Atlas of Thinkers
ThinkersAtlasTimelineLibraryBlog
WorksFragmentsQuotesReadSchoolsVirtuesPlacesIdeasConceptsInfluenceAbout

Explore

Compare

Two thinkers, side by side

Life

Portrait of Shang Yang
Shang Yang

c. 390 BCE – 338 BCE

LegalistChinese

Born Wey

He remade a single state with law alone, and the methods that raised it eventually consumed him.

Portrait of Han Feizi
Han Feizi

c. 280 BCE – 233 BCE

ChineseLegalist

Born State of Han

Forget virtue. People follow incentives. A state runs on law, methods, and power, not the goodness of its ruler.

Connection

Shang Yang legalist predecessor Han Feizi — Han Feizi synthesized into theory the Legalist statecraft that Shang Yang had already put to work in Qin.

Shared Ideas

Legalism

Shared Places

XianyangXianyang

Ideas

Legalism
LegalismJusticeLi (Ritual Propriety)

Words

“A wise man creates laws, while a foolish man is controlled by them.”

— Shang Yang

“When the wise ruler governs his people, he relies not on their doing him good, but on making it impossible for them to do wrong.”

— Han Feizi

Key Moments

c. 390 BCE

Born in Wey

c. 356 BCE

The Reforms of Qin

c. 350 BCE

Mutual Responsibility Groups

338 BCE

Torn Apart by His Own Law

c. 280 BCE

Born a Prince of Han

c. 240 BCE

Writing on Power and Law

c. 234 BCE

The King of Qin Reads His Work

233 BCE

Poisoned in Prison

Works

The Book of Lord Shang

Han Feizi

Atlas of Thinkers

A story-first philosophy atlas. Explore history's greatest thinkers through place, time, movement, and ideas.

Letters from the Atlas

One thinker, one idea, one passage, once a month.

Explore

  • Thinkers
  • Atlas
  • Works

Browse

  • Concepts
  • Fragments
  • Volumes

About

  • About the Atlas
  • Image Credits

Volume I · Ancient Greece · 624-262 BCE