Was the dominant thought in China during the Warring States period Legalist thought?

It should be said that the most widely used Legalism in various countries is Legalism. Legalism did not become dominant.

Among them, the Qin State is the representative, although the Wei State is the first place where the Legalist Li Kui implemented the law change. But those changes have largely been undermined. The state of Chu used Wu to change the law, but it was also a death and a political abolition. The ideas of the Qi State are mixed, and the government decrees are changed and abolished.

Zhao also carried out legal reforms, but the achievements were mainly in the military. And the laws and regulations are not strict, and South Korea has made great achievements in implementing the rule of Legalism in which Legalism does not harm the country.

Yan Guo, as a prince surnamed Ji, has basically not changed much. Lu Guo is still sticking to the set of weekly rites in the past.

At that time, although all countries applied Legalism, they often changed their orders and abolished their lives. Leaving the people at a loss. There is no sense of trust. Having equals nothing. So Legalism did not become dominant.

During the Warring States Period, it was a hundred schools of thought. For what ideas are dominant. The fame of Legalist thought.

It originated from the Qin State's rule of law, and the Qin State was an empire that unified the six countries. That's why the Legalists followed the glory of the Qin State. However, in the history after reunification, the disadvantages of Legalism appeared, in times of war, Legalism was feasible, but in the era of great unification, Legalism was too strict.

Not suitable for peacetime. This is what later generations said that heavy punishment is used in troubled times, and generosity is used in peace. The First Emperor did not understand this truth, so the second died.

Legalism and Taoism. In addition, the ghost valley should not be underestimated.

During the Warring States Period, the Legalist school of thought was adopted and achieved great results in the Shang Dynasty reform.

During the Warring States Period, after Qin Xiaogong of Qin State ascended the throne, he was determined to strengthen the reform, so he ordered the recruitment of talents. Shang Ying entered Qin from Wei and put forward a set of development strategies such as abandoning well fields, emphasizing agriculture and mulberry, awarding military merits, implementing unified measurements, and establishing a county system, which won the trust of Qin Xiaogong.

Therefore, he was appointed as the head of the left, and in 356 BC and 350 BC, he successively implemented two changes with the main content of "abandoning well fields, opening up Qianmo, implementing the county system, rewarding cultivation and weaving and fighting, and implementing the law of joint sitting".

After the Shang Dynasty reform, Qin's economy developed, the combat effectiveness of the army was continuously strengthened, and it developed into the richest and most powerful centralized state in the late Warring States period.

Impact:

The Shang Dynasty Reform was a successful reform in ancient China, which made the Qin state a powerful state, laid the foundation for the future Qin state to unify the six kingdoms, and established the idea of the rule of law.

Shang Ying drew on the experience of Li Kui, Wu Qi and other Legalist figures in implementing law reforms in Wei, Chu and other countries, and further developed Legalist policies in light of the specific conditions of Qin.

He further abolished the well-field system, expanded the mu system, emphasized agriculture and suppressed business, rewarded the production of male cultivators and female weavers in each family, and encouraged land reclamation, which promoted the development of the small peasant economy in the Qin State.

During the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were many military forces, and during this period, the representative figure of Legalism belonged to Han Feizi, and many countries pursued Legalism during this period.

The representative of Legalism thought that was most admired by the rulers during the founding of the People's Republic of China was Han Feizi, because his ideas and reforms were of some help to the rulers at that time.

During the Warring States period, the most respected by the rulers was Legalism, and the representative figure was Han Feizi. Han Feizi's idea of changing the law and advocating the rule of law had a pragmatic and enterprising spirit, which promoted the political, economic, and military reforms of various countries at that time.

Among the sons of the pre-Qin dynasty, Confucianism advocated benevolence in response to social problems; The Mohists advocate both love; Taoists, on the other hand, believe that benevolence and love are not.

The only way to save the world is to do nothing, that is, the idea of "doing nothing". The three argue fiercely, but they all advocate a return to the past. At this time, the Legalists who advocated facing the future were born.

The representatives of the Legalist school are Shang Ying and Han Fei during the Warring States Period. Legalism is an alternative among the sons of the pre-Qin Dynasty. Among the sons and families of the pre-Qin Dynasty, only the Legalist thought was that he had to sacrifice his life to practice it, and shed blood to pay tribute, which was a blood-stained thought.

Among those who shed blood and gave their lives were not only many guilty or innocent nobles and poor people at that time, but also representatives of the Legalist school, such as Shang Ying and Han Fei.

Against the etiquette system. Legalism values the law and opposes the Confucian "rites".They believed that the new landowning class at that time opposed the hereditary privileges of the aristocracy to monopolize economic and political interests, and demanded private ownership of land and the granting of official positions according to merit and merit, which was a very fair and correct proposition.

And the etiquette system that upholds the privileges of the nobility is backward and unfair.

The role of the law.

The first function is to "settle the division and stop the dispute", that is, to clarify the ownership of things. One of the Legalists made a very simple analogy: "When a rabbit goes, a hundred people chase it."

Accumulate rabbits in the city, and ignore them. If you don't want a rabbit, you can't fight for it. This means that when a rabbit runs, many people chase it, but they don't look at so many rabbits in the market.

It's not that you don't want rabbits, it's that the ownership has been determined and you can't fight for it anymore, otherwise it's against the law and you're going to be sanctioned. The second function is to "promote merit and fear violence", that is, to encourage people to make military exploits, and to make those lawbreakers feel fearful. The ultimate goal of Xinggong is to enrich the country and strengthen the army and win the annexation war.

The theory of human nature that is good and evil.

Legalists believe that all human beings have the nature of "good and evil" or "good and bad and avoid harm". As Guan Zi said, businessmen travel day and night, and they travel thousands of miles.

He doesn't feel far away, because interests attract him in front. Fishermen are not afraid of danger, sail against the current, and do not care about the distance of hundreds of miles, but also pursue the interests of fishing. With this same thought, Shang Ying came to the conclusion: "There are likes and dislikes in life, so the people can be governed." ”

Generally speaking, the main idea of Legalism is reform and governing the country according to law, which is still used today.

Hope it helps.

In the process of a series of law changes during the Warring States Period, a common legislative guiding ideology was roughly followed, that is, the Legalist thought of the Spring and Autumn Period: 1. "No relatives, no distinction between the noble and the lowly, and a break from the law" - no matter who commits a crime, as long as he violates the law, he must be punished according to the law. 2. "Those who have written the law have compiled the books and books in the government, and those who have distributed them to the people" -- formulate written laws and publish them to the people, so that everyone knows the law and has a law to follow.

3. "The heavier offender" -- when convicting and sentencing, the punishment for the misdemeanor is increased. Many of them are in keeping with the spirit of the modern legal system. For example, the principle of legality of crimes, the promulgation of legal principles, etc.

In fact, in the process of these changes, I personally believe that it is a kind of legalization of the rule of man. From the point of view of the reformers, they all had the support of the supreme ruler, and finally they all stopped with the change of the supreme ruler. Taking Shang Ying's reform as an example, Qin Xiaogong's power was the driving force for him to change the law, and Qin Xiaogong's death was the reason why his reform stopped.

Therefore, the role that the individual has always played here is too great, and it is incompatible with the more basic guiding ideology of the legal system. However, the legal system is a process of gradual development and gradual penetration into the hearts of the people, and having a legal form is at least a great progress. Just like the Westernists advocated in the late Qing Dynasty:

If you are poor, you will change, and if you change, you will be able to do it for a long time. Judging from the fact that these countries have changed their laws, they have indeed achieved the goal of enriching the country and strengthening the army, developed the feudal economy, obtained the prerequisites for existence and development in troubled times, and laid the foundation for the unification of the country.