The Relationship Between Ideas And The Historical Context Essay Example for Free

The Relationship Between Ideas And The Historical Context Essay During the Qin Dynasty, the commencement of the Imperial China begun under the First Emperor Qin Shi Huang in 221 BCE in which the said period, the Imperial China, continued until the Qing or Manchu Dynasty, the ruling dynasty of China. Furthermore, in this dynasty that Legalism became the vital prevailing inspiration that wraps up in the confederacy of China. According to the history, Pinyin Shang Yang, a Chinese statesman and thinker, generated the idea of Legalism in China in order to unify and reorganized the Chinese empire. He supposed that having a very authoritative and influential power would maintain the integrity of the country. Shang Yang made ‘a body of Legalism writings’, which was now known as ‘The Book of Lord Shang’ and this passed through the whole nation strengthening the Legalism policy that accentuated on the sectors of agriculture, war, rewards and chastisements and in dwindling the people in order to reinforce the government that time. (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2007) Legalism – its Application Legalism is the application of philosophical ideologies and political beliefs in governing the people in China. Many people supposed legalism as a demonic movement in the Chinese history, however, the practice of legalism left a major impact in the nature of Chinese government. According to the thoughts of Confucius, humanity or jen, a key term, caused to be â€Å"goodness†, â€Å"benevolent† or â€Å"love†. Confucius believed that this humanity is very necessary for a man to continue for so long the multiplicity and take pleasure in the riches of the world (de Bary, et al, p11). On the other hand, it is assumed by Hsun Tzu that the goodness of one’s person is acquired and the man in evil in nature (de Bary, et al, p20), the exact reverse of Confucius thought that man is basically good in nature. Han Fei Tzu, a student of Hsun Tzu began his perceptions from his master’s point of view but modified that with the laws of state, goodness in the people can be determined. Thus, establishment of the rewards and punishment is strongly given the focus to recompense those people that offered advantages to the state and to penalize those who violated the rules. As stated by Han Fei, this law should be superlative even that of the power of the emperor to direct individual self-interests. Here with, the written laws alone were enough to preside over the whole state. This practice of Legalism dominated the imperial power of Qin Dynasty that gave birth to ‘totalitarianism’ in which the creation of the famous Great Wall of China was attributed to the long labor of the people in accordance to the law of the Legalists. Unity, commitment to the states and absolutism were the common words in the said era. (Hooker, 1996) Conversely, Confucius answered one man who questioned him about the killings of those acting outside the law that as one desire the good, people will follow like the wind. He even compared those outlaws to a ‘weed’ that when being forced, the more they bend to the laws. (de Barry, et al, p13) As it was, the native people began repulsive to the way the government was regulated and policies being implemented, therefore led to the collapse of the Qin Dynasty. This period in the Chinese history was marked distasteful and obnoxious to the Chinese populace. Nonetheless, the way of the Legalist in ruling one’s state was overpoweringly influential to the succeeding administrations. Utilitarianism, rule of law and uniform standardization of the law and culture were some of the ideas of Legalism that were adopted in the Han Dynasty, the successor of the Qin Dynasty. These adapted ideas tended to standardize and to have a centralized government in merging the rival schools of thought into single system that gave birth to the Han Synthesis. Reference http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9067124/Shang-Yang