Writing on Power and Law
Wrote a series of brilliant, cold essays on statecraft. Rulers should trust systems, not people. Reward and punishment are the only reliable tools. Morality is a luxury the state cannot afford.
Han Feizi was a prince of the small state of Han and a student of Xunzi. He stuttered and could not speak persuasively, so he wrote instead, producing the clearest and most ruthless political philosophy in Chinese history. He argued that rulers should rely not on the virtue of their ministers but on a system of rewards and punishments so precise that personal goodness becomes irrelevant. The King of Qin read his work and conquered China using his ideas. Han Feizi himself was imprisoned and forced to take poison by his former classmate Li Si.
Wrote a series of brilliant, cold essays on statecraft. Rulers should trust systems, not people. Reward and punishment are the only reliable tools. Morality is a luxury the state cannot afford.