Worth Vs. Power: Han Fei’s “Objection to Positional Power” Revisited

2020 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuri Pines
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Warring States Period ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Political Debates ◽  
Han Feizi ◽  
Positional Power ◽  
Political Message ◽  
Chinese Political Thought

AbstractThis article discusses the chapter “Objection to Positional Power” (Nan shi 難勢) of Han Feizi 韓非子. It provides a full translation cum analysis of the text and explores systematically the chapter’s structure, rhetoric, and its political message. The discussion, which contextualizes the chapter’s message within broader trends of the Warring States-period political debates, demonstrates that beneath the surface of debates about “positional power” (shi 勢) versus “worth” (xian 賢), the chapter addresses one of the touchiest issues in Chinese political thought: that of the intrinsic weakness of hereditary monarchy. Furthermore, “Objection to Positional Power” also addresses problems of the meritocratic system of rule and elucidates some of the reasons for Han Fei’s dislike of meritocratic discourse. By highlighting some of the chapter’s intellectual gems I hope to attract further attention to the immense richness of Han Feizi as one of the most sophisticated products of China’s political thought.

Researching the Image of the Yellow Emperor in China’s Early Textual Sources and Archaeological Materials

2017 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 48-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xiaowei Su
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Warring States Period ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Yin Yang ◽  
Archaeological Materials ◽  
Five Elements ◽  
Chinese Political Thought

In China’s early textual sources and archaeological materials, the Yellow Emperor 黄帝 appears in the following three contexts: in genealogical records, among predynastic rulers, and in sacrificial rituals. The earliest appearance of the Yellow Emperor is probably in genealogical records; then, after being an ancestral ruler, he becomes the earliest emperor and a legendary ruler. This demonstrates his shift from an ancestral context to a monarchic context and illustrates the gradual yet colossal shift in ancient Chinese political thought from a system of enfeoffment built on blood relations to a system of prefectures and counties based on regional ties. The image of the Yellow Emperor in the context of sacrifice is closely linked to the yin-yang and five elements theories beginning in the later stage of the Warring States period; as society developed, this image also became associated with a certain Daoist path, thereby acquiring a religious value.

Han Feizi (c.280–233 BC)

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo S. Chang
Keyword(s):  
Warring States Period ◽  
Warring States ◽  
Han Feizi ◽  
Civil Order ◽  
Inter State

Han Feizi was the pre-eminent Legalist philosopher. The work attributed to him, the Han Feizi, is his conscious response to the general breakdown of civil order and the interminable inter-state struggle for survival and conquest during the Warring States period (463–222 bc). However, Han Feizi’s work transcends the particular circumstances that gave rise to it and addresses perennial philosophical issues that continue to remain relevant.

Historiography, thought, and intellectual development during the Springs and Autumns Period

2020 ◽  
pp. 511-527
Author(s):  
Yuri Pines
Keyword(s):  
Political Thought ◽  
Intellectual Development ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Warring States Period ◽  
Historical Knowledge ◽  
Historical Texts ◽  
Warring States ◽  
System P ◽  
Zuo Zhuan

This chapter explores the historiography and political thought of the Springs and Autumns period. It analyzes major historical texts from the period—the Springs and Autumns Annals (Chunqiu) and the Zuo zhuan—addressing their nature, audience, and (especially in the case of the Zuo zhuan) the nature of their primary sources. The multiplicity of genres in the Springs and Autumns period historiography is contrasted with the proliferation of didactic anecdotes as major building blocks of historical knowledge during the subsequent Warring States period. The second part of the chapter explores major aspects of the Springs and Autumns period’s political thought as reflected in the Zuo zhuan. The marked aristocratic nature of this thought is contrasted with major trends of the subsequent Warring States period. The discussion focuses on the views of multistate order, concepts of rulership and ruler-minister relations, and views of social hierarchy and the importance of the ritual system.

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