Al-Mughni`s testimony was technical, legalistic, convoluted and totally unconvincing. During this time, their thoughts were presented in their articles or other documents, which helped preserve and inherit this school of philosophy in Chinese culture. If he still has time, he can devote it to legalistic discussions, and it wouldn`t hurt. Han Feizi drew on this aspect of Xunzi`s work, as well as earlier writings from the Warring States period in China (c. 481 – 221 BC) by a Qin statesman named Shang Yang (died 338 BC) to develop his philosophy that, since humans are evil by nature, laws of control and punishment are a necessity for social order. Although legalism led to great loss of life and culture during the Qin Dynasty, it is worth remembering that the philosophy that developed in a period of constant war in China, when each state was fighting for control against all the others, and the enforcement of order in this chaos was obviously considered extremely important. They protect against exaggeration and abuse of already defended freedom against legalistic encroachments. However, the days of the domination of legalism in China were over. Koller writes, “The long-term effect of the legalistic emphasis on laws and punishments has been to strengthen Confucianism by making legal institutions a vehicle for Confucian morality” (208).
The vacuum left by the rejection of legalism was filled by Confucianism, which gave Chinese culture a much more convenient and comprehensive view of humanity and the peaceful coexistence of peoples. Law, agriculture and military capabilities should be included in national education; In the meantime, Confucianism and other schools of philosophy should be removed from the curriculum. As a Christian, have you ever been accused of legalism? This word is often misused in the Christian subculture. For example, some people might call John a legalist because they consider him narrow-minded. But the term legalism does not refer to narrow-mindedness. In reality, legalism manifests itself in many subtle ways. The crisis becomes less dangerous when it becomes legalistic and technical. During the Qin Dynasty, all books that did not support legalistic philosophy were burned, and writers, philosophers, and teachers of other philosophies were executed.
The excesses of legalism of the Qin Dynasty made the regime very unpopular with the people of the time. After the fall of Qin, legalism was abandoned in favor of Confucianism, which significantly influenced the development of Chinese culture. Nevertheless, he had risen to great heights of rhetorical and legalistic reason. For more than 200 years, the Chinese people have experienced war as their daily reality, and a legalistic approach to trying to control people`s worst impulses – controlling people through the threat of severe punishment for injustice – would have been the best way to deal with the chaos. Shang Yang`s legalism dealt with everyday situations, but also extended to how to behave in wartime, and he is credited with the tactic of total war, which allowed the Qin state to defeat other warring states in order to control China. And this corresponds to the position that the legalistic opposition had now taken. Confucianism could be openly expressed again during the Han Dynasty. The suppression of legalism and legalistic philosophers reduced the danger of reaffirmation of philosophy and made it possible to explore opposing points of view. However, this does not mean that legalism has disappeared or no longer has an impact on Chinese culture.
Legalism has remained a popular philosophy throughout China`s history into modern times. Whenever a government felt it was losing control, it resorted to a certain degree of legalism. His actions led to the Rebellion of the Seven Estates in 154 BC. Jing`s imperial forces defeated the rebels and restored order, but it was clear that a decentralized state would not work any better for the Han than for the Zhou. Jing centralized the government and introduced other measures to keep states on the right path. The reign of Wen and Jing is often referred to as the “Golden Age” of Han history because of its stability and cultural progress, and had they been weaker monarchs, the Han Dynasty would have ended with the Seven States Rebellion. Legalism is an ancient Chinese philosophical school in terms of law, reform, governance, management, economic regulation, social order, etc. (a self-righteous legalism arises) Page 140: Subconscious altered in subconscious. Emperors and powerful officials should be able to establish systematic rules for governing, controlling, evaluating, forgiving and punishing their subordinates to ensure that each position is well filled by the right person. The Three Kingdoms period following the fall of the Han Dynasty was a period of violence and insecurity equal to the suffering of the Warring States period.
The stability and unity of the Han Dynasty was not restored until many years later by the Sui Dynasty (589-618 AD), which carried out reforms to protect itself from the weaknesses that led to the fall of the Han, while maintaining the aspects that had made the dynasty one of the greatest in China`s history. Therefore, it is more important to develop the economy than to teach people to achieve high morality, as well as to impose explicit sanctions to get rid of bad activities. Click here to read the ideas of Shang Yang, one of the most important classics of Chinese legalism Well, God certainly cares that we obey His commandments. But there is more to history that we dare not forget. God gave laws such as the Ten Commandments in relation to the covenant. First, God was merciful. He delivered his people from slavery in Egypt and entered into a loving and filial relationship with Israel. It was only after this grace-based relationship was established that God began to define the specific laws that pleased Him. I had a graduate professor who said, “The essence of Christian theology is grace, and the essence of Christian ethics is gratitude.” The legalist isolates the law from the God who gave the law. He does not so much seek to obey God or honor Christ, but to obey rules that have no personal relationship. However, Han Fei and Li Si were both disciples of Xun Zi (c. 313 BC – 238 BC), an important and sincere follower of Confucianism.
The Han also restored the cultural values of the Zhou Dynasty, which had been rejected by the Qin, promoted literacy and the study of history. The historian Sima Qian (l. 145/35-86 BC. A.D.) lived during this period, whose notes of the great historian established the standard and form of Chinese historical writings until the 20th century AD. It was also during this period that Chinese mythology and religion developed, including the popular messianic movement that focused on the Queen Mother of the West. Two great intellectual currents came together in the last century to bring America into this state of hyper-legalism. Morality did not bother the legalistic philosophers, for they believed that it played no role in the decision-making process of the people. In legalism, laws guide natural inclinations to improve everything. The person who wants to kill his neighbor is prevented by law, but is allowed to kill other people by joining the army.
In this way, the selfish desires of the person are satisfied, and the state benefits from having a dedicated soldier. Many people think that the essence of Christianity is to follow the right rules, even extra-biblical rules. For example, the Bible doesn`t say we can`t play cards or have a glass of wine with dinner. We cannot make these things the external test of authentic Christianity. This would be a mortal violation of the gospel, because it would replace the true fruits of the Spirit with human tradition. We come dangerously close to blasphemy by distorting Christ in this way. Where God has given freedom, we should never enslave people with man-made rules. We must ensure that we combat this form of legalism. Intellectuals were only allowed to learn the ideology of legalism, which was strictly enforced on a national scale.