During the development of Buddhism, Legalism, Confucianism, and Daoism, China was falling apart and in major distress. This caused problems on many levels, and as a result of all of this, four belief systems were made, Legalism being one of them. This provided a different perspective on how people should live.
The founder of legalism was Han Fei, unlike other religions, he did not seek the answer to nature and life. The origins of legalism are unclear, this philosophy was created from a variety of different ideas that influenced Chinese emperors as early as the 7th century B.C.E. However, it was Han Fei who compiled the various strands and created what we know as Legalism in the 3rd Century B.C.E.
The first belief of legalism was that the law code must be written very clearly and posted in public for all to see. The law should be rewarded to those who follow it, while it should severely punish those who break it. Punishments should be severe and must be enforced. He thought that the law should run the state, not the ruler. If the law is successfully enforced a weak ruler will be a strong one, this is called law. Second Han Fei believed that rulers should take special precautions to make sure others do not seize control of the state. Rulers should be hard to figure out and their actions cannot be predictable, no one should be able
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Confucius, also known as Kong Qiu, was a Chinese teacher, politician, and philosopher who was born in the year 551 B.C.E. A poor and humble man most of his life,Confucius devoted his life to study at the age of fifteen. In his twenties, Confucius became a respected teacher and traveled throughout China to educate the sons of the noble class. But, Confucius saw problems everywhere in Chinese society; land was divided among feudal lords, the morals of the people were in decay, and respect for long-standing Chinese traditions were slowly