This volume offers the most comprehensive introduction to the ideas of ancient Chinese thinkers who looked to perfect a political system thru the emphasis on impersonal standards, laws, and norms (fa). This book covers the works of these thinkers, misleadingly dubbed Legalists, as well as the controversies they aroused, the legacy they left behind, and their potential relevance. The fa thinkers contributed decisively to the formation of China’s first unified empire in 221 BCE, but this contribution was not widely acknowledged. Their derision of the moralizing discourse of their rivals, dismissal of independent intellectuals as self-serving hypocrites, and advocacy of a powerful centralized state did not endear them to most Chinese literati. To a certain extent, these reservations remain visible in modern research, which explains why a comprehensive study of the fa traditions is still lacking. This volume fills that gap.
The first of four parts introduces major texts and thinkers of the fa tradition from the Warring States (453-221 BCE) to the Former Han (206/202 BCE-9 CE) periods. The second part analyzes the major ideas of the fa texts, including concepts of fa and their implementation in political and legal spheres, views of human nature, state-society relations, rulership, morality in politics, the evolutionary view of history, and philosophy of language. The third part focuses on the changing attitudes toward fa ideas in imperial and modern China. The fourth part explores the ideas of fa advocates from a comparative perspective—both against intellectual currents in early China and Western traditions such as Machiavellianism and totalitarianism. This book serves as a reference for students and researchers in ancient Chinese history and thought, and comparatists in the field of political philosophy.
Tabella dei contenuti
Introduction.- The
fa Tradition in Chinese Philosophy.- Part I: Major texts and thinkers.- 1. The Book of Lord Shang: The Ideology of the Total State.- 2. Shen Buhai’s Theory of
fa.- 3. Morality in the
Shenzi 慎子 Fragments.- 4.
Han Feizi: The World Driven by Self-Interest.- 5. The Concept of
fa in
Guanzi and its Evolution.- 6. The Ideology of Chao Cuo.- Part II: Major Ideas of the fa Traditions.- 7. Rule by Impersonal Standards in the Early Empire: Ideas and Realities.- 8.
Fa and the Early Legal System.- 9. Two Perspectives on the
Fa Tradition: Politics versus the Rule of Impartial Standards.- 10. Human Motivation in the
fa Tradition.- 11. The ruler in
fa-based Government.- 12. The Historiography of Political Realism.- 13. The Ruler’s New Tools:
Fa 法 and the Political Paradigm of Measure in Early China.- 14. Philosophy of Language in the
fa Tradition.- 15. The
fa Tradition and Morality.- Part III: Fa Traditions in history.- 16. The Historical Reputation of the fa Tradition in Imperial China.- 17. The fa Tradition and Its Modern Fate: The Case of the Book of Lord Shang.- Part IV: Comparative Perspectives.- 18. The
fa Tradition versus Confucianism: Intellectuals, the State, and Meritocracy.- 19.
Fajia and the Mohists.- 20. Laozi, Huang-Lao and the fa Tradition: Thinking through the Term
xingming 刑名.-21. Machiavelli and the
fa Tradition.- 22. The
Book of Lord Shang and Totalitarianism’s Intellectual Precursors Compared.- Epilogue.- 23. The
Han Feizi and its Contemporary Relevance.
Circa l’autore
Yuri Pines 尤銳 is Professor of Chinese History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on early Chinese political thought, Chinese political culture, early Chinese history and historiography, and comparative imperiology. His monographs include The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China (2017); The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy (2012); and Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era (2009). He co-edited six books on Chinese history and thought, and on comparative imperiology.
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