han Feizi is well aware of the greed of human nature, if everyone uses the law as a means of personal gain, then the country will inevitably be chaotic and weak. Han Feizi said that the kings of Chu Zhuang and Qi Huan let the states of Chu and Qi dominate, and the kings of Yan Zhaoxiang and Wei Anjiao made the kingdoms of Yan and Wei strong because they pursued the rule of law. Now these countries are declining, because the ministers and officials of these countries are bent on doing those things that make the country chaotic, and not doing things that make the country stable and peaceful. Han Feizi said that at this time, those who can go to private music and follow the public law will be safe and the country will be governed. Those who can go to private practice and practice public law will be strong in soldiers and weak in the enemy.
Therefore, Han Feizi opposed benevolent government and moral rule, and Han Fei even said that when the monarch does not emphasize benevolence and the subjects do not emphasize loyalty, the day when the country will be strong will come. This means that everything begins to revolve around the main axis of interests, and each person's actions to realize their own interests will form a joint force that promotes the strength of the country. Human nature is "evil", they are all seeking advantage and avoiding harm, and they are all selfish, that is to say, in Legalism, people's selfishness and selfishness cannot be overcome, this is the natural principle and nature of people, if this nature changes, people are not human beings. On this basis, the Legalists proposed "rule of law" and "heavy punishment and light reward", using rewards to encourage people's behavior, and using punishment to curb people's viciousness, so as to maintain normal social order. Legalism talks about human nature, has a distinct purpose, and closely follows the theme of enriching the country and strengthening the army. In other words, Legalism observes human nature from a political perspective. Legalism is not opposed to personal morality, but to benevolent government and rule by virtue, and there is a difference between the two.
Secondly, Han Feizi believes that it is not possible to rule the country by a small number of sages, even if they have the noblest virtues, because the ability of a few people is always limited. If you only rely on the eyes, ears and brains of the saint to govern, this is tantamount to a drop in the bucket, Han Feizi said in the "Five Worms" chapter, the ancient people can rely on the rule of people, the rule of virtue, because there were few people in ancient times, and today's situation is very complicated, and there are many more people than in ancient times, if you still rely on the rule of a saint like Yao Shunyu, this is tantamount to waiting for the rabbit, and the idiom of waiting for the rabbit is proposed by Han Feizi.
If we cannot rely on the rule of saints, then what is the best way to govern the country by relying on? Legalist thought puts forward: The rule of law is derived from the principles of heaven and the way of heaven, and the legal principles that do not depend on the will of men are transferred. In the impression of many of us, Legalist thought is "rule by man", a kind of imperial autocracy, but in fact, pre-Qin Legalist thought advocates "rule of law" rather than "rule of man", and Legalist thought just opposes "rule of man", law is a manifestation of the Tao in human society, and the rule of law and the rule of man are different.
Legalism believes that Confucianism is the rule of man, not the rule of law that follows the natural way of heaven. Confucianism advocates benevolence, righteousness, loyalty and filial piety, which is based on people's personal feelings, and Legalism believes that this is a kind of rule of man, which is established by relying on the emotional bond between people and moral self-discipline, which is unreliable, because human evil is a stronger nature. The rule of law in Legalist thought is a form of governance that is truly detached from people's instinctive feelings, and it does not rely on people's subjective emotions and judgments, but relies on objective law to judge. The monarch mainly relies on criminal law, not benevolence and mood to reward and punish, and the subjects are rewarded for their merits and punished for their crimes. Therefore, Han Feizi said that only when the monarch understands "unkindness" and his subordinates understand the truth of "disloyalty" can they become the real "king".
Then why did Han Feizi concentrate the "law" on the "king"? Isn't this a kind of rule by man? The goal of Legalist thought is to enrich the country and strengthen the army, not to let the king have supreme power. Han Feizi believes that if the rule of law is to be vigorously enforced, someone is needed to supervise and make decisions, so who should supervise and make decisions? Han Feizi's answer is that he is an invisible "king" who uses "law, magic, and power" behind the scenes to achieve rule by inaction.
In fact, in Legalist thought, the king is only the spokesperson of the "law", and he tries to use the king's "non-action" so that the country can be governed by non-action in accordance with the law, which is why Legalist thought also advocates the Taoist idea of "ruling by doing nothing", it is the king's inaction, realizing the country's promising, this kind of political conception can not be said to be unintelligent, which not only ensures the supreme authority of the law, but also allows the law to be strongly implemented.
Han Feizi believes that there can not be too many people who supervise and decide the "law", it is best to be a person, Han Feizi knows the evil of human nature, therefore, let a person grasp the authority of the law behind the scenes, is the safest strategy, but his later rule of law still evolved into the rule of man, and the public power of the law has become the private power of many officials, and even the imperial autocracy of the Han Dynasty later, which may have been unexpected by Han Feizi.
Legalist thought emphasizes non-action, not the inaction of everyone, but the inaction of kings. In the chapter "Han Feizi Main Dao", it is said: "The Ming monarch does nothing to be above, and the ministers are afraid of the bottom." The monarch does nothing, but the subordinates can do something. Han Feizi said that the Tao is the origin of all things and the criterion for judging right and wrong. Therefore, by grasping the "Tao" of the source, the monarch can understand the origin of things, and by studying this criterion, he can understand the reasons for the success or failure of things.
Therefore, the monarch treats everything with an attitude of inaction and decides according to his own nature. Therefore, the core of Legalist thought lies in the king's mastery of the "Tao" and the "law", and the method and tools for mastering the law are the use of "magic potential", and only in this way can the king truly realize the rule of inaction. However, later the law of Legalist thought evolved into the dictatorship of the king, and the Legalists after the pre-Qin period actually lost the fundamental spirit of Legalist thought, so if we want to talk about Legalist thought, we must talk specifically about what period of Legalism and whose Legalist thought.
In Han Feizi's view, it should be through the inaction of the king, to achieve the country's inaction and rule, to achieve the country's national wealth, military strength, stability and prosperity, this is the goal of Legalist thought, not to let the king have supreme power, this is not the original intention of Legalist thought, this may be many people's misunderstanding of Legalist thought, thinking that Legalism advocates autocracy and is a kind of rule by man, but in fact, the basic spirit of pre-Qin Legalism is actually the opposite. Just as some people invented the knife, some people use the knife to get rid of violence and peace and protect the family and defend the country; some people use the knife to kill people and set fires, rob the rich and help the poor, is this the fault of the knife or the fault of people? This is worthy of our reflection.
Well, today we introduced Han Feizi's Legalist thoughts: the rule of law and the rule of inaction, today's content is these, more exciting content, please like and follow me, we will see you in the next issue.