Overview
- The most comprehensive study of fa traditions in any language
- Presents the history of fa ideas and their continuous relevance
- A look into an intellectual current that shaped much of China’s imperial history and remains relevant today
Part of the book series: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy (DCCP, volume 19)
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About this book
This volume offers the most comprehensive introduction to the ideas of ancient Chinese thinkers who looked to perfect a political system thru the emphasis on impersonal standards, laws, and norms (fa). This book covers the works of these thinkers, misleadingly dubbed Legalists, as well as the controversies they aroused, the legacy they left behind, and their potential relevance. The fa thinkers contributed decisively to the formation of China’s first unified empire in 221 BCE, but this contribution was not widely acknowledged. Their derision of the moralizing discourse of their rivals, dismissal of independent intellectuals as self-serving hypocrites, and advocacy of a powerful centralized state did not endear them to most Chinese literati. To a certain extent, these reservations remain visible in modern research, which explains why a comprehensive study of the fa traditions is still lacking. This volume fills that gap.
The first of four parts introduces major texts and thinkers of the fa tradition from the Warring States (453-221 BCE) to the Former Han (206/202 BCE-9 CE) periods. The second part analyzes the major ideas of the fa texts, including concepts of fa and their implementation in political and legal spheres, views of human nature, state-society relations, rulership, morality in politics, the evolutionary view of history, and philosophy of language. The third part focuses on the changing attitudes toward fa ideas in imperial and modern China. The fourth part explores the ideas of fa advocates from a comparative perspective—both against intellectual currents in early China and Western traditions such as Machiavellianism and totalitarianism. This book serves as a reference for students and researchers in ancient Chinese history and thought, and comparatists in the field of political philosophy.
Keywords
Table of contents (24 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Major Texts and Thinkers
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Front Matter
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Major Ideas of the fa Traditions
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Front Matter
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Fa Traditions in History
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Front Matter
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Editors and Affiliations
About the editor
Yuri Pines 尤銳 is Professor of Chinese History at Hebrew University of Jerusalem. His research focuses on early Chinese political thought, Chinese political culture, early Chinese history and historiography, and comparative imperiology. His monographs include The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China (2017); The Everlasting Empire: The Political Culture of Ancient China and Its Imperial Legacy (2012); and Envisioning Eternal Empire: Chinese Political Thought of the Warring States Era (2009). He co-edited six books on Chinese history and thought, and on comparative imperiology.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Dao Companion to China’s fa Tradition
Book Subtitle: The Philosophy of Governance by Impartial Standards
Editors: Yuri Pines
Series Title: Dao Companions to Chinese Philosophy
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-53630-4
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Religion and Philosophy, Philosophy and Religion (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-53629-8Published: 17 August 2024
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-53632-8Due: 31 August 2025
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-53630-4Published: 14 August 2024
Series ISSN: 2211-0275
Series E-ISSN: 2542-8780
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 692
Number of Illustrations: 3 b/w illustrations
Topics: Philosophical Traditions, History of China, Political Philosophy, Philosophy of Religion