PHIL 3920 Lecture Notes - Lecture 33: Han Feizi, Taoism, Analects
7 Apr 2017
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Han feizi believes that the development of the intellect will lead to disorder in the state. He establishes a process for leaders to follow, not a self-cultivation guide. Han feizi focuses on his own time period rather than some else"s (or idealizing some else"s for that matter). He also recommends that the ruler cultivates emptiness as to not promote preference (thus, avoiding the situation where ministers would take advantage of of said preferences). Han feizi"s philosophy has elements of xunzi"s philosophy and daoism. Xunzi: human nature is self-interested (bad), and obedient to power. While kongzi believes a virtuous person attains power as other gather to them (analect"s 2. 1 (the pole star)), han feizi believes that power of position does not depend on the moral qualities of the ruler. Kongzi"s study focus is very internal and focuses on oneself, whereas han feizi"s focus is external and doesn"t focus on oneself but rather the state.
