The formation of the main directions of Chinese philosophy took place at a turning point in the history of China. The era was called "The Warring States" or "Warring States" - "Zhanguo" (453-221 BC). As a result of bloody strife, seven strongest kingdoms stood out: Chu, Qi, Zhao, Han, Wei, Yang and Qin.

The harmony of social relations was violated, people who did not have nobility grew rich, grew the so-called. "strong houses". Chaos and turmoil come to the country and there are no longer the great sages of antiquity - Yao, Shun, Huangdi ("Yellow Emperor", "Yellow Ancestor" - a cultural hero, one of the founders of the Chinese nation - the Hans), capable of returning China to the bosom of universal harmony.

In such an environment, the main schools of philosophical and social thought in China were born. These schools received such a charge of energy (“passionarity”) that they managed to cover all areas of social and spiritual life for several millennia to come.

Confucianism

How to govern the state, how to bring the country into harmony. With Heaven - the highest active-indicating principle of the world? How to eliminate riots, to make the people submissive? Maybe it is worth referring to the "high antiquity", when the people adhered to the most important moral concepts left by the great ancestors and connecting each person with the highest sacred forces of the universe? This is how Confucianism is formed, actually “zhu jia” (lit. - the school of learned scribes), the ancient Chinese philosophical school, then the most influential of the three main philosophical and religious currents (San jiao, lit. - three religions: Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism). Founded by Kung-tzu (or Fu-tzu - “teacher Kun” (551-479 BC), the first Chinese philosopher whose personality is historically reliable. Known to us as Confucius.

The predecessors of the Confucians were people from hereditary bureaucratic families who made a living by teaching ancient books, which eventually formed the Thirteen Books (Shijing - Book of Songs and Hymns, Shujing - Book of History; Liji - Notes on rituals, etc. ).

Confucius also belonged to the class of "learned scribes." In his exposition, Confucianism was an ethical and political doctrine, in which the issues of the moral nature of man, his ethics and morality, family life, and government were central. The starting point is the concept of "heaven" and "heavenly decree". "Heaven" is a part of nature, but also the highest spiritual power that determines nature and man: "Life and death are determined by fate, wealth and nobility depend on the sky." A person endowed by heaven with certain ethical qualities must act in accordance with them, with the moral law (“Tao”) and improve them through training. The goal of cultivation is to achieve the level of a “noble man” (jun-tzu), observing Li etiquette, kind and fair in relation to the people, respectful to the elders and superiors.

The central place in the teachings of Confucius is occupied by the concept of "zhen" (humanity) - the law of ideal relations between people in the family, society and state, in accordance with the principle "What you do not wish for yourself, do not do to others." Humanity-zhen included modesty, restraint, dignity, disinterestedness, love for people, etc., a sense of duty (“a noble person thinks about duty”).

Based on these ethical theories, Confucius developed his political concepts,

advocating a strict, clear, hierarchical division of responsibilities between members of society, for which the family should serve as a model. To ensure perfect order in the Celestial Empire, everything must be put in its place, or “correct the names”, so that “the father is the father, the son is the son, the sovereign is the sovereign, the official is the official.” Ideally, the criterion for dividing people should be the degree of closeness of a person to the ideal of a “noble person” (jun-tzu), and not nobility and wealth. In fact, the class of officials was separated from the people by a "wall of hieroglyphs" - literacy. Proclaiming the value of the interests of the people, the doctrine assumed that they could not do without the guardianship of educated Confucian rulers.

The ruler followed the Heaven, which gave him his Good power (“de”), and the ruler transmitted this power to his subjects.

The main source of information about the teachings of Confucius is "Lun Yu" ("Conversations and Judgments") - records of statements and conversations of Confucius made by his students and their followers. Confucius is buried in a cemetery specially designated for him, his descendants, closest students and followers. His house was turned into a temple of Confucianism, which became a place of pilgrimage. And in modern China, the descendants of the Teacher live, are taken into account and protected by the state.

After his death, the doctrine split into eight schools, importance of which only two have: the idealistic school of Mencius and the materialistic Xunzi.

Mencius defended Confucianism from its opponents - Mo-tzu, Yang Chezhu and others. The innovation that became the basis of his philosophy is the thesis about the inherently good nature of man. Hence - the innate knowledge of good and the ability to create it, the emergence of evil in a person as a result of not following one's own nature, making mistakes or inability to isolate oneself from harmful external influences; the need for a full disclosure of the primordial nature of man, incl. by education to know the sky and serve it. Like Confucius, the Heaven of Mencius is twofold, but first of all, as the highest directing force, which determines the fate of people and the state by influencing the people and the ruler (the Son of Heaven).

Humanity (zhen), justice (yi), benevolence (li) and knowledge (zhi) are also innate in man. Philanthropy and justice are the basis of "humane governance" of the state, the main role in which was assigned to the people, "followed by the spirits of the earth and grain, and the sovereign takes the last place."

As for Xun Tzu, he introduced the ideas of Taoism (in ontology) and legalism (in the theory of state administration) into Confucianism. He proceeded from the concept of "qi" - the primary matter, or material force. It has two forms: yin and yang. The world exists and develops according to natural cognizable laws. The sky is an active natural element of the world, but does not control a person. A person is by nature evil and greedy, it is necessary to influence him with the help of education (li-etiquette) and the law (Confucius rejected the law). Xun Tzu taught about fair laws and orders and love for the people, respect for scientists, honoring the wise, etc. His ideas had a significant influence on the philosophers of the Han period (206 BC - 220 AD), but then until Until the 19th century, the teachings of Mencius dominated.

Confucianism occupied a dominant position under Emperor Wudi (Han Dynasty), when Dong Zhongshu defined human nature as innate, received from heaven. It contains both humanity - zhen, and greed, reflecting the actions of the forces "yin" and "yang" in the sky. In the concept of "three connections": ruler - subject, father - son, husband - wife, the first components correspond to the dominant force "yang" and are a model for the second, corresponding to the subordinate force "yin", which made it possible to use it to justify the authoritarian power of the emperor.

Confucianism - this teaching of extreme conservatism supported the cult of the emperor and took a step towards dividing the whole world into a civilized China and uncultured barbarians. The latter could draw knowledge and culture from one source - from the center of the World, China.

Taoism

Taoism (Chinese: Dao jia - school of Tao), along with Confucianism, is one of the two main currents of Chinese philosophy. It arose in the second half of the 1st millennium BC.

According to tradition, Lao Tzu is considered the founder of Taoism, but Chuang Tzu was its most important thinker. Desiring to raise the prestige of their teaching, the supporters of Taoism declared the legendary hero Huang Di (2697-2598 BC) the founder of the teaching, thanks to which Taoism received the name Huang-Lao zhi xue - the teaching of Huangdi and Lao Tzu.

Classical Taoism is represented by Lao Tzu, Chuang Tzu, Le Tzu and Yang Zhu. It has a naive-materialistic character with the beginnings of dialectics, but elements of mysticism gradually led to the division of Taoism into philosophical (Tao chia) and religious (Tao chiao). The latter formed a kind of "church", the first patriarch of which was Zhang Daoling (34-156). As a religion of spirit communion (and hundreds of spirits were worshiped in various sects, headed by the Heavenly Sovereign - Tian Jun or Lord Tao (Dao Jun), this branch ceased to be philosophical, and the boundaries of the concept of "Tao" became very vague.

The initial idea is the doctrine of Tao - the path, the eternal, unnatural and universal law of spontaneous emergence, development and disappearance of the entire Universe. The “Canonical book about Tao ide” (“Tao de jing”), otherwise “Lao-tsuzi” (“Book of teacher Lao”) is devoted to this, - the fundamental treatise of the philosophy of Taoism. Its author is the semi-legendary Laozi (or Li Er), who supposedly lived in the 6th century BC, earlier than Confucius. Scientists believe that the treatise was compiled in the 4-3 centuries BC. followers of Lao Tzu. They retained its main position and, above all, the doctrine of Tao and Te, the manifestation of Tao. The name of the treatise can also be translated as follows: "The Book of the Path and Glory." This teaching was then developed in Zhuangzi (Master Zhuang's Treatise), although some scholars consider Zhuangzi to be the forerunner of Laozi.

The principle of following the Tao follows from the doctrine of Tao, i.e. behavior that is consistent in the microcosm with Tao as the nature of man, and in the macrocosm with the Universe. Subject to this principle, inaction is possible (“wu wei” - inaction, one of the main ideas of Taoism), which, however, leads to complete freedom happiness, success and prosperity. Any action that is contrary to the Tao means a waste of energy and leads to failure and death. The universe cannot be put in order artificially; for its accession, it is necessary to give freedom to its innate qualities. Therefore, a wise ruler follows the Tao without doing anything to rule the country, and then it prospers, being in peace and harmony.

Tao is obscured by human one-sidedness, while itself has no

distinctions: stem and pillar, ugly and beautiful, generosity and treachery - everything is united by Tao into a single whole. All things are equal to each other, and the sage is free from prejudice and prejudice, looks equally at the noble and the slave, unites with eternity and with the Universe and does not grieve either about life or death, understanding their naturalness and inevitability. Therefore, Lao Tzu rejected the Confucian concept of "philanthropy", considering it to be alien to the essential nature of man, and the requirement to observe it as an unjustified interference in the life of society.

For Taoists, a true person is beyond good and evil, like the world as a void, where there is no good, no evil, no opposites at all. If good appears, its opposite immediately arises - evil and violence. Everything lives in a certain law of "pair births" - things and phenomena exist only as opposites to each other.

And although in Taoism, adherents are not interested in moral and moral quests, there are certain rules of conduct here.

There are five of them: do not kill, do not abuse wine, strive to ensure that speech does not disagree with the dictates of the heart, do not steal, do not engage in debauchery. Observing these prohibitions, one can “concentrate merits and return to the roots”, i.e. reach Dao. Naturalness and abstinence, non-action - this is the perfection of de. “The Tao of the Wise One” is an act without struggle,” wrote Lao Tzu.

Taoism has had a great influence on the development of Chinese culture and philosophy. In the 11th century, a complete collection of works of Taoism "Tao Zang" ("Treasury of Taoist Scriptures") was compiled.

Moism

Moism was founded by Mo Di (Mo Tzu), who was born in the year of the death of Confucius (468-376 BC). Little is known about his life. The book "Mo-tzu" is the fruit of the collective creativity of the Mohists (mo-chia). Contemporaries valued Mohism on a par with Confucianism, called both schools "famous teachings", despite their ideological opposition, testified "to the multitude of followers and students throughout the country."

Mo Tzu remained the only outstanding representative of this school. In his time and later, the school was a well-organized paramilitary organization (its members were apparently from the stratum of wandering warriors). Despite the short duration of its existence, two stages are distinguished in its activity - the early one, when Mohism had a religious coloring, and the later one, when it almost completely freed itself from it. Moism lasted until the end of the 3rd century BC.

The main idea of ​​Mo-tzu is “universal love”, i.e. abstract love of all for all. The sky is a model for the ruler. The sky can serve as a model due to its philanthropy. It “does not want a big kingdom to attack a small one, a strong family oppresses a weak one, so that a strong one robs a weak one ... Heaven does not distinguish between small and large, noble and vile; all people are servants of heaven…”.

Here, the equality of all people before nature, taken in its positive attitude towards man, is correctly noted. However, the Mohists remain within the limits of protophilosophy, like their predecessors: they are unable to overcome anthropomorphism, therefore their sky is capable of “willing” and “not wishing”, it has a will, etc. "Universal love" opposes the Confucian principles of humanity ("zhen"), family relations and the hierarchy of ethics. And a number of provisions of Moism have a "negative" character: "against music" - because it distracts a person from productive and managerial activities; “against fate” - for a person’s life is determined by his actions, and not by inevitable fate; against aggressive wars" - because they are the greatest and cruelest crime. Recognizing the existence of "spirits and ghosts" that can punish evil and reward good, and "the will of heaven" as a guide for people's behavior, Mo Tzu introduced a religious stream into his teaching.

The Mo Tzu treatise also contains questions of logic and epistemology, geometry and dynamics, optics and military defense, machine design, etc.

In questions of cognition, feelings are put in the first place, but in order to become methodical, sensory knowledge must be based on observation. Reflection, although not an independent source of knowledge, is very important in cognition: after all, one must also separate truth from falsehood, and falsehood from truth. Only reflection gives an understanding of the essence of things. At the same time, clarity and distinctness are the criterion and measure of truth.

Since knowledge is deposited in words and concepts, how do they relate? The word is the expression of the concept and is also the subject of knowledge. That. Three objects of knowledge were obtained: things, words and concepts. Mohists also talked about judgments, approaching the discovery of the law of identity of formal logic, speaking like this; Let's not change names, call a tiger a dog. They also thought about causality in the world and in the process of cognition, believing that the latter is primarily the process of revealing the causes of phenomena, things and events.

Legalism

Legalism (from Lat. - clan, law), the teachings of the Fajia school of lawyers, the ancient Chinese ethical and political doctrine of managing a person, society and the state. It arose and took shape in the 6-3 centuries BC. We note such names of legalists as Guan Zhong, Shang Yang, Han Fei, who completed the construction of his theoretical system.

Legalism developed in the struggle against early Confucianism, together with which it sought to create a powerful, well-governed state, but diverging, however, in the justification and methods of its construction. If Confucianism put forward the morality of people, then legalism proceeded from laws and proved that politics is incompatible with morality.

The ruler needs to be well versed in the psychology of people in order to successfully manage them. The main method of influence is rewards and punishments, and the latter should prevail over the former. The strengthening of the state was associated with the development of agriculture, the construction strong army capable of expanding the borders of the country, and the stupidity of the people.

The Legists created the concept of a despotic state based on the equality of all before the law. The exception is the emperor himself, the monarch, the ruler. But government positions should be filled according to ability, not eminence. Hence the ban on heredity of posts. Lawyers introduced mutual responsibility and the practice of mutual denunciation.

In the middle of the 4th century BC. legist reforms were carried out. They went down in history as "Shang Yang's reforms". The book Shang jun shu (Book of the ruler of the Shang region) is associated with this name. He considered it necessary: ​​to have many punishments and few rewards in the state; to punish cruelly, inspiring awe; punish cruelly for petty crimes and divide people with mutual suspicion, surveillance and denunciation.

However, Shang Yang's methods did not take root, and after the death of the ruler of Qin, Shang Yang was executed. However, 125 years later, this Legist program was adopted and implemented in the Qin Empire. Emperor Qin Shi Huang introduced a single legislation for all of China, a single money, a single script, a single military bureaucracy, etc.

This kind of "unification" led to the burning of most books, and hundreds of philosophers were destroyed in the latrines. Such was the first "cultural revolution" in China (213 BC), which brought the "fruits" of despotism: fear, deception, denunciation, physical and mental degeneration of the people.

After only 15 years of existence, the Qin Empire fell, giving way to the Han Empire. The new dynasty restored the old tradition. The destroyed books (among them the Confucian Lun Yu) were restored from memory. In 136 BC. The Han Emperor Wudi raised Confucianism to the level of the state ideology of China, but with an admixture of legalism. In neo-Confucianism, ritual ("li") and law ("tao") merged, and the methods of persuasion and command, coercion and punishment came into a state of balance. At the same time, some philosophical schools (Mohists, the school of names) died, others (Taoists) were considered as unofficial (along with Buddhism that came from India). The pluralism of schools characteristic of the pre-Han period, the struggle of opinions, the non-interference of the authorities in the field of worldview, were never restored until the beginning of the 20th century in China, and legalism ceased to exist as an independent doctrine.

Collier Encyclopedia

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. LEGISM

Legalism, or "school of law", is formed in the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. theoretical substantiation of the totalitarian-despotic government of the state and society, which was the first in Chinese theory to achieve the status of a single official ideology in the first centralized Qin empire (221-207 BC). Legist doctrine is expressed in authentic treatises of the 4th-3rd centuries. BC. Guanzi ([[Treatise]] of Master Guan [[Zhong]]), Shang jun shu (Book of the ruler of [[area]] Shang [[Gongsun Yang]]), Shenzi ([[Treatise]] Master Shen [ [Buhaya]]), Han Fei-tzu ([[Treatise]] of Master Han Fei), as well as less significant due to doubts about the authenticity and content non-differentiation regarding the "school of names" and Taoism Deng Xi-tzu ([[Treatise] ] Master Deng Xi) and Shenzi ([[Treatise]] Master Shen [[Tao]]). In the latent period of the 7th-5th centuries. BC. protolegist principles were worked out in practice. Guan Zhong (? - 645 BC), adviser to the ruler of the kingdom of Qi, was apparently the first in the history of China to put forward the concept of governing the country on the basis of "law" (fa), defined by him as "the father and mother of the people" (Guan -zi, ch. 16), which was previously used only as a definition of the sovereign. Law Guan Zhong opposed not only the ruler, over whom he should rise and whom he should limit in order to protect the people from his unbridledness, but also wisdom and knowledge that distract people from their duties. To counteract vicious tendencies, Guan Zhong, also, apparently, the first, suggested using punishments as the main method of management: "when punishments are feared, it is easy to manage" (Kuan Tzu, ch. 48). This line was continued by Zi Chan (c. 580 - c. 522 BC), the first adviser to the ruler of the Zheng kingdom, according to Zuo zhuan (Zhao-gong, 18, 6), who believed that "the way (tao Heaven is far away, but the path of man is close and does not reach him. He broke the tradition of "judgment in conscience" and for the first time in China in 536 BC. codified criminal laws, ebb in metal (apparently, on vessels-tripods) "code of punishment" (xing shu). His contemporary and also a dignitary of the Zheng kingdom, Deng Xi (c. 545 - c. 501 BC) developed and democratized this undertaking by publishing the "bamboo [[code of]] punishment" (zhu xing). According to Deng Xi-tzu, he expounded the doctrine of state power as a sole implementation by the ruler through the "laws" (fa) of the correct correspondence between "names" (min2) and "realities" (shi). The ruler must master a special "technique" (shu2) of management, which implies the ability to "see with the eyes of the Celestial Empire", "listen with the ears of the Celestial Empire", "argue with the mind of the Celestial Empire". Like Heaven (tian), he cannot be "generous" (hou) to people: Heaven allows natural disasters, the ruler does not do without the application of punishments. He should be "serene" (ji4) and "closed in himself" ("hidden" - cang), but at the same time "majestic-powerful" (wei2) and "enlightened" (min3) regarding the lawful correspondence of "names" and "realities" . In the period from the 4th to the first half of the 3rd c. BC. based on individual ideas formulated by predecessors, practitioners government controlled , and under the influence of certain provisions of Taoism, Mohism and the "school of names" Legalism was formed into an integral independent teaching, which became the sharpest opposition to Confucianism. Humanism, love of the people, pacifism and ethical-ritual traditionalism of the latter were opposed by legalism to despotism, reverence for authority, militarism and legalistic innovation. From Taoism, the legalists drew the idea of ​​the world process as a natural Way-dao, in which nature is more significant than culture, from Mohism - a utilitarian approach to human values, the principle of equal opportunities and the deification of power, and from the "school of names" - the desire for the correct balance of "names" and "realities". These general attitudes were concretized in the works of the classics of legalism Shen Dao (c. 395 - c. 315 BC), Shen Buhai (c. 385 - c. 337 BC), Shang (Gongsun) Yang (390 -338 BC) and Han Fei (c. 280 - c. 233 BC). Shen Dao, originally close to Taoism, later began to preach "respect for the law" (shang fa) and "respect for the power" (zhong shi), since "the people are united by the ruler, and matters are decided by the law." The name Shen Dao is associated with the promotion of the category "shi" ("imperious force"), which combines the concepts of "power" and "strength" and gives content to the formal "law". According to Shen Dao, "It is not enough to be worthy to subdue the people, but it is enough to have power to subdue the worthy." Another major legalistic category of "shu" - "technique/art [[management]]", which defines the relationship between "law/pattern" and "power/force", was developed by the first adviser to the ruler of the kingdom of Han, Shen Buhai. Following in the footsteps of Deng Xi, he brought into legalism the ideas of not only Taoism, but also the "school of names", reflected in his teaching on "punishments / forms and names" (xing min), according to which "realities must correspond to names" (xun min ze shi). Focusing on the problems of the administrative apparatus, Shen Dao called for "elevating the sovereign and belittling officials" in such a way that they would bear all executive duties, and he, demonstrating "non-action" (wu wei) to the Celestial Empire, secretly exercised control and authority. Legist ideology reached its apogee in the theory and practice of the ruler of the Shang region in the kingdom of Qin, Gongsun Yang, who is considered the author of Shang jun shu, the masterpiece of Machiavellianism. Having accepted the Mohist idea of ​​a machine-like structure of the state, Shang Yang, however, came to the opposite conclusion that it should win and, as Lao Tzu advised, stupefy the people, and not benefit them, because "when the people are stupid, they are easy to control "by means of the law (chap. 26). The laws themselves are by no means inspired by God and are subject to change, since "the smart one makes laws, and the stupid one obeys them, the worthy one changes the rules of decency, and the worthless one is curbed by them" (ch. 1). "When the people defeat the law, confusion reigns in the country; when the law defeats the people, the army strengthens" (ch. 5), so the authorities should be stronger than their people and take care of the power of the army. The people must be encouraged to engage in two-pronged the most important thing - agriculture and war, thereby relieving him of innumerable desires. Management of people should be based on an understanding of their vicious, selfish nature, the criminal manifestations of which are subject to severe punishments. "Punishment gives rise to strength, strength gives rise to power, power gives rise to greatness, greatness (wei2) gives rise to grace/virtue (te)" (ch. 5), therefore "in an exemplary ruled state there are many punishments and few rewards" (ch. 7). On the contrary, eloquence and intelligence, decency and music, grace and humanity, appointment and promotion lead only to vice and disorder. The most important means of combating these "poisonous" phenomena of "culture" (wen) is recognized as war, which inevitably presupposes iron discipline and general unification. Han Fei completed the formation of legalism by synthesizing the system of Shang Yang with the concepts of Shen Dao and Shen Buhai, as well as introducing some general theoretical provisions of Confucianism and Taoism into it. He developed the connection between the concepts of "tao" and "principle" (li1), which was outlined by Xun Tzu and most important for subsequent philosophical systems (especially Neo-Confucian): "Tao is that which makes the darkness of things such that determines the darkness of principles. Principles are the signs that form things. (wen) Tao is that by which the darkness of things is formed." Following the Taoists, Han Fei recognized for Tao not only a universal formative (cheng2), but also a universal generative-revitalizing (sheng2) function. Unlike Song Jian and Yin Wen, he believed that Tao could be represented in a "symbolic" (xiang1) "form" (xing2). The grace (de) that embodies the Tao in a person is strengthened by inaction and the absence of desires, because sensory contacts with external objects waste the "spirit" (shen) and "seed essence" (ching3). From this it follows that in politics it is useful to maintain quiet secrecy. We must surrender to our nature and our predestination, and not teach people humanity and due justice, which are as inexpressible as intelligence and longevity. The next extremely short historical period in the development of legalism became for him historically the most significant. Back in the 4th c. BC. it was adopted in the state of Qin, and after the conquest of neighboring states by the Qin and the emergence of the first centralized empire in China, it acquired the status of the first all-Chinese official ideology, thus ahead of Confucianism, which had great rights to it. However, the illegal celebration did not last long. Having existed for only a decade and a half, but leaving a bad memory of itself for centuries, struck by utopian gigantomania, cruel servility and rationalized obscurantism, the Qin empire at the end of the 3rd century. BC. collapsed, burying under its rubble the formidable glory of legalism. Confucianism, by the middle of the 2nd c. BC. achieved revenge in the official-orthodox field, effectively taking into account previous experience through the skillful assimilation of a number of pragmatically effective principles legalist doctrine of society and the state. Morally ennobled by Confucianism, these principles were implemented in the official theory and practice of the Middle Empire until the beginning of the 20th century. Even in spite of the persistent Confucian idiosyncrasy on Legalism, in the Middle Ages, a prominent statesman, reforming chancellor and Confucian philosopher Wang Anshi (1021-1086) included in his socio-political program Legalist provisions on reliance on laws, especially punitive ones ("severe punishments for small offenses"), about encouraging military prowess (y2), about the mutual responsibility of officials, about refusing to recognize the absolute priority of "ancient" (gu) over modernity. At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. legalism attracted the attention of reformers, who saw in it a theoretical justification for limiting the imperial omnipotence by law, consecrated by official Confucianism. After the fall of the empire, in the 1920s-1940s, the "etatists" (guojiazhuyi pai) began to propagate the legalistic apologetics of statehood, and, in particular, their ideologist Chen Qitian (1893-1975), who advocated the creation of "neolegism". Kuomintang theorists led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) also held similar views, declaring the legist nature of state planning of the economy and the policy of "people's welfare". In the People's Republic of China, during the "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius" campaign (1973-1976), the Legists were officially declared progressive reformers who fought conservative Confucians for the victory of emerging feudalism over obsolete slavery, and the ideological predecessors of Maoism.

• - is divided into 4 main stages, covering the period from the time to the VI century BC. e. until the end of the 20th century: Stage 1 is characterized by the dominance of a special cosmogonic teaching, a kind of cult of the sky, which not only...

  Beginnings modern natural science

• - A story with the subtitle "6 pictures instead of a story." Published: Petrogradskaya Pravda, 1923, May 6. Illustrated application. Included in the collection: Bulgakov M., Diaboliad, M .: Nedra, 1925 ...

  Encyclopedia Bulgakov

• - one of the main components of the world history of philosophy, characterized by a pronounced originality ...

  The latest philosophical dictionary

• - Adopted in app. science, the designation of the school fa jia - "lawyers", one of the main. directions of ancient whale. ethical-political thoughtsThe founders of the theory and practice of L. are Guan Zhong, Zi Chan, as well as Li Kui, Li ...

  Chinese philosophy. encyclopedic Dictionary

• - a layer of world culture that has developed in ancient times ...

  Philosophical Encyclopedia

• - "" conditional name of actions, activities carried out by a brokerage firm to prevent the excessive dissemination of confidential information ...

  Economic dictionary

• - Chinese philosophy arose at about the same time as ancient Greek and ancient Indian philosophy, in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. Separate philosophical ideas and themes, as well as many of the terms that formed ...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - The agrarian school is now little known, since the works of its representatives have not been preserved ...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - Military school developed a philosophical doctrine of military art as one of the foundations of social regulation and expression of general cosmic laws. She synthesized the ideas of Confucianism, Legalism, Taoism, "the school of the dark...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - Both in the "axial time" of the origin of Chinese philosophy, and in the era of "the rivalry of a hundred schools", and even more so in subsequent times, when the ideological landscape lost such a magnificent diversity, Confucianism played a central role ...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - Moism was one of the first theoretical reactions to Confucianism in ancient Chinese philosophy...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - The free school is a philosophical direction, represented either by eclectic works of individual authors, or collections compiled from texts by representatives of various ideological ...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - School of vertical and horizontal], which existed in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC, included theorists and practitioners of diplomacy, who worked as advisers to the rulers of the kingdoms that fought among themselves. The greatest...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - The school of names and the more general tradition of bian associated with it in the 5th-3rd centuries. BC. accumulated in the teachings of its representatives protological and "semiotic" problems, partly touched upon in Taoist theory...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - School of dark and light] specialized in natural-philosophical-cosmological and occult-numerological issues. The pair of fundamental categories of Chinese philosophy "yin yang" included in its name...

  Collier Encyclopedia

• - "School of law", is formed in the 4-3 centuries. BC. theoretical substantiation of the totalitarian-despotic government of the state and society, which was the first in Chinese theory to achieve the status of ...

  Collier Encyclopedia

"CHINESE PHILOSOPHY. LEGISM" in books

Chapter 3 Chinese Philosophy

From the book Introduction to Philosophy the author Frolov Ivan

Chapter 3 Chinese philosophy 1. The origin of the universe and its structure According to Western cosmogonic understanding, the beginning of the world is an order imposed from the outside, generated by a transcendent force represented by the Creator or the First Cause. Understanding the beginning of the world,

Afterword: Chinese Philosophy

From the book of Confucius in 90 minutes author Strathern Paul

Afterword: Chinese Philosophy As already noted, the West has never truly understood Chinese philosophy. Of course, many Eastern thinkers have declared it impossible for the Western mentality to grasp the subtleties of which it had no idea. A similar point

2. Legalism and jusnaturalism

From the book Philosophy: A Textbook for Universities author Mironov Vladimir Vasilievich

2. Legalism and jusnaturalism Legalists (from Latin lex - law), as supporters of the positivist doctrine of law (“legal positivism”), deny, as they say, all sorts of false, “metaphysical” provisions about the essence, objective nature, ideas, values ​​of law etc. Right

A. Chinese philosophy

From the book Lectures on the History of Philosophy. Book one author Gegel Georg Wilhelm Friedrich

A. Chinese Philosophy The Chinese, like the Hindus, enjoyed great fame as a very cultured people, but this fame, like the vast numbers of Hindu history, etc., has greatly diminished after we have become better acquainted with them. These peoples were believed to have a very

Chapter 7. CHINESE PHILOSOPHY

From the book Tao of physics author Capra Fritjof

CHAPTER 7. CHINESE PHILOSOPHY When Buddhism first entered China in the first century AD. e., he encountered a culture whose history spanned about two thousand years. In this ancient culture, philosophy reached its peak during the late

Confucianism and legalism

From the book History of the East. Volume 1 author Vasiliev Leonid Sergeevich

Confucianism and legalism Although the Chou people, like the Yin people, idolized the forces of nature, at the head of which they put the Great Sky, their religious system differed markedly not only from the ancient Indian one with its characteristic zealousness of religious search, asceticism and striving for

Confucianism and legalism

From the book History of the Religions of the East author Vasiliev Leonid Sergeevich

Confucianism and Legalism The process of turning Confucianism into the official doctrine of the centralized Chinese empire took considerable time. First, it was necessary to develop the doctrine in detail, to achieve its dissemination in the country, which was successfully carried out.

Legalism

From the book Ancient East author Nemirovsky Alexander Arkadievich

Legalism In the era of the "Warring States" and during the Qin dynasty in ancient China, a special political and philosophical school developed - Legalism (Fa Jia). In contrast to Confucianism, which proceeded from moral principles, legalism insisted on the need for strict laws under

Confucianism and legalism

From the book Cults, Religions, Traditions in China author Vasiliev Leonid Sergeevich

Confucianism and Legalism The teachings of legalists-legists (fa-jia) and the role played by them in the history of China have recently attracted close attention of specialists. In a series of articles published on this topic by G. Creel convincingly shows how the teaching

Taoist Philosophy and Chinese Tradition

From the author's book

Taoist Philosophy and the Chinese Tradition The story of the convergence of Taoism with doctrines more closely associated with Chinese tradition is of particular interest. Sinologists dealing with this problem sometimes differ greatly in their opinions. Go Mo-jo, for example, in one of his

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY

From the book The Newest Philosophical Dictionary author Gritsanov Alexander Alekseevich

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY is one of the main components of the world history of philosophy, characterized by a pronounced originality. Radical demythologization was carried out in ancient Chinese culture, as it were, from within mythological consciousness - through rethinking

Chinese medicine and Chinese philosophy

From book 2 in 1. Massage. The Complete Guide + Healing Points of the Body. Complete reference the author Maksimov Artem

Chinese Medicine and Chinese Philosophy Ancient Chinese philosophy viewed the human body as a miniature universe. It was believed that all the processes occurring in it, as well as diseases, are associated with the interaction of five creative elements (wood,

301. CHINESE CRESTED DOG (Chinese hairless dog)

From the book Encyclopedia of the Dog. Decorative dogs. by Punetti Gino

301. CHINESE CRESTED DOG (Chinese hairless dog) Origin. There is no exact data on the origin of this breed. However, some experts doubt the Chinese origin of this breed, suggesting that their homeland is Ethiopia or

PART I CHINESE PHILOSOPHY

From the book Volume 3. At the Gates of Silence [The spiritual life of China and India in the middle of the first millennium BC] the author Men Alexander

PART I CHINESE PHILOSOPHY

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY

From the book History of Religion in 2 volumes [In Search of the Way, Truth and Life + Ways of Christianity] the author Men Alexander

CHINESE PHILOSOPHY On the banks of the Yellow River China, VIII-VI centuries. BC A tall yellow-faced old man with a long beard, thick black eyebrows and a bare knobby skull. This is how Chinese artists captured it. Often he was depicted sitting on a bull, which carried him away

Legalism (the school of fajia - lawyers) became a doctrine with a pronounced political orientation in ancient China, which arose and took shape in the 6th-3rd centuries. BC. Its adherents are often called legalists, bearing in mind the fact that the principles of state administration developed by them were based on a system of strict laws, severe punishments and awe-inspiring punishments, through which alone it was possible, according to legists, to govern the state, maintain order in it and calm.

In contrast to Confucianism, which gave primacy to moral conviction in politics, the Legalists advocated strict regulation of socio-political processes through legal coercion. They opposed the naive ideas of Confucius about the state as a big family with their doctrine of the state as a soulless, well-oiled mechanism.

“The place of virtuous sages,” notes A.N. Chanyshev, - the officials took the place of the ruler, the father of his people, - a despot-hegemon who fancied himself above the ancestors, the people and the sky itself. The highest goal was the external goal of the victory of his kingdom in the struggle of the kingdoms, the conquest of other kingdoms and the reunification of the Celestial Empire and China. For the sake of this, all sorts of excesses were expelled, art was abolished, dissent was suppressed, philosophy was destroyed. Everything was simplified and unified ... agriculture and war are the main things on which the state should rely and for which it should exist.”

In the political doctrine of legalism, the contours of future theories of totalitarianism are visible. The conviction shared by legalists that there is not and cannot be a more reliable way of regulating socio-political processes than brute force will repeatedly appear and inspire the creators of repressive regimes in different countries and in China itself. What is the famous saying of Mao Tse-tung “a rifle gives rise to power”, “war is a continuation of politics”, which peculiarly adopted parts of the teachings of the Legalists and offered to “destroy rifles with the help of rifles”.

The most significant figures among the Legists were Shang Yang (390-338 BC) and Han Fei-zi (c. 280-233 BC). These thinkers got the opportunity to influence big politics, the first as an adviser to the ruler of the Qin kingdom, the second by becoming a confidant of Emperor Shin Huangdi (259-210 BC), who in 221 BC. managed to unite the kingdoms that fought with each other under their rule and create a centralized despotic empire of Qin, about which the ancient Chinese historian Sima Qian said: "The dynasty walked with a firm step, relying on antiquity." Both legists suffered a sad fate. As soon as Shang Yang's patron died, he was executed at the request of the people. In turn, Han Fei-tzu committed suicide, most likely unable to withstand the atmosphere of cruelty of violence and cruelty planted in the country with his active participation.

The Book of the Governor of the Shan Region (Shan jun shu), attributed to Shang Yang or his followers, became the main canon of the Legist school, playing a large role in the formation of the imperial system of government in China.

The book disputes the basic principles of Confucian doctrine of government. In contrast to it, a theory of political activity is put forward and substantiated, based on the use of brute force methods, which are based on detailed laws on punishments: Eloquence and a sharp mind contribute to unrest; ritual and music promote licentiousness; kindness and philanthropy are the mother of offenses; the appointment and promotion of (virtuous people) is the source of vice ... where people are treated as virtuous, offenses are hidden, where people are treated as vicious, crimes are severely punished. When transgressions are hidden, the people have conquered the law; when crimes are severely punished, the law has conquered the people. When the people overcome the law, disorder reigns in the country; when the law conquers the people, the army is strengthened. That is why it is said: “If you manage people as virtuous, then unrest is inevitable and the country will perish; if people are ruled as vicious, then an exemplary order is always established and the country reaches power ... ".

Punishments should be severe, ranks of nobility honorable, rewards insignificant, and punishments that inspire awe ... ".

“People inherently strive for order, but their actions create disorder. Therefore, where people are severely punished for minor offenses, offenses disappear, and serious (crimes) simply have nowhere to come from. This is what is called "cleaning up before the riots break out." Where people are severely punished for grave crimes and lightly punished for minor offenses, not only will grave crimes be prevented, but minor offenses will also be prevented. Therefore, if severely punished for minor offenses, the punishments themselves will disappear, affairs in the country will develop successfully and the state will become strong. If severe punishment is severely punished for serious crimes and mildly punished for petty offenses, then, on the contrary, the number of punishments will increase, troubles will arise and the state will be dismembered.

Like Shang Yang, Han Fei-tzu rejected the ideas of Confucius and his followers about governing the state through philanthropy, based on the modernized mores and customs of antiquity. He believed that the initially evil nature of people is ineradicable, it can be curbed only by cruel coercion to strict observance of the law, which must be guarded by a strong centralized authority.

“If laws and punishments,” he declared, “are strictly observed, tigers turn into people and take on their former appearance ... Without universal respect and severity, without rewards and punishments, even the ancient wise rulers Yao and Shun could not rule.”

In order to “extirpate the slightest evil”, to achieve the state goal, Han Fei-tzu believed, any means are acceptable, up to denunciation: “people must be forced to monitor each other’s moods. How do you get them to follow each other? It is necessary to oblige the villagers to inform on each other.

“The main thing for a ruler, if not the law, then the art of government. The law is what is written in the books kept in the government chambers and what is announced to the people. The art of government is hidden deep in the heart and is used to sow distrust among dignitaries who have opposing opinions and secretly manage them. The law should be clear and understandable to everyone, and the art of government should not be shown at all.

The Legalist school proclaimed the primacy of state interests over the requirements of tradition and ethical postulates. Legists sought to replace the hereditary feudal hierarchy with a system of government based on officials appointed by the ruler. If Confucianism put forward the moral qualities of people, then legalism proceeded from laws and proved that politics is incompatible with morality. The ruler needs to be well versed in the psychology of people in order to successfully manage them. The main method of influence is rewards and punishments, and the latter should prevail over the former. The central place in the program of the legists was occupied by the desire to strengthen the state, through the development of agriculture, building a strong army capable of expanding the country's borders. The teachings of the Legists played a decisive role in the formation and further strengthening of the centralized Chinese state.

Starting from the III century. BC, there is a process of merging legalism and early Confucianism into a single doctrine. One of the representatives of this teaching, Xun Tzu, revised the teachings of Confucius, supplementing it with the ideas of legalism. At the heart of his teaching is the thesis “man is evil by nature”, and he becomes virtuous as a result of practical activity. To overcome the original evil, a person must be trained and educated with the help of classical texts and moral principles and controlled through punishments and ritual norms. Xun Tzu compared the ruler to a boat, and the people to water, which can both carry the boat and overturn it, emphasizing there the need for the ruler to seek the favor of the people.

One way or another, they correlated with the Vedas, then in China the confrontation with Confucianism was significant. True, in India, the division into separate schools did not lead to official recognition of the priority of any one of the philosophical directions, while in China in the II century. BC e. achieved the official status of the state ideology and managed to preserve it until the European Modern Age. Along with Confucianism, Mohism and Legalism were the most influential in the rivalry of the “hundred schools” (as the Chinese, in their characteristic form, designated the activity of the philosophical life of those times).

In the history of philosophy as a science, there is still no generally accepted criterion for the periodization of Chinese philosophy. There are several reasons for its periodization.

In accordance with the European tradition of highlighting the main eras, four periods of development of Chinese philosophy:

• ancient (XI - III centuries BC);
• medieval (III century BC - XIX century);
• new (mid-19th century - May 4, 1919);
• the latest (from 1919 to the present).

Chinese philosophy has more than two and a half millennia. By 221 BC. e., when the Qin dynasty united China, there were different philosophical currents in the country, with the main schools of Confucian and Taoist schools that arose in the 6th century BC. BC e.

Chinese philosophy can be summed up in two words: harmony and tradition. Both in and in the red thread runs the idea of ​​​​harmony with nature and universal interconnection. Wisdom is drawn precisely in these concepts, without which a harmonious life is unthinkable. Unlike Western philosophy, the concepts of which are based on the premise of the separation of the world and God, when the events that occur are determined by the higher will, the Chinese draw inspiration from a sense of the harmony of what is happening. Even when the terms heaven or fate are used, they are used more to describe the surrounding reality, and not to identify some higher reality.

Another feature that characterizes Confucianism is adherence to traditions and stability. Filial piety and holiness of any undertaking undertaken by the previous generation becomes an unshakable norm of behavior. The wisdom accumulated in the past is taken as a basis, which in turn gives rise to social stability and the immutability of the class structure of society.

In Chinese history, from the 14th to the beginning of the 20th century, the social life of the Celestial Empire was strictly regulated, and Confucian ideas dominated the public mind. With the advent of the communists, traditional values ​​were declared feudal vestiges, and the principles of Confucius were destroyed.

Chinese way of thinking is a bizarre mixture of what in the West are called metaphysics, ethics, and. In the collection of sayings of Confucius you will find many recommendations and moral teachings, along with a huge amount of vague discourse on the topic of personality and social behavior.

So, consider the two major philosophical schools of ancient China: Confucianism and Taoism.

Confucianism

The founder of Confucianism was an ancient Chinese philosopher Confucius(Kung Fu Tzu, 551 - 479 BC). A follower of Confucius made a huge contribution to the formation of this doctrine. mencius(372 - 289 BC). The main text of Confucianism is the "Tetrabooks", which includes the collection of speeches of Confucius "Lun Yu", as well as the books "Mengzi", "The Teaching of the Middle" and "The Great Teaching".

Philosophy of Ancient China: Confucianism, Taoism and Legalism

The philosophy of ancient China was based on ideas about such entities as Dao- world law; the way in which the world develops; a substance that does not need any other reasons is the basis of being; two opposite interdependent beginnings of being: Yin - masculine, active principle (of a spiritual nature), and Jan- feminine, passive beginning (of a material nature); five elements - fire, earth, metal, water, tree(in other cases, the place of the earth is occupied by air).

The most significant philosophical schools of ancient China are considered Taoism, Confucianism, legism, moism.

Rice. Ontological views of the philosophers of ancient China (on the example of Taoism)

Taoism

The founder is Lao Tzu(in different translations - "Old teacher", "Old wiser", "Old child"), who lived at the end of the 6th - beginning of the 5th century. BC. The main provisions of his teachings mhyuzheny in the philosophical treatises "Daodejii" (Teaching about Tao and Te). The most famous followers of Lao Tzu are Chuang Tzu, Le Tzu. Yang Zhou (IV - III centuries BC).

Along with Tao, another fundamental concept of Taoism is De- a kind of manifestation of Tao - energy, grace emanating from Tao, a way of transforming Tao into the surrounding world. Also central to Taoism is the concept of Neither(in the "Daodejing" it is absent) - the initial Chaos, the substance of the Universe.

Tao is the way, the law and the ideal substance of the Universe, in which it manifests itself through Te, transforming the initial chaos into a strict order, the familiar world. Therefore, everything in the world, subject to a single law, is interconnected, hierarchical. In this system Human takes his modest but rightful place: he obeys the laws Earth that obeys the laws Heaven, in turn strictly following the laws of Tao.

Tao is internally contradictory, dialectical: separate from everything and at the same time all-penetrating; constantly and unchangeably, and at the same time changeable, as a result of which the world is changeable; fundamentally unknowable and yet accessible to comprehension; generative nothingness(unnamed) and Being bearing the same name.

Qi generates the opposite Yin and Yang, the interaction of which forms the elements - fire, earth, metal, water, wood and the whole world, represented by objects, things that are the result of the interaction of the elements. Single objects, thus, are formed from Qi and dissolve in it after their destruction.

The emergence and disappearance of the world, the formation and destruction of its individual things are subject to the single and unshakable law of Tao, therefore, a person cannot influence objective processes, including social ones, he is just a particle, one of the manifestations of the universal “matter”. Therefore, the most correct attitude to the world, reflecting the highest wisdom. - non-action, silent peace (knowing - is silent, speaking - does not know). This is the rule for all people. The best ruler is an inactive one. whose people only know of its existence.

Socio-ethical and legal aspects Taoism is expressed in the order of obedience of subjects to the ruler, submission to their laws, compliance of people with each other. True happiness is the knowledge of the truth, which is possible with liberation from passions and desires.

Confucianism

Founder of Confucianism Kung Fu Tzu(or Kong Tzu; in European transcription Confucius), who lived in 551-479. BC. The main source from which the teachings of Confucius are known is the book Lun Yu (“Conversations and Judgments”) compiled by his followers.

The teachings of Confucius are primarily social and ethical in nature, but it has an ontological aspect. In accordance with the cultural tradition of China, it is believed that all things and phenomena in the world strictly correspond to their names. The distortion of names or the misuse of things leads to disharmony, including in society. Therefore, Confucius believed, it is necessary to bring things and their names into line with each other; "The ruler must be the ruler, the minister must be the minister, the father must be the father, the son must be the son." Often people only formally occupy a position, have a visible social status, in fact they are not able to fulfill the responsibility assigned to them.

The social and ethical ideal of Confucianism is the "noble husband", which combines humanity - "zhen", filial piety - "xiao", knowledge and strict adherence to the rules of etiquette - "li", justice and a sense of duty - "i", knowledge of the Will of Heaven - "min". A noble husband is demanding of himself, responsible, worthy of the highest trust, ready to sacrifice himself for the good of other people, he has good relations with those around him, his life and death is a feat, he bows before Heaven, Great people, Wisdom.

In contrast to him short person demanding of others, thinks only of his own benefit, petty, cannot and does not strive for mutual understanding with people, does not know the laws

Heaven, despises Great people, does not listen to Wisdom, ends his life in disgrace.

Nevertheless, government should not be rigid. Confucianism placed its hopes primarily on the moral foundations of man, on his soul and mind.. If you rule by law, settle by punishing, then the people will beware, but they will not know shame. If you rule on the basis of virtue, settle according to ritual, the people will not only be ashamed, but will also express humility. The relationship between emperor and subjects should be (on both sides) like that of a father and children: principled and perhaps harsh, but not cruel on the part of the emperor, strictly respectful, consciously submissive on the part of subjects. Any leader should honor the emperor, follow the principles of Confucianism, manage virtuously, take care of subordinates, possess the necessary knowledge (be a professional), do only good, quickly convince rather than force.

All people, without exception, must behave in accordance with the "golden" rule of ethics: do not do to others what you do not wish to yourself.

Later, Confucianism acquired some features. In modern times, it is until the middle of the 20th century. was the official ideology of China.

Legalism

The most striking figures among the founders of legalism are considered Shang Yang(390-338 BC) and Han Fei(288-233 BC).

The name of the doctrine comes from the Latin legis genitive case lex - law, right. Legalism - the teaching of lawyers - Fajia. The subject of legalism like Confucianism, government. But these schools actively competed with each other.

Legists considered a person initially unkind, vicious, selfish; interests various people and groups are contradictory. Therefore, the main lever for controlling people is their fear of punishment. Management in the state should be tough, but in strict accordance with the laws. In fact, the legalists were supporters of an autocratic regime, but their position was consistent.

The state must provide rigid hierarchy, maintaining order through violence. It is necessary to periodically change the composition of officials, guided by the same criteria for all of their appointment, rewarding, promotion. It is necessary to ensure strict control over the activities of officials, exclude the possibility of "inheriting" positions (which was customary for China), protectionism.

The state should interfere in the economy and in the personal affairs of citizens, encourage law-abiding citizens and strictly punish the guilty.

Legalism found many supporters in Ancient China; in the era of Emperor Qin-Shi-Hua (3rd century BC), it became the official ideology. Along with other philosophical and legal schools, he had a great influence on the formation of Chinese culture and the Chinese state.

Later, in the Middle Ages, Chinese philosophical thought was influenced by . The traditional teachings of China continued to develop, in particular, Neo-Confucianism, which arose at the beginning of the first millennium AD. At present, Chinese philosophy continues to play an important cultural function in China, Southeast Asia and has a significant impact on world culture.

LEGISM (legisme, legalism) is the designation of the school of fa jia, “lawyers”, one of the main directions of ancient Chinese ethical and political thought (from Latin lex, genitive case, legis – law), accepted in Western science. The founders of the theory and practice of legalism are Guan Zhong (late 8th–7th centuries BC), Zi Chan (6th century BC), as well as Li Kui, Li Ke (perhaps they are the same person) , Wu Qi (4th century BC). Shang Yang, Shen Tao, Shen Buhai (4th century BC) and Han Fei (3rd century BC; see Han Feizi) are recognized as the greatest theorists of Legalism.

The doctrine of legalism is based on the doctrine of the supremacy of a single legal law (fa) in the life of the state. The creator of the law can only be an autocratic ruler. Unlike whether-decency laws can be changed and revised in accordance with the needs of the moment. Other important aspects of legalism are the teachings about shu - the "art" of political maneuvering, primarily control over officials, and about shi - "power/violence" as a guarantor of governance based on the law. The ethical and political constructions of the Legalists were often supported by natural-philosophical ideas of a Taoist nature.

Legalism theorists created a coherent concept of a despotic state, functioning under the condition of the unlimited power of the ruler, who alone manages a unified administrative apparatus. They proposed the idea of ​​state regulation of the economy, Ch. O. through measures to encourage agriculture and streamline taxation, a system of centralized state administration based on the principle of regular administrative division, the appointment of officials by the ruler instead of the traditional inheritance of posts, the principle of assigning ranks of nobility, awards and privileges for specific merits (primarily in military affairs), control over the way of thinking subjects, censorship over officials, a system of mutual responsibility and group responsibility. Objectively, political practice in line with Legalism led to the limitation of the influence of the hereditary nobility and the destruction of some of the functioning mechanisms of traditional patronymy, which prevented the exercise of the sole power of the monarch, as well as to the strengthening of the role of regular administration.

According to the doctrine of legalism, the relationship of the ruler with the people can only be antagonistic. The task of the sovereign is to "weaken the people." To do this, it is necessary to limit his education and make the well-being of his subjects dependent on autocratic power. The key to the power of the state and strengthening the power of the ruler is the concentration of efforts on the development of agriculture and the conduct of wars. Moral norms, traditions and culture must be outside the mind of the subject, because distract him from his main duties to the sovereign. The management of the people and bureaucracy should be based on the main imperative of human activity - "the desire for profit." Therefore, the legalists considered rewards and punishments to be the main methods of management, with the latter dominating and maximally strict. The main measure of human dignity is devotion to the sovereign, unquestioning obedience to the law and military merit, which should be considered the basis for appointment to positions and conferring ranks of nobility. However, the ruler should not trust even the most worthy: it is necessary to encourage denunciation, to be vigilant and ruthless, not to transfer even a fraction of his power to his subordinates. At the same time, in matters of administration, the doctrine of legalism prescribes to be guided not by personal whims, but only by “great benefits” for the state, taking into account the interests of subjects, primarily material ones.

The main ideological rival of Legalism was Confucianism. The fight against it permeates all stages of the formation and evolution of legalism as an independent ideological trend. The first stage (7th-5th centuries BC) is marked by the reforms of Guan Zhong in the kingdom of Qi, aimed at introducing uniform legislation and limiting the rights of the hereditary aristocracy. At the second stage (4th-1st half of the 3rd century BC), the teachings of Shang Yang, Shen Buhai and Han Fei, who completed the detailed development of the legalism doctrine, were created. In the same period, for the first time, a tendency towards a theoretical synthesis of Confucian and Legalist doctrines, which was realized in the teachings of Xun Tzu, clearly manifested itself.

The third stage in the history of legalism was the most significant, despite the brevity: in 221-207 BC. legalism became the official ideology of the centralized Qin empire and the theoretical foundation of the state administration system. Qin Shi Huang pursued a deliberate policy of restricting those areas of culture that threatened the dominance of the Legalist ideology. In 213 BC an imperial decree was executed on the burning of humanitarian literature stored in private collections, with the exception of divinatory texts, books on medicine, pharmacology and agriculture (literature in state archives was preserved). 460 Confucian scholars were buried alive in the ground, big number their like-minded people were exiled to the border regions.

The system of government created by Qin Shi Huang was unable to ensure the preservation of the Qin empire after his death. K ser. 2 in. BC. as the influence of the bureaucracy, which needed an ideological justification for its place in society, increased, interest in Confucianism revived at the court. Confucian-oriented thinkers were looking for ways of ideological synthesis with legalism, which increased the social role of bureaucratic institutions unprecedentedly, but severely limited the status and rights of officials in favor of the autocrat. In the writings of the “father” of orthodox imperial Confucianism, Dong Zhongshu, legalists are held responsible for all the troubles that have befallen the country, incl. for the ruin of farmers, the increase in the amount of land in private ownership, the increase in taxes, the arbitrariness of officials, etc. However, the political program of Dong Zhongshu himself was strongly influenced by the ideologists of legalism. He considered it possible to use violence for the purposes of administration, the use of the legalist system of rewards and punishments. Han Confucianism borrowed from Shang Yang the idea of ​​social mobility, replacing devotion exclusively to the ruler with faith in the omnipotence of Confucian teachings.

In the Middle Ages, legalistic doctrines were repeatedly addressed by the authors of reform projects aimed at strengthening state organization. However, in general, the attitude of Confucians towards the ancient ideologists of legalism remained negative.

In con. 19 - beg. 20th century legalism attracted the attention of individual leaders of the reform movement. For example, Mai Menghua, a student of Kang Yuwei, saw in the teachings of Shang Yang the idea of ​​limiting the power of the emperor within the framework of the law. In his opinion, the reason for China's backwardness is the lack of rule based on the law. In the 1920s–40s. statists became preachers of the ideas of legalism, aiming to strengthen the structures of the national state. Thus, Chen Qitian considered it necessary to directly borrow from legalist theorists in order to create a "new legalist theory". First of all, he was impressed by the ideas of strong power, a strong ruler and mutual responsibility. TO economic doctrines Guan Zhong and Shang Yang were repeatedly approached by the leaders of the Kuomintang, incl. Chiang Kai-shek, who argued that the Legist doctrine of state intervention in economic life marked the beginning of economic planning and the policy of "people's welfare". In 1972–76, the CCP used an apology for the ideals of Legalism in the course of the ideological campaign of "criticism of Lin Biao and Confucius." Legists were announced as supporters of "modernity" and reforms, Confucians - champions of "antiquity", which meant the practice and theory of "building socialism" before the "cultural revolution" of 1966–69; the confrontation between Confucianism and legalism was interpreted as a clash of ideologies, respectively, of the slave-owning and feudal society that was replacing it.

L.S. fractures

New Philosophical Encyclopedia. In four volumes. / Institute of Philosophy RAS. Scientific ed. advice: V.S. Stepin, A.A. Huseynov, G.Yu. Semigin. M., Thought, 2010, vol.II, E - M, p. 382-384.

Literature:

Rubin V.A. Problems of development of the political thought of ancient China in the book of L. Vandermersh "The Formation of Legalism". - "Peoples of Asia and Africa", 1968. No. 2;

He is. Personality and power in ancient China. M., 1993;

Vasiliev L.S. State and private owner in the theory and practice of legalism. - In: 5th Scientific Conference "Society and State in China", c. 1. M., 1974;

Perelomov L.S. Confucianism and legalism in the political history of China. M., 1981;

Lidai fa jia zhuzuo xuanzhu (Selected works with commentaries by legalists of various eras). Beijing, 1974;

Qi Li, Fa jia renwu ji qi zhuzuo jianjie (A brief introduction to the representatives of legalism and their works). Beijing, 1976;

Creel H.G. Fa-chia: Legalists or Administrators. – The Bulletin of the Institute of History and Philology Academia Sinica, v. 4. Taibei, 1961;

Tung-Tsu Ch "u, Law and Society in Traditional China. P., 1961;

Wu T.C.H. Chinese Legal and Political Philosophy. – Philosophy and Culture East and West. Honolulu, 1962;

Vandermeerseh L. La Formation du legisme. Recherce sur la constitution d'une philosophie politique caractéristique de la Chine ancienne. P., 1965;

Creel H.G. The Origins of Statecraft in China. Chi., 1970;

Rubin V. Ancient Chinese Cosmology and Fa-chia Theory. – Explorations in Early Chinese Cosmology. L., 1984.

See also lit. to Art. Guan Tzu, Han Fei Tzu, Shang Jun Shu.