One of the primary features of the legalists is that they thought of human beings as not being able to dictate for themselves. The legalists believed strongly that the laws should be designed to help people, but people themselves were not even smart enough to know what they needed. For instance, the document Revising the Laws suggests ‘they are too stupid to have their opinions taken into consideration, but their well-being is the ultimate goal of the new policies’ (Yang 1).
The Daoists took an interesting view. For one, they believed that people following virtue would be able to live a perfect life. Namely, they believed it was possible for some people to live and follow that perfect kind of life in order to achieve great things. One of the most popular sayings of these people, as outlined in the Daodejing, was that the ‘crooked will be perfected’ (Daodejing 173). There was a strong belief that there were some people who could be perfect in this way. This was a central difference between the legalists and the Daoists. The Daoists believed it was possible for some to follow virtue and achieve great understanding. The legalists felt that people were ill-equipped in all of their forms to be helpful in this regard.
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The Confucians believed that one could learn a great deal about a man by watching his behaviors and actions. They believed that this would reveal more about the man that hearing the man’s words or thoughts. This was a new and different ways of determining if a person was smart or stupid. For instance, in the Analects, it is written that one should ‘look at the means a man employs. Look at the basis from which he acts’ (Analects). This could help one understand whether a man was wise. The Confucians gave people credit for the possibility of being wise.
- Ames, Roger, and David Hall.’Dao De Jing: a philosophical translation. Ballantine Books, 2010.
- Waley, Arthur.’The analects of Confucius. Vol. 28. Psychology Press, 2005.
- Yang, Shang.’The Book of Lord Shang: Apologetics of State Power in Early China. Columbia University Press, 2017.
