Han Feizi: The World Driven by Self-Interest

Han Fei 韓非 (d. 233 BCE) is often dubbed “the great synthesizer” of fa thought and its most philosophically sophisticated representative. Han Feizi’s intricate argumentation and the creative borrowing of its predecessors’ ideas are indeed remarkable. Nonetheless, this chapter argues that the crux of Han Feizi’s appeal is not necessarily its philosophical depth but rather its inquisitive analysis of the opponents’ ideas, its cynicism, audacity, and merciless exposure of the fallacy of commonly accepted truths. The text excels in astute observation of human mores, which leads the author(s) towards the pessimistic conclusion: humans—elites and commoners alike—are overwhelmingly driven by self-interest. It is impossible therefore to entrust the government to morally cultivated “noble men” (junzi 君子). Rather, the reliance on impartial standards (fa 法) and techniques of rule (shu 術) is the only way to ensure proper functioning of the political system. Han Fei’s solution is not free of inherent tensions. The thinker realizes that complete depersonalization of the political system is impossible, especially insofar as there are no institutional means of constraining the ruler, who is both the guarantor of the system’s proper functioning and its weakest link. Another tension lies in the contradiction between Han Fei’s personal position as an intellectual and an aspiring minister and his vehement assault on fellow intellectuals and ministers en masse as plotters and potential usurpers. Moreover, whereas the thinker periodically calls to suppress the opponents’ subversive discourse, he falls short of offering an alternative ideology to supplant the opponents’ fallacies. It may be summarized that Han Fei’s brilliant diagnosis of society’s ills was not matched by offering compelling remedies to these ills.