Where was the Legalist of the Warring States Period? Why did it defeat Confucianism and Mohism?

The views and policies put forward by the Legalists in the Warring States period were more in line with the historical development trend of the time. Unlike the era of peace, the Warring States period was an era of chaos, an era in which the strong bullied the weak and spoke by strength. If the Confucianism and Mohists were followed, the result could be the destruction of the country.

So, comparatively speaking,The ideas of Legalism were more suited to the Warring States period, which eventually defeated Confucianism and Mohistism. <>

1. Several major ideas of governing the country in the Warring States PeriodDuring the Warring States Period, the doctrine of the hundred schools of thought of the sons was practiced in the world, which enriched the social thinking of the time, and also gave the rulers some suggestions and thoughts on governing the country. Each of these doctrines had its own advantages and characteristics, and eventually formed several schools of thought, mainly Confucianism, Mohistism, Taoism, and Legalism. These factions have different views and propositions that influence political and cultural trends.

According to records, Confucianism was dominant after the Western Han Dynasty, but it did not have much influence during the Warring States period. From the perspective of management thought, it advocates the management of the country through "benevolence", that is, self-denial, kingship, and benevolence; Taoism, unlike Confucianism, advocates "non-action", that is, let the country follow its own laws of development, and the ruler should not interfere too much; The Mohists believed that the ruling class should advocate for equality and oppose war.

Different from the above three views, Legalists believe that the management of the country should start with the rule of law and rules. People can be immoral and unequal, but they must follow the rules and do things, and if they violate the law and violate the rules, then they should be punished by the law. In addition to this, it believes that the country should develop and strengthen itself as much as possible, with the aim of strengthening the country.

2. Why Legalism was able to defeat Confucianism and Mohism during the Warring States Period First of all, from the perspective of the social background at that time, Legalism was more suitable for the development model of the Warring States Period. In an era of social upheaval, it is somewhat unrealistic for you to ask others to be moral, to be egalitarian, and not to interfere in the development of the country. First of all, in the face of war, it is difficult for people to live, who will think about equality and morality?

The country is about to perish, and if you don't meddle in government affairs and don't want to change, what's the difference between that and sending your people to death?

However, Legalism is different from the above theories, it believes that in order for a country to survive and develop, it must strengthen itself, otherwise it will fall into the quagmire of "big fish eating small fish" and be "eaten" by countries stronger than itself. In addition, when managing the country, it should not be based on morality, but should be governed according to the law, so that the management of the country can be orderly. <>

In addition, some experts said that the ideas of Confucianism and Mohism were more suitable for the era of peace than for the turbulent era of the Warring States. In addition, Legalism essentially advocates unity, but Confucianism and Mohism think of "each has its own destiny" and "each has its own policy", so in the face of China's trend towards great unification, Legalism defeated other schools of thought and gained the upper hand.

The legalists of the Warring States period could legislate strictly, and they could strengthen the army and enrich the country. Because Legalism adapted to the era of the Warring States Period, it defeated Confucianism and Mohistism.

The excellent thing is that it happened to shoot the ruler's sycophants. Governing the country by "law" has a consolidated effect on the imperial power, so why not do it.

Because the thinking of the Legalists coincided with the thinking of the king at that time. At that time, the kings were all thinking about expanding their power.

The representative of Confucianism in the Warring States period was Mencius, who inherited Confucius's idea of benevolence and developed into benevolence and righteousness. There are many legalists, Han Feizi, Li Si. Taoism is Zhuangzi, and Mojia is Mo Zhai.

1. Confucianism, representative figures: Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi. Works: "Analects", "Mencius", "Xunzi".

2. Taoism, representative figures: Laozi, Zhuangzi, Liezi. Works: "Tao Te Ching", "Zhuangzi", "Liezi".

3. Mojia, representative figure: Mozi. Works: Mozi.

4. Legalists, representative figures: Han Fei, Li Si. Works: "Han Feizi".

In the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there were Confucian (Confucius) and Mencius, Taoist Laozi and (Zhuangzi), and Legalism (Han Feizi).

The Yellow Crane Tower sent Meng Haoran's Guangling (Li Bai).

In China, formal logic arose at about the same time as in Europe. The representative schools include Mohist and famous scholars, in addition to the Confucian Xunzi. Interestingly, the Mohists studied logic in order to find the principles of logic, while the famous scholars studied it in order to establish a system of sophistry.

The Mohist understanding of logic is embodied in the Book of Ink, which has a systematic discussion of logic.

For example, it distinguishes between sufficient conditions and necessary conditions, proposing that "the great cause (sufficient condition), there is a necessity, and there is no must not" and "the small cause (necessary condition), there is not a necessity, and there is no must not". On the other hand, the famous Hui Shi put forward the sophistry principle of "contract difference", with the aim of abolishing the boundaries of concepts. In contrast to Hui Shi, Gongsun Long, who also belonged to the famous family, put forward the sophistry principle of "Lijianbai", arguing that any independent concept has and can only have a single attribute.

Famous scholars have put forward many sophistry propositions, such as "white horses are not horses", "chickens have three legs", "lonely calves have no mother", "chains without buckles", "white dogs are black", and "the present is more and more than the past" and so on.

Obviously, this kind of "backwards" research method of famous scholars is unique to China, and its ability to establish its sophistry system shows that the level of logical development at that time was very low, and there were a large number of loopholes, so famous scholars had an opportunity. However, the move of the famous artist has also fully exposed these loopholes, providing a stepping stone for future generations to develop logic, it is necessary to overcome the sophistry propositions of the famous master.

In addition, there are rational elements in the sophistry propositions of famous scholars, and some of them do hit the crux of formal logic, which means that there is other logic besides formal logic. Finally, some of the propositions of famous artists may contain reasonable knowledge about the natural world and the cognitive processes of man. For example, a proposition is "the best of the world, the north of the swallow and the south of the south", if this proposition is to be true, it must be based on the premise that "the earth is round".

At that time, under the dominance of the "Gaitian Theory" in the round sky, it was not easy for famous artists to have such an understanding. Another proposition is that "the bird has not tasted motion", and if the correct solution is made, it should be that the master realizes that our intuitive concept of "motion" is based on the understanding that it is inducted into two stillnesses. It was not easy to make these judgments at the time, but unfortunately these understandings were in the form of sophistry.

Since then, the development of formal logic in China has basically come to a standstill.

The philosophical system of Mohism marked the initial establishment of this Chinese logical system, which led the West for hundreds of years; The representatives of the famous masters are Gongsun Long and Hui Shi, Gongsun Long put forward the theory of "white horses and non-horses" and "Lijian Bai", and Hui Shi put forward the "Ten Treatises on Fang and Things", their philosophical system appeared in the form of sophistry, in fact, it was a deep reflection on the separation of the object and the subject, and raised the question of how the subject can know the object, which was not solved until Kant.

The Mohists use logic to reason to find the corresponding principles, which are relatively rational and rational, while the famous ones establish a kind of sophistry with very serious loopholes.