The Between The Prince And Han Fei Tz - 1817 Words

As an international student, sometimes it is really hard to connect the ethical theory of western philosophers with my background knowledge; however, when I first read about Niccolà ² Machiavelli’s thoughts, I immediately related his theory with what I had learned before I came to the United States. I find it really interesting to see that the Chinese philosopher Han Fei and the Italian philosopher Niccolà ² Machiavelli, who actually was born 1800 years later, could develop such similar ethical theories. To me, it is really significant to understand both western and eastern concepts. Therefore, in this essay, I will be comparing and contrasting the similarities and the unlikeness between The Prince and Han Fei Tz. Throughout the essay, my purpose is to analyze whether or not these two theories can be applied to the real world efficiently. To start with, I would like to introduce more about Han Fei, whose status in China is as important as Machiavelli’s in the western country. Before the Qin Dynasty, Confucianism was the mainstream and most of the people followed its rules of humanity. Han Fei, however, thought that Confucianism is too ideology and could be beguiling. He believed that selfishness and greed are the essences of human s characters, which means that between people, there is nothing but self-interest. Hence, Han further developed a complete opposite point of view, which is the doctrine of Legalism. The core of Legalism is the importance of the law; assuming that