Han Fei (about 280 ~ 233 BC) was a Korean at the end of the Warring States period and a master of legalist thought in the pre-Qin period. His thought of rule of law laid a theoretical foundation for the establishment of a unified centralized state in the Qin Dynasty.
Han Fei summed up the historical experience and lessons of the struggle in the early and mid-Warring States period, and thought that "Confucianism confuses the law with literature, chivalrous people use force to prohibit it, and people take the Lord and the Lord" (Wu Note) was an important reason for the disaster. And that private schools and rulers at that time were "double-hearted". This "private school" is a stumbling block for the new landlord class to implement the "rule of law". Therefore, he categorically advocated taking measures such as "banning its activities", "breaking its league" and "dissolving its party", that is, prohibiting the freedom of movement and freedom of speech and association of private schools.
Han Fei severely criticized and attacked other schools besides Legalism, especially Confucianism, which had the greatest influence at that time. He denounced the Confucian dogma of "courtesy, happiness, poetry and calligraphy" and the moral principles of "benevolence, righteousness, filial piety" as "the study of folly and falsehood", "the teaching of poor countries" and "the words of national subjugation", which were the fundamental reasons for the country's poverty, weakness and even national subjugation. In Han Fei's view, the theories of other schools are contradictory, which can only cause people's ideological confusion. If the rulers listen to their opinions at the same time, it will inevitably lead to chaos. Therefore, Han Fei argues that all these contradictory theories can only confuse people and legalists should be respected. In particular, we should prevent ordinary people from being influenced by the thoughts of schools other than Legalists and strictly control their thoughts.
Under the historical conditions at that time, Han Fei's legalist thought represented the interests of the radicals in the emerging landlord class. This is a progressive trend of thought, which has played an important role in establishing a unified political power for the landlord class. However, Han Fei's legalist thought also reflects the reactionary side of the landlord class, that is, the foolish policy of controlling the working people by thought. Han Fei's cultural absolutism is extremely unfavorable to the development of cultural education and the prosperity of academic schools.
Han Fei advocates cultivating "people with wisdom and skills" or "people who can practice the law" (lonely and angry). These "intelligent people" are innovative people who understand and resolutely implement the rule of law, and they are fighters who actively support and fight for the policy of "combining agriculture with combat". Han Fei elaborated on the qualities and abilities that "a person with wisdom, skill and ability to learn the law" must possess: ① Such an innovator must be loyal to the feudal monarch, be able to "get rid of private pleasures, focus on public law", "speak without private opinions, have eyes without private opinions" (the golden mean), and serve the feudal country wholeheartedly. This innovator should have the qualities of "foresight" and "fortitude and frankness" (loneliness and anger). In other words, he should have a progressive view of history and reform ideas in his mind; Have a keen observation of politics; Strong perseverance and straightforward quality in firmly implementing the rule of law.
In order to make the thought of "rule of law" occupy a dominant position in the ideological field, Han Fei inherited and developed the spirit and measures of Shang Yang's "one religion", and thought that in China, the speaker should obey the law, that is, everyone's thoughts and speeches should conform to the spirit of Legalism and abide by the laws of the country. Under the guidance of this thought, Han Fei put forward the famous legalist education program. He said: "Therefore, in the kingdom of the Lord, there are no simple words, and the law is doctrine; Without the words of the former king, take the official as the teacher "("Wu Zhu "). The essence of the so-called "writing without books" and "words without ancient kings" is to abolish and liquidate the cultural classics and moral preaching of ancient slavery, especially the things such as "rites, music, poems and books", "benevolence, filial piety and filial piety" advocated by Confucianism, so as to realize his "legal education" thought. Han Fei inherited and developed Shang Yang's ideological policy of "burning poetry and making laws clear", and took the legal policy of the emerging landlord class as the main content of education. Han Fei's so-called "taking officials as teachers" means selecting and appointing a group of political officials who are loyal to the "rule of law" line of the emerging landlord class and can "understand", "know" and "do" as teachers. The power to interpret and publicize laws and policies is in the hands of strict and carefully selected officials. The line and policy of legalist education formulated by Han Fei served the centralized politics of the feudal landlord class, which was accepted and put into practice by the later Qin Dynasty. He canceled the teaching of cultural knowledge, ignored the special position and role of schools and teachers in education, and violated the objective law of cultural education development. This is a common defect of the pre-Qin legalist education thought.
Under the guidance of simple materialism, Han Fei also opposed the bad study style of blindly worshipping ancient classics and being divorced from reality. He put forward "Distinguish right from wrong by name, and make an assertion by reason" ("Minister of Thieves and Thieves"). In other words, we should follow the consistency of thought and practice to judge "yes" or "no"; You need to "participate" to test whether the words are correct. Han Fei's "participation" is comparison and "investigation" is confirmation; That is to say, in contact with reality, we should acquire knowledge through comparison. For example, he said: to judge the sharpness of a knife, we should not only look at the color, but also pass the test of chopping. Judging a person's ability depends not only on his words and expressions, but also on his actual ability. Han Fei's thought of "taking the exam" has a simple materialistic color.
Han Fei also attaches great importance to training and selecting talents in actual struggle and exercise. He emphasized: "The prime minister must start in the State Council, and the valiant soldier must be born in death" (Constitutional Studies), that is, the prime minister must be promoted from local officials with political experience throughout the country, and the valiant soldier must be selected from ordinary soldiers with practical experience. Han Fei inherited and promoted Shang Yang's policy of attaching importance to the education of "ploughing and fighting". He said: "Rich countries depend on agriculture, but they are far from the enemy." "People within the territory will abide by the law, the actors will take credit, and the brave will do their best. Therefore, nothing makes the country rich, and something makes the army strong "("Wu Zhu "). Cultivating talents through the actual struggle between "ploughing" and "fighting" is an important educational method generally advocated by pre-Qin legalists.
Han Fei, like other progressive figures in history, also has the limitations of his time and class. His theory of "rule of law" serves to maintain and strengthen the rule of the landlord class, and has the side of exploiting and oppressing the working people. He regards the development of history as the creation of a few "saints" and thinks that "people's wisdom cannot be obtained" This ignores the great role of the working people in creating history. He believes that human selfishness is the root of social contradictions, thus covering up the opposition between the exploited class and the exploited class, which is also wrong. However, on the eve of the national unification of the new landlord class, he put forward a progressive political line and some educational views with simple materialism in order to establish and consolidate a unified centralized feudal country, which had a certain influence in the history of ancient education in China.
Bibliography: Rewarding Punishment, Jinling, Jun Chen, Ding Fen, Cautious Law, Agricultural War and Wrong Law. Han Feizi did everything: outstanding talent, five mistakes, treacherous emissaries, raping and robbing ministers, being arrogant and resentful, etc.