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Han Fei

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Han Fei (Template:CircaTemplate:Snd233 BC), also known as Han Feizi, was a Chinese Legalist philosopher and statesman<ref>2018 Henrique Schneider. p.1. An Introduction to Hanfei's Political Philosophy: The Way of the Ruler.</ref> during the Warring States period. He was a prince of the state of Han.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Han Fei is often considered the greatest representative of Legalism for the Han Feizi, a later anthology of writings traditionally attributed to him,<ref name="cc">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which synthesized the methods of his predecessors.<ref name="hpt" /> Han Fei's ideas are sometimes compared with those of Niccolò Machiavelli,<ref>Nguyển Hiến Lê, Giản Chi (1995). Hàn Phi Tử. NXB Văn hóa thông tin.</ref> author of The Prince.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Zhuge Liang is said to have attached great importance to the Han Feizi.<ref>Zhuge Liang

Sima Qian recounts that Qin Shi Huang went to war with the state of Han to obtain an audience with Han Fei, but was ultimately convinced to imprison him, whereupon he commits suicide.<ref>The biography by Sima Qian is presented in "The Biography of Han Fei Tzŭ By Ssŭ-ma Ch'ien" chapter of The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu, translated by W.K. Liao, 1939, reprinted by Arthur Probsthain, 1959. https://books.google.com/books?id=op8KAQAAIAAJ http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=xwomen/texts/hanfei.xml&style=xwomen/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=d1.4&toc.depth=1&toc.id=0&doc.lang=bilingual</ref> After the early demise of the Qin dynasty, the school was officially vilified by the Han dynasty that succeeded it. Despite its outcast status throughout the history of imperial China, Han Fei's political theory and the Legalist school continued to heavily influence every dynasty thereafter, and the Confucian ideal of rule without laws was never to be realized.<ref name="hpt"/>

Han Fei borrowed Shang Yang's emphasis on laws, Shen Buhai's emphasis on administrative technique, and Shen Dao's ideas on authority and prophecy, emphasizing that the autocrat will be able to achieve firm control over the state with the mastering of his predecessors' methodologies: his position of 'power' ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Tlit), 'technique' ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} Template:Tlit), and 'law' (fa). He stressed the importance of the concept of holding actual outcome accountable to speech ({{#invoke:Lang|lang}} xingming), coupled with the "two handles" system of punishment and reward, as well as wu wei ('non-exertion').

NamesEdit

Han Fei is also known respectfully as Hanzi ('Master Han') or as Han Feizi ('Master Han Fei'). In Wade–Giles transcription, his same name is written Han Tzu, Han-tzu, Han Fei Tzu, or Han Fei-tzu. The same name—sometimes as "Hanfeizi" or "Han-fei-tzu"—is used to denote the later anthology traditionally attributed to him.

LifeEdit

The exact year of Han Fei's birth remains unknown, however, scholars have placed it at Template:Circa.<ref name=":0" />

Unlike the other famed philosophers of the time, Han Fei was a member of the ruling aristocracy, having been born into the ruling family of Han during the end phase of the Warring States period. In this context, his works have been interpreted by some scholars as being directed to his cousin, the King of Han.{{#if:|{{{2}}}|[1]}} The Records of the Grand Historian say that Han Fei studied together with future Qin chancellor Li Si under the Confucian philosopher Xun Kuang. It is said that because of his stutter, Han Fei could not properly present his ideas in court, but Sima regards him as having been very intelligent. His advice otherwise being ignored, but observing the slow decline of his Han state, he developed "one of the most brilliant (writing) styles in ancient China."

Sima Qian's biography of Han Fei is as follows: Template:Quote

His works ultimately ended up in the hands of King Ying Zheng of Qin, who commented, "If I can make friends with this person [Han Fei], I may die without regrets." and invited Han Fei to the Qin court. Han Fei presented the essay "Preserving the Han" to ask the king not to attack his homeland, but his ex-friend and rival Li Si used that essay to have Han Fei imprisoned on account of his likely loyalty to Han. Han Fei responded by writing another essay named "In the first time of meeting Qin king", hoping to use his writing talent to win the king's heart. Han Fei did win the king's heart, but not before Li Si forced him to commit suicide by drinking poison. The Qin king afterward regretted Han Fei's death.

Summary of his legalismEdit

Xunzi formed the hypothesis that human nature is evil and virtueless, therefore suggesting that human infants must be brought to their virtuous form through social-class-oriented Confucian moral education. Without such, Xunzi argued, man would act virtueless and be steered by his own human nature to commit immoral acts. Han Fei's education and life experience during the Warring States period, and in his own Han state, contributed his synthesis of a philosophy for the management of an amoral and interest-driven administration, to which morality seemed a loose and inefficient tool. Han agreed with his teacher's theory of "virtueless by birth", but as in previous Legalist philosophy, pragmatically proposed to steer people by their own interest-driven nature.<ref>Hanfeizi By: Luo, Wei, World Philosophers & Their Works, </ref><ref name=cc/><ref name = "hpt">Hàn Phi Tử, Vietnamese translation by Phan Ngọc, Nhà xuất bản Văn học, HCMC 2011</ref>

NotesEdit

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  1. <templatestyles src="Citation/styles.css"/>^{{#if:| }} Watson, Burton, Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings. 1964, p. 2. The king in question is believed to be either King An of Han (238–230 BC) or his predecessor, King Huanhui (272–239 BC).

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ReferencesEdit

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Further readingEdit

  • Burton Watson (1964). Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings. New York: Columbia University Press. Template:ISBN.
  • Hàn Phi Tử, Vietnamese translation by Phan Ngọc, Nhà xuất bản Văn học, HCMC 2011.
  • Mingyuan Hu (2023). Realpolitik: Han Fei on mighty reign. London and Paris: Hermits United. Template:ISBN.

External linksEdit

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