Similarities Between Confucianism And Legalism

503 Words3 Pages

In ancient china there were two widely different philosophes being so excepted within the same culture. The two philosophes were Confucianism and Legalism. Confucianism was during 55 B, in China. Legalism was during 475-221 BC, also in China. Confucianism is a belief or an idea. The purpose of this was to show people how to be in harmony with their place in life. Legalism is a ruling made by Shi Huangdi, who was a strict ruler in china. The purpose of this ruling was to get the people of china to follow the rule, and if they didn’t there was a very harsh punishment. Although confucianism and legalism have some similarities, but the differences between the two are amazingly clear.
Confucianism enforced harmony, between people while legalism enforced strict following of rules. For confucianism was built on the belief that harmony results when people in society accepted their place in their lives. However, Legalism was built on the fact that all humans are more inclined to do the wrong thing instead of the right thing due to the motivation of self-interest. Confucianism is described through the five key relationships: father to son, elder brother to younger brother, husband to wife, elder friend to younger friend, and ruler to subject. But legalism was described …show more content…

They were both built in a dynasty. Confucianism was built in the Zhou dynasty while legalism was built and founded in the Qin dynasty. Both philosophies were followed during that period of time. Both philosophies controlled the society it was in, even if they didn’t like it. For confucianism, they believed that it controlled people action’s in society, this one was followed willing, which means they did want to believe in this ruling. However, for legalism it was made to control people's actions also like Confucianism but the society was forced to believe in it and the people of china hated