Han Feizi

Abstract

Han Feizi was the last great philosopher of China's Warring States period and traditionally has been characterized as the synthesizer of legalist thought, which is often described as an amoral, totalitarian political vision aimed at consolidating and increasing the ruler's power. While he expands the ideas of earlier legalists and argues against the morality‐based political visions of Confucians, Daoists, and Mohists, his focus is on ideas that work, regardless of source. Han Feizi develops an amoral political realism arising from his understanding of the realities of the natural world and human nature and argues for the development of a strong, stable, and well‐organized bureaucracy, an inviolable legal code, and the rejection of virtue‐based politics. His goal is to create a system that doesn't rely upon the wisdom, talents, character, or characteristics of any particular individual but is rather a mechanistic leviathan requiring little in the way of active attention.