Shang Yang Han Fei Legal Thought Is A Comparative Study

Shang Yang and Han Fei are representative legalists, and their legal thought has influenced Chinese traditional cultures. Scholars emphasize their thought in history.ShangYang is one of representative legalists in the early warring period, and Shang-chun shu is a basic classic reflecting Shang Yang' s thought. Shang Yang is a initiator of attaching great importance to law,. Han Fei is a representative legalist in the late period, and he absorbs and combines the theories of ShangYang' s law, Shen Buhai ' s tactics and Shen Dao' s authority, and systematically forms the combined legalist thought of "law" "tactics" "authority".Being two representative legalists, there are both similarities and differences between them. As for the construction of their thought, Shang Yang attaches great importance to laws, but pays little attention to tactics and authority. Han Fei' theory is a further and deeper development of Shang Yang' ,and hence makes legalism more systematic. As to pursing the legal thought ,Shang Yang thinks that monarch and minsters should persue the legal thought althogether and place severe punishment above rewards, while Han Fei thinks the monarch should guarantee the group of ministers obey the law and punishment and rewards are both important. As for the objectives of legal thought, Shang Yang emphasizes agriculture and warfare to make Qin kingdom become a prosperous and strong country and lays a foundation for the union of the whole China . Han Fei emphasizes monarchical power. His thought is accepted by Qin Shihuang and becomes the theorical foundation for Qin empire.Both subjective reasons and objective reasons make the different legal thought of Shang Yang and Han Fei .The objective reasons include the different historical background and academic origin. The subjective reasons include parentage life and background and characters.