Feizi 韓非子 in terms of the concept of shi 勢 (circumstantial advantage, power, or authority). This argument is based on the A Critique of Circumstantial Advantage (Nanshi 難勢) chapter of the Hanfeizi, where Han Feizi advances his own idea of shi after criticizing both Shen Dao and an anonymous Confucian. However, there are other primary sources to contain Shen Dao’s thought, namely, seven incomplete Shenzi 慎子 chapters of the Essentials on Government from the Assemblage of Books (Qunshu zhi yao 群書治要) (...) and other fragments preserved in other Chinese texts. This article examines the Shenzi fragments in order to ask whether Shen Dao stresses the concept of shi. (shrink)

From the certainty that the identity of Chinese philosophy seems to need a revision that together with innovative multidisciplinary methodologies predicts heterogeneous but conclusive results, this text expects to review the Chinese analysis of these notoriously paradigmatic changes. On the one hand more general, it appeals to the Chinese particularity and on the other, it is based on three purposes: 1. To achieve the updated analysis from the most current western sinology; 2. To delimit the differential foundations of this tradition, (...) but also; 3. To highlight the progress in methodology and contrastive philosophical paradigm. It is based on four purposes: on the one hand, to achieve the updated analysis from the most contemporary western sinology, also to delimit the distinguishing fundaments of this tradition, and the progress in methodology and contrastive philosophical paradigm, but on the other hand, more general, to appeal to the Chinese distinctive feature. (shrink)

This article attempts to describe the extent to which the Legalist political vision possesses moral concern. Drawing from the Book of Lord Shang and the Hanfeizi 韓非子, I investigate the discipline reinforced by rewards and punishments, the relationship between the state and its subjects, and the interiorization of the law’s production of subject self-determination. With a positive sociological lens, this study guides its discussion utilizing a Durkheimian definition of moral education. I argue that its three elements of morality share a (...) very similar pedagogical quality with the interplay of Legalist law and its reinforcements. Moreover, the effects of rewards prove to play a particularly enhanced role in the cultivation of discipline and commitment to impersonal objectives amongst the populace. (shrink)