PhilosophyBook · -233
Han Feizi
Han Fei
Han Fei holds that people respond to reward and punishment and nothing else, and designs a state accordingly. Machiavelli seventeen centuries early.
Why you should read this
This is the foundational text of Chinese Legalism, arguing for strict law, statecraft, and the calculated management of human self-interest against the Confucian emphasis on virtue and ritual. Background reading for anyone studying classical Chinese political philosophy.
- Field
- Philosophy
- Form
- Non-fiction
- Published
- 233 BCE
- Themes
- Eastern PhilosophyPhilosophy
