Han Fei`s rare attraction (among legalists) to the use of scholars (legal and methodological specialists) makes him comparable to the Confucians in this sense. The ruler cannot inspect all officials himself and must rely on decentralized (but faithful) application of laws and methods (fa). Unlike Shen Buhai and his own rhetoric, Han Fei insists that loyal ministers (such as Guan Zhong, Shang Yang and Wu Qi) exist and should be elevated with maximum authority. Although Fajia sought to strengthen the power of the ruler, this plan effectively neutralizes him and reduces his role to maintaining the system of reward and punishment determined by impartial methods and issued by specialists who are supposed to protect him by their application. [257] [258] By combining Shen Buhai`s methods with Shang Yang`s insurance mechanisms, Han Fei`s leader simply employs anyone offering his services. [106] Playing a “crucial role in promoting the autocratic tradition of Chinese politics,” the so-called wu wei (or inaction) would become the political theory of fajia (or “Chinese legalists”), if not their general term for political strategy. To this end, Han Fei`s senior officials focus exclusively on defining by calculation and building objective models judged solely on efficiency. [241] By combining the “public” sphere with justice and objective norms, Han Fei had always pitted the private and the public against each other. [105] Following Shang Yang, he counts the Confucians among his “five vermin”[159] and calls the Confucian doctrine of love and compassion for the people “stupid doctrine” and “confused chatter”,[160] the emphasis on benevolence is an “aristocratic and elitist ideal” that requires that “all ordinary people of the time be like the followers of Confucius.” [73] Moreover, he rejects it as impracticable, saying: “In their constant knowledge, the literati are distant from the affairs of state. What can the sovereign gain from his solid knowledge? “,[161] and emphasizes that “Confucianism” is not a unified body of thought. [162] The ideals of legalism emerged about 3,000 to 4,000 years ago by judicial officials of the Xia and Shang dynasties in China`s history. Unlike Confucianism, Taoism or Mohism, legalism had no exact founder. Teaching people to “sing and sing about war” could easily refer to military indoctrination as we see in other countries that have used mass armies.
But Lord Shang`s book never talks about, for example, the cult of the warrior spirit, the dehumanization of the enemy, the identification of martial life with masculinity, and similar means used elsewhere in militarist education. On the contrary, for Shang Yang and other contributors to “his” book, “teaching” simply means people`s internalization of the fact that the only way to satisfy their desires for wealth and glory is to excel in war. Hence the war, which elsewhere in the book is openly associated with what people hate (Shang jun shu 18:108; Lord Shang 18:2) becomes the center of people`s aspirations. “Teaching” is not a question of ideological indoctrination; It is just a matter of deliberate adherence to government policy. Legalism was the idea of the central government of the Qin Dynasty, culminating in the unification of China under the “first emperor” Qin Shi Huang (reigned 247-210 BC). Legalism originated in the administrative reforms of Shang Yang (商鞅; Wade-Giles: “Kung-sun Yang”) († 338 BC), who was hired by Duke Xiao of Qin in 361 BC. J.-C. to transform the weak and backward Qin into a strong and progressive state. Following the reforms of other Chinese states, Shang Yang has adopted profound changes. He published the Book of Law (Fajing, 法经), written by Li Kui in 407 BC. J.-C., and added a rule that gave the same punishment as the perpetrator to anyone who knew of a crime and did not report it to the government. Shang Yang believed in the rule of law and considered loyalty to the state rather than loyalty to the family.
He deprived the nobility of their rank and lands, made the aristocrats equal to the people, and instituted a centralized government. Confucian books were burned to reduce the influence of Confucian thought. The army was divided into twenty military ranks, which were awarded based on combat success. To address the labor shortage, Shang Yang promoted the cultivation of uninhabited land and wasteland, discouraged trade, and allowed immigration from other states. A new standardised system for allocating and taxing land has been introduced. Shang Yang`s reforms were so effective that the Qin state quickly overtook its neighbors and was able to conquer all of China, uniting the country for the first time and ushering in the Qin dynasty. This seems to be a rare glimpse into the fundamental inability of the administrative system to monitor itself in the long run; However, the discovery does not lead to radical alternatives to the system of control over officials. The chapter merely asserts the superiority of techniques and rules over personal interference by the leader in policy-making, and does not explain how these would prevent the machinations of supervisors.
To the extent that techniques and rules are implemented by selfish – or simply erroneous – people, the question remains: to what extent can the impersonal mode of government cure the diseases inherent in the bureaucratic system (cf.
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