Legalist Irony
Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2011 6:51 am
The following occurred to me while consulting my friend's copy of Chinese philosophy, containing some chapters by legalist philosopher Han Feizi:
But if you lend your ear to it, and lend credence to it, choosing not to follow the way of the ancients and lacking established fixed standards for all times, it still follows that you would be doing exactly the same thing as the man who watched the tree. For no matter how you tried, Han Fei Zi is now one of the ancients, and if you failed to follow all the others you would consequently follow him.
Lending your ear and credence to Han Fei Zi, you are condemned to never follow his advice, or follow his advice and in so doing not follow it.
Chinese Legalist Nietzche: "Sage is dead."
If you ignore the above argument, following the ways of the ancients and establishing a fixed standard for all times, it clearly follows that you would be doing exactly the same thing as that man who watched the tree.In the age of remote antiquity, human beings were few while birds and beasts were many. Mankind being unable to overcome birds, beasts, insects, and serpents, there appeared a sage who made nests by putting pieces of wood together to shelter people from harm. Thereat the people were so delighted that they made him ruler of All-under-Heaven and called him the Nest-Dweller. In those days the people lived on the fruits of trees and seeds of grass as well as mussels and clams, which smelt rank and fetid and hurt the digestive organs. As many of them were affected with diseases, there appeared a sage who twisted a drill to make fire which changed the fetid and musty smell. Thereat the people were so delighted that they made him ruler of All-under-Heaven. In the age of middle antiquity, there was a great deluge in All-under-Heaven, wherefore Kung and Yü opened channels for the water. In the age of recent antiquity, Chieh and Chow were violent and turbulent, wherefore T`ang and Wu overthrew them.
Now, if somebody fastened the trees or turned a drill in the age of the Hsia-hou Clan, he would certainly be ridiculed by Kung and Yü. Again, if somebody opened channels for water in the age of the Yin and Chou Dynasties, he would certainly be ridiculed by T'ang and Wu. That being so, if somebody in the present age praises the ways of Yao , Shun Kung , Yü , T`ang , and Wu , he would, no doubt, be ridiculed by contemporary sages.
That is the reason why the sage neither seeks to follow the ways of the ancients nor establishes any fixed standard for all times but examines the things of his age and then prepares to deal with them.
There was in Sung a man, who tilled a field in which there stood the trunk of a tree. Once a hare, while running fast, rushed against the trunk, broke its neck, and died. Thereupon the man cast his plough aside and watched that tree, hoping that he would get another hare. Yet he never caught another hare and was himself ridiculed by the people of Sung. Now supposing somebody wanted to govern the people of the present age with the policies of the early kings, he would be doing exactly the same thing as that man who watched the tree.
But if you lend your ear to it, and lend credence to it, choosing not to follow the way of the ancients and lacking established fixed standards for all times, it still follows that you would be doing exactly the same thing as the man who watched the tree. For no matter how you tried, Han Fei Zi is now one of the ancients, and if you failed to follow all the others you would consequently follow him.
Lending your ear and credence to Han Fei Zi, you are condemned to never follow his advice, or follow his advice and in so doing not follow it.
Chinese Legalist Nietzche: "Sage is dead."