The Thought of Norms in Hanfeizi: Study on Ethics, Law, and Logic
Date Issued
2008
Date
2008
Author(s)
Huang, Yu-Yi
Abstract
This dissertation’s study on “the thought of norms in Hanfeizi” is based on reviewing the text of Hanfeizi and other relevant texts of Huang-lao thought. It explores the normative thought of Hanfeizi from three aspects: ethics, law and logic. The main arguments of political philosophy of Fa, Shu, Shih, which generally interest the academic circles, are actually included in the range of the researches in ethics, law and logic. I try to illustrate the differences and sameness between Hanfeizi and western ethics, jurisprudence, as well as logic in the light of comparing the text of Hanfeizi and the thought of ethics, jurisprudence, and logic. The dissertation argues that the thought about the techniques of rulership in Hanfeizi embraces broad normative thought and clarifies the so-called “non-moralist” standpoint that Han Fei contradicted or opposed morality is indefensible. With respect to the issue of origins of morality, I presume Han Fei’s arguments on human nature is a kind of instinctive “viewpoint of natural human nature” rather than a “viewpoint of evil nature”. The thought of legal norms in Hanfeizi reveals the syncretism of western Natural Law and Positive Law, which is a distinctive feature of jurisprudence of Hanfeizi. In addition, this dissertation tries to unravel the question of how to unite public interests with private interests when the lord deliberates upon the equity and generality of laws. As regards the logical norms, Han Fei proposed “the method of tshan (check) and yen (test) to know the real facts” and demanded xing (forms) and ming (names) to be in the correspondent and coherent relationship, which is a kind of viewpoint of truth integrating the correspondence theory and pragmatism in western philosophy. According to this argument, “forbidding debates by laws” is fundamentally practical. Overweighting taking usefulness as the supreme principle of political operation, the purely abstract scientific knowledge and the knowledge of formal logic are insufficiently developed in Hanfeizi. To explore Hanfeizi from ethics, law, and logic pertinently accords Tai Shi Gong’s remark on Han Fei’s thought: his thought expressed the love to xing, ming, fa, shu and based on Huang-lao.
Subjects
Hanfeizi
norms
ethics
law
logic
Type
thesis
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