1001Philosophers

Han Feizi vs Mencius

Han Feizi and Mencius represent the two opposing accounts of human nature and good government in Warring States Chinese thought. Mencius is the major Confucian developer; Han Feizi is the great systematizer of Legalism, the doctrine that came to inform the Qin unification of China.

At a glance

Han FeiziMencius
Datesc. 280 BC – 233 BC372 BC – 289 BC
NationalityChineseChinese
EraAncientAncient
Movements Legalism Confucianism
Profile Han Feizi → Mencius →

Where they agree

Both held that the disorder of the Warring States period required a systematic philosophical response, and both held that political philosophy must address the actual psychology of human beings rather than an idealized version of it. Both wrote with sustained attention to the practice of statecraft.

Where they disagree

Mencius held that human nature is fundamentally good and that the proper response to political disorder is the moral cultivation of rulers and people through Confucian self-cultivation, ritual, and the example of the sage-kings. Han Feizi held the opposite: human nature is selfish and calculating, and effective government rests on clearly-stated laws and consistent rewards and punishments rather than on moral cultivation. Mencius's politics is the politics of virtue; Han Feizi's is the politics of administrative technique. The Qin dynasty's adoption and spectacular failure of Legalism led the Han subsequently to rehabilitate Confucianism as state doctrine.

Representative quotes

Han Feizi

  • “The Law(道, Way) is Huge and Shapeless, its Moral extends everywhere.”

    夫道者、弘大而無形，德者、覈理而普至。至於群生，斟酌用之，萬物皆盛，而不與其寧。 | More Power" (《揚權》)

  • “夫道者、弘大而無形，德者、覈理而普至。至於群生，斟酌用之，萬物皆盛，而不與其寧。”

    The Law(道, Way) is Huge and Shapeless, its Moral extends everywhere.

  • “When all within the four seas have been put in their proper places, [the sage] sits in darkness to observe the light. When those to his left and right have taken their places, he opens the gate to face the world. He changes nothing, alters nothing, but acts with the two handles of reward and punishment, acts and never ceases: this is what is called walking the path of principle.”

    四海既藏，道陰見陽。左右既立，開門而當。勿變勿易，與二俱行，行之不已，是謂履理也。 | Wielding Power", in Han Feizi: Basic Writings (2003)

Mencius

  • “The great man is he who does not lose his child's-heart.”

    大人者，不失其赤子之心者也

  • “He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature.”

    7A:1, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 62

  • “The feeling of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the feeling of shame is the beginning of righteousness; the feeling of deference is the beginning of propriety; the feeling of right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom.”

    2A:6, as translated by Wing-tsit Chan in A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy (1963), p. 65 | Variant translation: The sense of compassion is the beginning of benevolence; the sense of shame the beginning of righteousness; the sense of modesty the beginning of decorum; the sense of right and wrong the beginning of wisdom. Man possesses these four beginnings just as he possesses four limbs. Anyone p

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