In the spring and fall (771-476 BC), rulers began to directly appoint state officials to provide advice and management, which led to the decline of inherited privileges and led to fundamental structural changes as a result of what can be called « social engineering from above. » [3]: 59 [56] Most thinkers of the Warring States period tried to adapt to a paradigm of « change over time, » and each of the schools of thought tried to provide an answer to the achievement of socio-political stability. [35] The first to use the term fa jia was Sima Qian`s father, Sima Tan 司馬談 (died 110 BC). In an essay on « the essence of the six schools of thought, » Sima Tan notes that the Fa-Jia are « strict and have little kindness » and « do not distinguish between parents and strangers, nor do they distinguish between nobles and lowlands: everything is determined by the norm (or the law, Fa) ». Sima Tan criticized the legalists` approach as « a one-time policy that could not be applied constantly, » but also praised the fa jia for « honoring rulers and devaluing subjects, and clearly distinguishing functions so that no one can exceed [their responsibilities] » (Shiji 130:3289–3291; for translations, see Smith 2003:141; Goldin 2011: 89). A century later, the bibliographic category was created by Fa Jia. Librarian Han Liu Xiang 劉向 (79-8 BC) identified ten texts from the Han Imperial Library as belonging to Fa Jia (Han shu 30:1735). From then on, the « legalist school » remained a main category of imperial book catalogues. Since the beginning of the 20th century, this term has been widely used to classify and analyze the beginnings of Chinese thought. Shang Yang`s legalism dealt with everyday situations, but extended to how to behave in wartime, and he is credited with the all-out war tactics that allowed the Qin state to defeat other belligerent states in order to control China.
It was only at the turn of the twentieth century that legalism was rediscovered and partially rehabilitated by new generations of intellectuals. Frustrated by China`s inability to reconstitute itself in a modern world as a « powerful state with a strong army, » young intellectuals began to seek a variety of non-traditional responses to domestic and foreign policy challenges; among these, some have turned to legalism. It has been considered relevant not only for its proven practical achievements in the past, but also for its innovative power, its willingness to deviate from the models of the past and even its quasi-scientific perspective. For example, the first great promoter of interest in Shang Yang`s thought, Mai Menghua 麥夢華 (1874-1915), was positively attracted by the surprising similarity between Shang Yang`s views on history and the evolutionary ideas of Western social theorists; and he identified in Lord Shang`s book parallels with Western ideas of imperialism, nationalism, statism (guojiazhuyi 國家主義) and even the rule of law (Li Yu-ning 1977: lviii-lix). Even such a prominent liberal thinker as Hu Shi 胡適 (1891-1962) was willing to forgive the legalists for their notorious harshness and oppression, praising Han Fei and Li Si for their « courageous spirit of resistance to those who `do not make the present their teacher, but learn from the past` » (Hu Shi 1930: 6,480-81). A little later, it was none other than Hu Hanmin 胡漢民 (1879-1936), one of the most important leaders of Guomindang 國民黨 (Kuomintang, KMT, « Party of the Nation »), who wrote a preface to a new edition of Lord Shang`s book (Hu Hanmin 1933). In Chinese history, legalism (Chinese: 法家; pinyin Fǎjiā) was one of the four most important philosophical schools of the spring and autumn period and the period of the belligerent kingdoms (towards the end of the Zhou Dynasty from the sixth century BC to the third century BC). It is actually more of a pragmatic political philosophy, with maxims such as « As times have changed, paths have changed » as an essential principle, rather than jurisprudence. In this context, « legalism » can here carry the meaning of « political philosophy that defends the rule of law » and therefore differ from the Western meaning of the word. Hanfeizi believed that a ruler should rule his subjects through the following Trinity: Preoccupied with « kindness, » the Confucians became the most prominent, followed by proto-Taoists and administrative thought that Sima Tan called the Fajia. But the Taoists focused on developing internal forces,[59][60][61] and the Taoists and Confucians adopted a regressive view of history, age being a decline from the time of the Zhou kings.
[62] Legalism was not only against Confucianism, but could not tolerate it. Once legalism was adopted by the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism faced the very real threat of extinction. This was true both for the work of Xunzi, the Confucian reformer, and for any other Confucian work, although it was believed that Xunzi had inspired Han Feizi in the foundation of legalism. In reality, the claim that people are essentially selfish and act only out of self-interest was only one aspect of Xunzi`s philosophy. He argued that people can become better than they are, not only through laws, but also through self-discipline, education, and observance of rituals. Legalism is an approach to the analysis of legal issues characterized by abstract logical thinking that focuses on the applicable legal text such as a constitution, legislation or jurisprudence and not on the social, economic or political context. In its narrower versions, legalism perpetuates the idea that the already existing corpus of authoritative legal documents already contains a clearly predetermined « correct answer » to any legal problems that may arise; and that the judge`s job is to determine this clearly given answer by means of an essentially mechanical process. This Western school of law enforcement has little to do with the Chinese philosophical school of the same name, which is now being discussed. Gongsun ultimately did not believe that the method of government was really important as long as the state was rich,[31][137] and tried to dispense with the selection of extraordinary men through insurance mechanisms, while attacking moral discussion as enabling ministers.
[106] His anti-bureaucracy can be seen as a precursor to that of Han Fei,[14]:359 and, with his predecessor, Mozi can be characterized as following a philosophical tradition of « objective, public, and accessible norms » (Fa). [14]: 345 The Shang Yang School was favored, but not exclusively, by Emperor Wu of Han. [6]: 115 Given the information of time (1955) and the time of which he speaks, A.
