ABSTRACT
A descendant of the royal house of the State of Han (western part of present-day Henan Province), and a disciple of Xunzi 荀子 (entry 19), Han Fei 韓非was the leading Legalist of his day. Sharing Xunxi's view that humans are intrinsically evil, but departing from Xunzi's principle that they should be converted through rites (lĭ 禮) to what they ought to be, Han Fei stressed that rulers need not try to make people good but should try only to restrain them from doing evil. To achieve that, rulers should set up laws and govern the people by laws. They themselves do not have to be paragons of virtue (a view distinctly different from that of the Ruists); all they need is the ability to appoint the right people to the right office, and the authority of reward and punishment. Han Fei's political views did not win him any official position in his home state, however. Instead he was highly respected by the King of the State of Qin, so much so that he incurred the jealousy of another minister, and died in prison as a result. In his lifetime he was a prolific writer, and produced a lengthy work bearing his name: Hanfeizi.
