Chinese Ethical Philosophies during the Classical Period
This essay examines how Qin Penal Laws reflect the main elements of Legalism and why such beliefs were significant to the Classical Chinese society during the Classical Period. Ideally, Legalism reached its pinnacle in the late 3rd century during the era of the First Emperor of China, when King Zheng of Qin ended the subjugation of “All under Heaven” and formed the First Chinese Empire in 221 BCE (Andrea and Overfield, 2001). King Zheng forced a uniformity of law in the entire empire, which was administered by a bureaucracy that was accountable to the central authority. Visualizing an empire that would exist for centuries, King Zheng majestically styled himself as the Qin Shi Huangdi. The
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Individuals assigned the responsibility of overseeing prisoner activities supervised such workers. The workers were forbidden from entering the market and were to use alternative routes as opposed to passing through the market. During the period when offenders worked for the government, female convicts were given one and a half bushels of grain while the men received two every month. Convicts who were not working were not given anything. Other workers were given bushels of grains, according to the stipulated policies by the administration.
Legalism led to unrestricted government authority, where the ruler needed to be strong and consider the right of the people (Lockard, 2010). The main objective of the Legalists was to maintain stability and unity. Although the Legalists maintained a long-term impact on the politics of China, the Chinese always offset its effects with more humane ideas of the Daoists and the Confucians. During the Classical Era, the Chinese did not follow the philosophy of one concept to the exclusion of others. Legalism became the last major political philosophy to develop during the Classical period in China (Stearns, 2014).
In by reading the Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, I gained a perspective of the people and culture of China. This book showed the analysis of Chinese saw and the background of Chinese history.
After starting the Chinese Empire, Shihuangdi based the empire on a harsh law system called legalism and was also influenced by Confucianism. Since Shihuangdi was the only ruler of the empire, the government was considered a strong central monarchy. When the Chinese empire had a good start, they expanded their territories to northern Vietnam, Korea, and the northwest steppes. Shihuangdi believed the harsher the empire the more respected, so he invested heavily into a strong military army a...
Amidst the chaos of political instability and constant warring of the Zhou era, arose many intellectual thinkers that brought such profound impact in the field of politics, religion and philosophy. Even to the day, their influence can be espied in the many matters of China. Confucianism became the paramount school of thinking and later significant philosophies such as Daoism and Legalism gained immense recognition as well. Each party had their own proposals for creating an idealistic political society where the many problems they faced in their everyday lives could be eliminated. All three approaches were very distinct but at the same time, they contained certain similarities as well. In my reasoning, I find that Confucianism and Daoism could be paralleled in many ways to find several common grounds. On the other hand, Legalism goes on to take a more unique approach which was much different from the previous two.
Respect and education will make the community good, which will eventually lead to expanding the Empire and having more cutting edge ideas. In the other hand, Legalism will only make people have little to no information about how to enhance their environment, and live in the constant fear caused by the rulers brutal ways of dealing with unlawful acts. Though we do not live in a community like this nowadays, it is crucial to notice the way this rationalism works, since it will help create new and revamped forms of government, which will eventually help the human kind move forward. Learning from old mistakes and taking in everything that works can make the world a better place, and Confucianism is a great philosophy apply, develop and learn from since it is not
And some might say that Daoism had a greater impact because some Chinese people still follow Daoism today, such as people in Taiwan. All three of these philosophies (Confucianism, Daoism, and Legalism) had an impact on ancient China. They not only changed the people but also affected the way the government functioned and ruled ancient China. These philosophies provided very different models for society. Some offered a more peaceful and free way of life, while another provided a much harsher and stricter way of life. Of all of them, Confucianism had the greatest impact on ancient China, influencing the culture, government and people, and creating a good model for a peaceful and just society. Many of these principles can still be seen in Chinese culture
A lot of Chinese viewpoint were created early, as culture emerged along the Yellow River before 1000 B.C .E. One such idea strained the significance of agreement in and with environment around the idea of the Way which e may say described a fair and controlled way of life. More recognized systems of attention developed afterward, if we see in the 5th and 6th centuries B.C, for the period of a separated and anxious period of Chinese politics. A variety of thinkers sought way to shore up a physically powerful political system or survive without one. Of the resultant philosophies or religions, Confucianism proved the majority of durable and noteworthy.
Legalist was first proposed by a Qin statesman named Shang Yang and developed by the philosopher Han Feizi who had a big influence during the Warring States Era of China. Legalist played a very important role in ancient China history and Legists believe that human beings are more inclined to do wrong things than right things because they are motivated entirely by their own benefits. It had a positive influence but its development during the Qin Dynasty resulted in “burning of books” which is a disaster for Chinese culture. So the question is: Are there more advantages than disadvantages of Legalist theory’s growth?
It has been said that Legalism takes after Daoism, borrowing some of its well-known ideas such as non-action or the usefulness of being empty. Though Legalism is typically grouped with the other early Chinese philosophers, it is actually quite a different system. Han Feizi’s Basic Writings, an exemplary text of Legalism, is aimed at how to successfully run an empire, and caters to one person in particular: the ruler. On the other hand, writings like the Dao de Jing are aimed more towards the individual and are personable. Still, it’s interesting to note that both texts talk about what it takes to be a good leader. In examining relations between Laozi’s Dao De Jing and Hand Feizi’s Basic Writings, one can extract both similarities and differences between Legalism and Daoism when it comes to how a leader should govern. Daoism and Legalism are similar in the fact that they both believe the leader should practice non-action and emptiness, believe that there should be a natural
In China from ca. 770 B.C.E. – 220 C.C, two magnificent philosophies were introduced to the Chinese civilization. Although Confucianism and Legalism philosophy approaches bare a couple of distinct similarities, the differences between the philosophies are significantly evident. Since we have examined the similarities and differences between Confucianism and Legalism. It’s clear that Confucianism is an ethical and philosophical system that is normally considered one of the world’s religion. Legalism is a political philosophy that does not address higher questions pertaining to the nature and purpose of existence. Just strict and harsh punishments. Even in our modern day these philosophies are still being practices in the Chinese culture. “It does not matter how slowly you go so long as you do not stop.”- Confucius
It is thus rational for us to question the validity of preconditions upon which these ideas were acquired and the legitimacy of the ideas; and later but more importantly, how did the Legalists become the only classical thoughts had its teaching adopted as the sole official doctrine of a regime ruling all China and bring about the unification of China; and lastly, the association of the all-too-soon collapse of the ephemeral Qin Dynasty and the Legalists thoughts.
Confucian culture has persistence, so it does not disappear with the annihilation of the old system. Confucian culture, formed under two thousand years of feudal autocratic rule, not only exists for a long time, but also still has important influence on Chinese contemporary political life and political culture with its strong vitality. The theme of moderation is to educate people consciously to self-improve, self supervise, and self educate, and train themselves have the ideal personality. Fundamentally, the Confucian thinks that the root of governing revolution lies in the will of people, therefore, it should govern from the will of people if it wants to achieve the social governance, which has its profound meaning (Chan, Cho, 2014). The emergence of a lot of social problems, in the final analysis, is due to the lack of governance...
Confucius (551–479 B.C.) was a Chinese philosopher and founder of the Confucian school of thought, which greatly influenced political and social life in China. His teachings are known primarily through the Analects of Confucius, a collection of "brief aphoristic fragments", which was compiled many years after his death. Although he didn’t write any books, his students did the writing based on his teachings and millions of people still rely on Confucius's philosophy as a guide to live. Until the twentieth century, Confucianism was the state religion of China. Confucius (Master K'ung Ch'iu), His philosophy emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. These values gained prominence in China over other doctrines, such as Legalism or Daoism. Legalism was a third Chinese philosophy, a Classical Chinese philosophy that emphasizes the need for order above all other human concerns. At the other extreme was the philosophy known as Legalism. Proponents of Legalism did not concern themselves with Confucian values of ethical and mor...
Huang outlines to reconstruction of the court under Wan-li came into power at the death of his father and the seemingly insignificant actions taken by the emperor, from his marriage to the redecorating of the court. Within the scope of this discourse, Huang is able to disclose the excesses of the emperor, and consider the implications of the bureaucratic system that he devised as an extension of this excess (13).
At the onset of the Early Zhou Dynasty (ca. 10520–500 B.C.E.), the frontier state called Zhou rose against the Shang in about 1050 B.C.E. Here we discover Zhou Politics, Book of Documents that describes Zhou conquest of the Shang as the victory of just and noble warriors. The Shang fell to the Zhou Dynasty, whose first rulers claimed that the Mandate of Heaven had passed to them from the decadent Shang. The Zhou ruled an increasin...
Legal realism defines legal rights and duties as whatever the court says they are. Out of all the legal theories we have examined in class, I personally believe that this is the one that best exemplifies the purpose of law and would best suit and benefit society. The Dimensions of Law textbook defines legal realism as “the school of legal philosophy that examines law in a realistic rather than theoretical fashion; the belief that law is determined by what actually happens in court as judges interpret and apply law.”