Abstract
This introduction to the volume distinguishes between Han Fei, the man, and Han Feizi, the text purporting to contain his writings. While most modern scholars, including the contributors to this collection, accept the bulk of the Han Feizi as genuine, one cannot simply assume that Han Fei was the author of everything in its pages. Moreover, even if Han Fei is responsible for the lion’s share of the extant Han Feizi, a reader must be careful not to identify the philosophy of Han Fei himself with the philosophy (or philosophies) advanced in the Han Feizi, as though these were necessarily the same thing. What Han Fei said varied with his expected audience, a point that most scholarship on the Han Feizi—from the beginnings right down to the present day—has not taken seriously into account.
The rest of the introduction is devoted to an overview of Han Fei’s political philosophy and unresolved interpretive problems. One specific conclusion is that Han Fei’s political recommendations would not have been considered revolutionary in his own day, but his observations on rhetoric and the philosophy of language were truly unprecedented.
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Notes
- 1.
See Sima Qian 1959: 43.1813–15.
- 2.
See Xu Yuangao 2002: 8.275–81.
- 3.
A synecdoche for the state.
- 4.
Nor do I think the usage of gong in Springs and Autumns of Mr. Lü 呂氏春秋 (e.g., Chen Qiyou 2002: 1.44–46), to which the Han Feizi is often compared, is identical. In Springs and Autumns of Mr. Lü, which envisions a single ruler governing a united and uncontested empire, the interests of the sovereign and those of all humanity begin to converge. Han Feizi still seems to conceive of the ruler as but one competitor among many.
- 5.
The Mohist Canons explain fa as instruments, including “such three things as ideas, compasses, and circles” (Wu Yujiang 1993: 10A.40/42.477 = A 70), that help determine whether something conforms to a standard. An object is round, for example, if it conforms to a circle (Graham 2003: 316–17). The chapter “Standards and Models” (“Fayi” 法儀), similarly, discusses fa as models, inspired by those used by craftsmen, that can be used to bring order to the world (Wu Yujiang 1993: 1.4.29–35). I am grateful to an anonymous referee for suggesting a correspondence between fa in the Han Feizi and Mohist usage.
- 6.
I borrow this phrase from Watson 1964: 81.
- 7.
See Sima Qian 1959: 32.1512.
- 8.
The details of this affair are not found in any source known to me, but there is an interesting passage in the Zuozhuan 左傳 (Yang Bojun 1981: 1157) in which Zihan asks Lord Ping for permission to dispense extra grain in order to save the people during a famine. The similarity to what is said above of Tian Chang seems too uncanny to be coincidental.
- 9.
A similar example: “With respect to dispensing rewards, unlocking discretionary funds, or opening the heaping granaries, all things that benefit the populace must emerge from the lord. Do not allow ministers to privatize rewards” (Chen Qiyou 2000: 2.9.190).
- 10.
The basis of this belief is unknown; some commentators suspect that the text is garbled here.
- 11.
- 12.
Cf. also Chen Qiyou 2000: 17.40.946.
- 13.
Shen Dao alludes to lotteries for horses and fields elsewhere too; little is known about the practice.
- 14.
Consider also: “If [the ruler] has a desire to show off his wisdom and ability, present him with different proposals of the same general type, so as to leave him a wide swath; this will make him support proposals tending toward our side—but pretend that you are unaware, so that he exercises his own wisdom” (Chen Qiyou 2000: 4.12.261; cf. 18.48.1075).
- 15.
Compare Chen Qiyou 2000: 8.23.520.
- 16.
- 17.
The most famous example is probably “There is a constancy to Heaven’s processes” 天行有常, the statement with which Xunzi begins his “Discourse on Heaven” (“Tianlun” 天論; Wang Xianqian 1988: 11.17.306). Another illustrative line comes from the anonymous Guodian text for which the editors chose the (untranslatable) title Cheng zhi wen zhi 成之聞之: “Heaven lays down a great constancy with which to rationalize human relations” 天降大常,以理人倫 (strip 31; Liu Zhao 2003: 137); it quickly becomes clear that this “great constancy” is the dao (Goldin 2005a: 44).
- 18.
I am indebted to Yuri Pines for this observation. Sometimes the compiler is thought to be Liu Xiang 劉向 (79–8 B.C.E.), but the evidence for this is not solid (Lundahl 1992: 73).
- 19.
E.g., The Master of Huainan 淮南子 (Major et al. 2010: 13–22). Similarly, the “Tian Zifang” 田子方 chapter of Zhuangzi 莊子 states that beasts that have attained perfect equanimity “may make small changes but do not lose their great constancy” 行小變而不失其大常也, in other words their most basic patterns of behavior (Guo Qingfan 1961: 7B.21.714).
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Goldin, P.R. (2013). Introduction: Han Fei and the Han Feizi . In: Goldin, P. (eds) Dao Companion to the Philosophy of Han Fei. Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-4318-2_1
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