Hanfei was not only an interesting thinker. Hanfei is a multi-faceted
philosopher to study, especially today. So is this book about a philosophy
that influenced the politics of China. And still does today.
Hanfei was a public officer who thought about politics. However, it
would be wrong to speak about political philosophy in a Chinese context,
especially in Hanfei’s time roughly around the third century Before
Common Era. All Chinese philosophy is political. Also, all Chinese
philosophy is moral. And at the same time, all Chinese philosophy is about or
entails metaphysics. Some of the typical distinctions made in (contemporary)
mainstream academic philosophy do not apply to the Chinese thinking.
Therefore, if this book uses concepts such as “political philosophy”,
“law”, “state”, and so on, it is primarily to simplify things and make them
accessible to non-Chinese readers.
Also, this book focusses on certain issues leaving others untouched,
since the writings of Hanfei contain many subjects. It would be impossible
for a single volume to study all the aspects of Hanfei. This book is about
the political side of Hanfei’s thinking.
In an introductory Chapter, Hanfei the person and the different aspects
of his work will be broadly presented. Also, the introduction discusses
some issues of methodological importance. For example, how to
differentiate between Hanfei the person and his writings, which is the
best–if anything–way of translating core concepts, or how to deal with
later additions to the text. That same introduction also situates Hanfei and
Chinese Legalism in the broader context of Chinese Philosophy.