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Moral Concern in the Legalist State

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Abstract

This article attempts to describe the extent to which the Legalist political vision possesses moral concern. Drawing from the Book of Lord Shang (Shang Jun Shu 商君書) and the Hanfeizi 韓非子, I investigate the discipline reinforced by rewards and punishments, the relationship between the state and its subjects, and the interiorization of the law’s production of subject self-determination. With a positive sociological lens, this study guides its discussion utilizing a Durkheimian definition of moral education. I argue that its three elements of morality share a very similar pedagogical quality with the interplay of Legalist law and its reinforcements. Moreover, the effects of rewards prove to play a particularly enhanced role in the cultivation of discipline and commitment to impersonal objectives amongst the populace.

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  1. Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, The University of Pennsylvania, 847 Williams Hall, 255 S. 36th Street, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6305, USA

    Brandon King

  2. Department of History and Social Sciences, Ransom Everglades School, 3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, Miami, FL, 33133, USA

    Brandon King

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Correspondence to Brandon King.

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King, B. Moral Concern in the Legalist State. Dao 19, 391–407 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11712-020-09733-0

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