Han Fei’s Legalism
Good Ideas found in Tyranny
Confucius believed that humans by nature are good. However, his fellow Chinese philosopher Han Fei believed that humans by nature are selfish and greedy being which needed to be controlled. Han Fei’s ideas would ultimately manifest themselves in the form of Legalism, the philosophy adopted by the first emperor of China — Qin Shi Huang. The immediate success of Legalism spawns the questions, what is legalism and why did Han Fei create it.
Han Fei held some key beliefs. The first one, as preciously mentioned, was that humans by nature are selfish and greedy creatures who must be controlled. The next belief was that a ruler must strike fear into his subordinates, while also keeping said ruler’s intentions hidden. Han Fei also demanded that all subordinates must stick to their given assignments or be punished, with death being the preferred consequence. Furthermore, a ruler must trust no one, and especially be weary of their own family because they stand to benefit the most. The ruler must especially distrust anyone who stands to benefit from the ruler’s death, with the person who stands to gain the most as the least trustworthy. Han Fei stressed the ruler must use a merit based system when appointing subordinates, and corruption and incomitance should be punished without mercy. In fact, he wrote an intricate legal system where each penalty was strictly enforced without any mercy shown to anyone of any class. Han Fei strongly believed in the extermination of lawbreakers.
His philosophy is best represented in the Han Feizi, a book written by him. A logician who strongly believed that consequences deterred humans from being selfish and greedy, his ideas lead to the Qin empire — the first Chinese empire. However, the Qin fell right after the death of their first emperor Qin Shi Huang. This fall may cause some to dismiss Han Fei; however, the fact that one ruler rose above all during a chaotic and bloody era to unify China and bring order shows that these ideas hold certain weight. The Great Wall of China, the Terracotta Army, and the tomb of the first emperor are physical evidences of a certain degree of success for Legalism.
Economics has a principle which states, “Incentives matter.” The ultimate problem is scarcity, and because scarcity exist all living creatures are selfish to an extent — this includes humans. Thus, Han Fei was right that humans are selfish by nature and some are greedy to a certain degree. Not dying is a great incentive to humans; therefore, in the short term and with the right leader Han Fei’s philosophy works. However, fear creates animosity. Animosity is gun powder sitting in the open waiting for a spark. Thus, it is imperative to use incentives, which take advantage of the selfish human nature, to create a merit based system which promotes competence and deters corruption without the use of fear.
Wanted posters which promise a monetary reward in exchange for information or the wanted subject itself, are a great example of this. A carbon credit, which gives businesses a tax break for not exceeding a specified level of carbon emissions is another great example of this.
Ultimately, Legalism is a philosophy which springs dread into people. However, by ignoring that dread and exploring the caverns of this philosophy one can find gems which will result in good ideas. Completely shutting out an idea because it is disagreeable is barricading one’s mind from countless diamonds in the coal mine.
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