| Region: | Chinese philosophy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Era: | Ancient philosophy | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Han Fei | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Birth Place: | State of Han | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death Date: | 233 BC | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death Place: | State of Qin | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Death Cause: | Suicide by drinking poison | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Notable Works: | Han Feizi | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School Tradition: | Legalism | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Module: |
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Han Fei (233 BC), also known as Han Feizi, was a Chinese Legalist philosopher and statesman[1] during the Warring States period. He was a prince of the state of Han.[2]
Han Fei is often considered the greatest representative of Legalism for the Han Feizi, a later anthology of writings traditionally attributed to him,[3] which synthesized the methods of his predecessors. Han Fei's ideas are sometimes compared with those of Niccolò Machiavelli,[4] author of The Prince.[5] Zhuge Liang is said to have attached great importance to the Han Feizi, as well as to Shen Buhai.[6]
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.[7] 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.
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' (Chinese: 勢), 'technique' (Chinese: 術), and 'law' (fa). He stressed the importance of the concept of holding actual outcome accountable to speech (Chinese: 刑名 xingming), coupled with the "two handles" system of punishment and reward, as well as wu wei ('non-exertion').
NamesThe exact year of Han Fei's birth remains unknown, however, scholars have placed it at .
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. 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:
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.
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.[8] [3] [9]