Han Fei's doctrine of self-interest

Asian Philosophy

Volumn 11, Issue 3, 2001, Pages 151-159

  Goldin, Paul R ^a  

^a UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 1642631604     PISSN: 09552367     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/09552360120116900     Document Type: Article

References (42)

1. See e.g. SAHLEEN, JOEL (2001) Han Feizi, in: PHILIP J. IVANHOE & BRYAN W. VAN NORDEN (Eds), Readings in Classical Chinese Philosophy (New York, Seven Bridges), p. 328
2. WATSON, BURTON (1964) Han Fei Tzu: Basic Writings, Translations from the Oriental Classics (New York, Columbia University Press), p. 106
3. and LIAO, W.K. (1939-1959) The Complete Works of Han Fei Tzu: A Classic of Chinese Legalism, Probsthain's Oriental Series 25-26, Vol. II (London), p. 286
4. Similarly, the translator F.W. Mote obfuscates the discussion in HSIAO, KUNG-CHUAN (1979) A History of Chinese Political Thought, Vol. I: From the Beginnings to the Sixth Century A.D., Princeton Library of Asian Translations (Princeton), p. 388, with his choice of the renderings 'public' and 'private'
5. An English translation that avoids 'public' and 'private' is KNOBLOCK, JOHN & RIEGEL, JEFFREY (2000) The Annals of Lü Bawei: A Complete Translation and Study (Stanford, CA, Stanford University Press), e.g pp. 70-75, who render gong and si as 'impartiality' and 'selfish impartiality' - translations that might not be satisfactory for the Han Feizi, but are appropriate for these passages in the Lüshi chunqiu
6. See 'Guigong' and 'Qusi', in CHEN QIYOU (1984) Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi (Shanghai, Xuelin), 1.44-62
7. CHEN QIYOU (1958) Han Feizi jishi, Zhongguo sixiang mingzhu (Beijing, Zhonghua); (reprint Taipei, Shijie, 1991), 19.49.1058. All translations in this paper are my own
8. Cf. e.g. MIAO FENGLIN (1997) Zhongguo yongren sixiang ski (Ji'nan; Qi-Lu), p. 53
9. and KANAYA OSAMU (1960) Shin-Kan shisōshi kenkyū (Tokyo; Heirakuji), pp. 41 and 44
10. and CHEN QITIAN (1970) Zhongguo fajia gailun (Taipei, Zhonghua), p. 177ff
11. On these alliances, see e.g. LEWIS, MARK EDWARD (1999) Warring states: political history, in MICHAEL LOEWE & EDWARD L. SHAUGHNESSY (Eds), The Cambridge History of Ancient China: From the Origins of Civilization to 221 B.C. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), p. 632ff.
12. YANG KUAN (1998) Zhanguo shi, 3rd edn (Shanghai, Renmin), pp. 341-421
13. Mingshi ('names and realities') is similar to xingming (see below), and probably means what the ministers say and what they do. Cf. e.g. 'Shenying', Lüshi chunqiu jiaoshi 18.1141: 'Take their statements as their "names", and grasp their "realities" in order to hold them responsible for their "names" '
14. 'Wudu', Han Feizi jishi 19.49.1068
15. For representative examples, see the 'Zhushu' chapter of the Huainanzi; text in LIU WENDIAN (1989) in: FENG YI & QIAO HUA (Eds), Huainan Honglie jijie, Xinbian Zhuzi jicheng (Beijing, Zhonghua) 9.295, which laid the groundwork for the Han imperial ideology; and the 'Tongzhi' chapter of the lost Fuzi of Fu Xuan (AD 217-278), reconstructed from fragments in Yan Kejun (1762-1843), Quan Jinwen, in Quan Shangagu Sandai Qin Han Sanguo Liuchao wen (1893; reprinted Beijing, Zhonghua, 1958), 48.4a-5b
16. The former source is discussed in GOLDIN, PAUL RAKITA (1999) Insidious syncretism in the political philosophy of Huai-nan-tzu, Asian Philosophy, 9(3), pp. 165-191
17. the latter in HOLCOMBE, CHARLES (1994) In the Shadow of the Han: Literati Thought and Society at the Beginning of the Southern Dynasties (Honolulu, University of Hawaii Press), p. 36
18. and PAPER, JORDAN D. (1987) The Fu-tzu: A Post-Han Confucian Text, Monographies du T'oung Pao 13 (Leiden, E.J. Brill), pp. 25 and 46-51
19. JIANG RONGCHANG (1998) Zhongguo wenhua de gongsi guan, Xinan Minzu Xueyuan xuebao: Zheshe ban, 4, pp. 1-17, is a general study of gong and si in Chinese thought
20. 'Shuinan', Han Feizi jishi 4.12.222
21. See e.g. LUNDAHL, BERTIL (1992) Han Fei Zi: The Man and the Work, Stockholm East Asian Monographs 4 (Stockholm; Institute of Oriental Languages, Stockholm University), esp. pp. 92-113, for a succinct overview of scholarship on this issue and some thoughts on using 'inconsistencies' as a criterion in determining the authenticity of the collection. To date, the most rigorous investigation of the issue is ZHENG LIANGSHU (1993) Han Fei zhi zhushu ji sixiang, Zhongguo zhexue congkan 35 (Taipei, Xuesheng)
22. GRAHAM, A.C., (1989) Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China (La Salle, IL, Open Court), p. 267ff
23. See e.g. CHEN ANREN (1966) Zhongguo zhengzhi sixiang shi, 2nd edn (Taipei, Shangwu), p. 125f
24. 'Zhudao', Han Feizi jishi 1.5.67. Compare 'Yangquan', Han Feizi jishi 2.8.122f
25. ZHU QIANZHI (1984) Laozi jiaoshi, Xinbian Zhuzi jicheng (Beijing, Zhonghua), p. 205
26. Compare also Laozi 42: 'The Way engendered the One; the One engendered the Two; the Two engendered the Three; the Three engendered the Myriad Things'; Laozi jiaoshi, p. 174
27. See especially 'Dingfa', Han Feizi jishi 17.43.906-13, wherein Han Fei offers a critical assessment of Shen Buhai and his famous contemporary Gongsun Yang (d. 338 BC). Cf. e.g. GAO BOYUAN (1994) Han Fei zhexue yanjiu, Wen shi zhe daxi 82 (Taipei, Wenjin), pp. 37f. and 137ff.
28. and WANG YUNWU (1968) Xian-Qin zhengzhi sixiang (Taipei, Shangwu), p. 312f
29. See e.g. GOLDIN, PAUL R. (1999) Rituals of the Way: The Philosophy of Xunzi (Chicago, IL, Open Court), p. 98
30. CREEL, HERRLEE G. (1974) Shen Pu-hai: A Chinese Political Philosopher of the Fourth Century B.C. (Chicago, University of Chicago Press), p. 349, fragment 1(6), with a slightly different translation
31. CREEL, HERRLEE G. (1959) The meaning of Hsing-ming, in: SØREN EGEROD & ELSE GLAHN (Eds), Studio Serica Bernhard Karlgren Dedicata (Copenhagen, Ejnar Munksgaard), pp. 199-211
32. reprinted in CREEL, HERRLEE G. (1970) What is Taoism? and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History, Midway Reprint (Chicago, University of Chicago Press), pp. 79-91
33. and, more generally LAO KAN (1978) The early use of the tally in China, in: DAVID T. ROY & TSUEN-HSUIN TSIEN (Eds) Ancient China: Studies in Early Civilization (Hong Kong, Chinese University Press), pp. 91-98
34. E.g. Laozi 37: 'Tranquil and without desires, the world will rectify itself, Laozi jiaoshi, p. 147
35. and Laozi 19: 'Abrogate sagehood, abandon wisdom and the people will benefit a hundredfold', Laozi jiaoshi, p. 74
36. Han Fei uses similar language in 'Erbing', Han Feizi jishi 2.7.113
37. Cf. e.g. GU FANG (1996) Han Fei yu Zhongguo wenhua, Da sixiangjia yu Zhongguo wenhua congshu (Guiyang, Guizhou renmin), esp. pp. 216-218
38. RONG ZHAOZU (1992) Han Feizi kaozheng, Zhongyang Yanjiuyuan Lishi Yuyan Yanjiushuo dankan B.3 (1936; reprinted Taipei, Shangwu, 1992), pp. 31a-33a
39. For Han Fei, see e.g. 'Nanshi', Han Feizi jishi 17.40.888f
40. and LIANG QICHAO (1980) in: JIA FUMING (Ed.), Xian-Qin zhengsht sixiang shi, Canghai congkan (Taipei, Dongda), p. 161ff
41. Quentin Skinner discusses Machiavelli's responses to earlier treatises on this subject in his introduction to SKINNER, QUENTIN & PRICE, RUSSELL (Eds) (1988) The Prince, Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press), p. xiiif
42. See especially BERLIN, ISAIAH, (1972) The originality of Machiavelli, in: MYRON P. GILMORE (Ed.), Studies on Machiavelli (Florence, Sansoni), reprinted in HARDY, HENRY & HAUSHEER, ROGER (Eds) (1998) The Proper Study of Mankind: An Anthology of Essays (New York, Farrar, Straus and Giroux), pp. 269-325