Compare Legalism And Confucianism

Chieh Wu
Professor Yulian Wu
September 8, 2016
HIST 105
Confucianism and Legalist Ideas In the ancient times when China was in the period of philosophical ferment, many ideas of governing a society has been established. Because of the harsh environment due to the fact that endless wars that occurred throughout the Warring states period, this era was the golden age of ancient philosophy in China. The influence of the war lead to philosophical ideas being developed and discussed by philosophers all over the country, and eventually, became the hundred schools of thoughts. Many famous philosophers in this period includes Confucius, Mencius, Meng Zi, Han Feizi, and many others. The two ideas that I’m most interest is Confucian and legalist ideas.
These two ideas played a big role when it comes to governing a state, and talks about human nature. Even in the current time period, we are still studying these philosophical ideas. Which one is better? Legalist or Confucian? This question can be answered in many ways depending on what your opinions is. These two ideas have many differences regarding what human nature is and what it takes to organize a society to perfection. In Confucian idea there are several main focuses. The humanity, ritual, royalty, filial piety, relationships, and gentlemen. These themes strongly influences the way that governing a society should be. For example, the master said, “Lead then by means of virtue and regulate them through rituals and they will have sense of shame and moreover have standards”. (Ebrey, Sourcebook, 21) From this text we can learn that Confucianism teaches people to show respect and treat others with Li, or with good manners, and eventually the people you rule will have a sense of what is right and what is wrong. This text also suggests that if we try to rule with policies and regulation and have strict policies, then the commoners will have no shame. In Confucianism’s perspective, humanity is the key to govern a government well. A text that talked about Zigong asking about governing, and the master answered, “Make food supplies sufficient, provide an adequate army, give the people a reason to have faith”. (Ebrey, Sourcebook, 21). From this text we can tell that in order to achieve humanity, a government should provide enough food for the commoners so that they don’t starve, have an army that will do its job to protect the civilians and defend the country, last but not least, give a reason for the citizens to believe that the government will provide the best for everyone. Zigong then asked if two had to be eliminated, what they would be. Confucius said, death has always been something that everyone has been experiencing, nut if the government is not trusted by the people, then they will not stand. In the section of Human nature is bad, it mentioned that people were born with a bad nature. Because of all the desire of money and power, human nature is not good. But this doesn’t mean that humans cannot be good. In order for the people to be good, it requires studying and good education. In my opinion, this suggests that in order for the people to become a good person, the government needs to strengthen the education so that everyone can obtain rituals and moral principles. Overall, Confucian emphasizes on humanity and good humanity equals a successful government. On the other hand, legalist ideas are more extreme and is more focused on policies and punishment.
Not like Confucianism where they believe that humans have the potential to become good if taught right, legalists believe that not only is human nature is bad, moreover, they think it is not possible for them to become good. This is exactly why the government needs policies and punishments to regulate the society. They also believe that because there are so many people out there and not everyone knows how much work the lord has put into governing the country, having good morals is not necessary when it comes to leading the people. Another suggestion form legalists on ruling a state is to have power as a lord. In the section that talked about lords said,” Lord’s lives are endangered and their states perished when high ministers are too honored and the ruler’s attendants are too influential”. (Ebrey, Sourcebook, 34). This idea suggests that if a ruler doesn’t have its power then he will not hold on to his state for long. The text also used tigers and leopards to illustrate that fangs and claws are the reason why tigers and leopards can defeat men, but if you take those away from them, then they will be weak and eventually lose to human. Same for lords, if they do not obtain power and is weaker than the ministers and attendants, then the state will fall. Compared to Confucianism, legalists are less humane and that’s why it is crucial for the ruler to have power so that he can rule his empire. Even though it may sound like legalist is bad because you have punishments, but they also have awards. If you are doing what you are supposed to then you will be awarded, but if you don’t then you will be
punished. In the esteemed scholars section it said,” when a sage rules a state he does not count on people doing good on their own but rather takes measures to keep them from doing wrong”. (Ebrey, Sourcebook, 37). After reading this text I completely agree with this. Even in now a days, crime rate is high with all the law enforcements we have, think about what it was like back then when police force was weak and less developed. If a ruler rules a state by thinking that there are more gentlemen out there than petty people then it would be very difficult because there are relatively small amounts in the country. But on the other hand, if he assumes that most people are bad and have rules, and punishments, then it might be a more effective way of governing. In conclusion, in my opinion, the legalist way of ruling a state is more effective than the Confucian way. They both have advantages, for example, Confucian teaches people how to be loyalty and have humanity. And legalist idea can better regulate rules through punishments. I think that legalist ideas would be more effective because people are more bad than good. With all the ambitions in a person, he can do anything to achieve his goal, meaning more crimes and such. Therefore with the legalist idea, that person would be punished, but from a Confucianism’s perspective, that person will be treated with humanity and no lessons will be learned. Even though Confucianism in my opinion will not be a good guideline for ruling, but it will be a great teaching. If Confucian ideas were taught to people and regulated with legalist ideas, then the world would have peace.

Work Cited
“Confucian teachings.” In Patricia Buckley Ebrey, ed., Chinese Civilization: A Sourcebook (New York: The Free Press, 1993), 17-37.
Confucius, “The Analects: Li-ren,” accessed August 30, 2016, http://ctext.org/analects/li-ren.