Researches On Several Issues Concerning Legalist School

Legalist School has experienced its early stage, middle stage and terminal stage. It is also known as Qi and Jin Qin according to geographical areas where they generated. Jin Qin is the majority with Shang Yang and Han Feizi as its main representatives.Viewing from many aspects, we can see the history of Legalist School has its dualism. It ties itself closely with Qin Dynasty. As a political school, it has once achieved great success in the second half of Warring States, though many of its famous legists ended up with tragedies. Compare with Confucian School, Legalist School has withdrawn from historical stage long before, but it has always had a recessive effect on politics and legislation.The reasons why Legalist School is isolated from those distinguished schools are decided by its character which upholds practicality. Besides, Han Feizi himself thinks it scorn to be grouped together with Confucian School and Mohist School.The ideology of Han Feizi is based on Legalist School's achievements which is therefore its chore. The other two parts (Skills and Circumstances) are only the supporting parts. In "Han Feizi", words concerning Law are more than those concerning Skills. And the theoretical and historical values of Shang and Han's Law are much higher than those of Skill. But in Legalist School, Shang and Han's Skill has been mentioned more frequently. One reason is because of their bias towards Shang Yang, another reason is Han Feizi has made a deeper research on "Authority". Besides, the different theoretical bases used by Han Feizi and Shang Yang towards Law is the third reason.The combination of Confucian School and Legalist School appears in Pro-Qin and Xun Zi is the founder. In Western Han, the dominators do not uphold Legalist School's ideology openly any longer. Instead, Confucianism becomes popular and is adapted to be the mainstream of ideology. In Han Dynasty, the combination of Confucian School and Legalist School is mainly reflected on academic and law aspects. The criticism towards Legalist School is only a kind of rectification, not a total negation. Actually, Legalist School is thereafter used recessively, especially when the society is not stable.Up to now, although researches on Legalist School have made fruitful achievements, it still appears "cold" comparing to the researches made on Confucian School and Dao School. This does not coincide with the development of democratic legislation. Therefore, to strengthen the research in this field has both historical and current significance.