ShenBuhai does not seem to have been concerned with justifying the ruler’s superior position and most commonly did not assume rulers were of higher intelligence or ability than others.
ShenBuhai’s doctrine is broadly consonant with this and with the emphasis on using fa to control ministers more than the people.
The important point which Shang Yang, Hanfeizi and ShenBuhai share is their focus on objective measurement of results for any decision—appointment, promotion, reward, punishment etc. They focus on names that are tied to explicit or objective categories and using these in recording and measuring situations and change.
Han Feizi criticized Shen for paying too much attention to methodology at the expense of laws, which gave corrupt officials too much room to corrupt the original intent.
Shen was credited with writing a now extinct two chapter text, the Shenzi (This text was lost in the seventeenth century).
Some modern scholars argued that his legalism was more a blend of Taoism and Legalism than just purely the conceptual Shu school of Legalism.
Hong Kong University Philosophy Department, ShenBuhai (http://www.hku.hk/philodep/ch/Shen%20Bu%20Hai.htm)
www.wordiq.com /definition/Shen_Buhai (151 words)
Shen Buhai -- Facts, Info, and Encyclopedia article(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
ShenBuhai ((Click link for more info and facts about simplified Chinese) simplified Chinese and (Click link for more info and facts about traditional Chinese) traditional Chinese: 申不害) (d.
He successfully reformed the bureaucracy in the (Click link for more info and facts about State of Han) State of Han; his reforms would later be copied by other states.
According to (Click link for more info and facts about Han Feizi) Han Feizi, Shen championed the concept of Shu (Methods).
ShenBuhai (simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese: 申不害) (d.337 BC) was a Chinese Legalism (philosophy)Legalist who was a rather successful chief minister under Marquis Zhao of Han.
According to Han Feizi, he championed the concept of Shu and wrote a then extinct two chapter text, the Shenzi.
Some modern scholars argued that his legalism was more a blend of Taoism and Legalism (philosophy)Legalism than just purely the conceptual Shu school of Legalism.
The legalism of Han Fei holds the law as the supreme authority and has three components, fa (law), shu (strategy), and shi (authority).
His work was actually synthesized from the ideas of a statesman of the Qin Dynasty, Shang Yang on laws; of a bureaucrat of the Han Dynasty, ShenBuhai on techniques; and of a philosopher of the Zhao Dynasty, Shen Dao on legitimacy and authority.
Legalism espoused that law cannot be left at the discretion of the ruler because it is highly susceptible to abuse, corruption and the caprice of the ruling authority.
His life and the fourth-century administrative reforms of the realists Shang Yang and ShenBuhai were discussed in Chapter 13 on the Zhou dynasty.
By winter a rebel army of several hundred thousand was approaching the capital, but General Zhang Han, using a force of convicts pardoned and released from working on the Emperor's monument, forced the rebels to retreat to the east, where Chen She was assassinated by his charioteer.
Li Si was reprimanded for allowing such outbreaks of bandits; so he wrote a scholarly reply to the Emperor in which he quoted from ShenBuhai and Han Fei-zi, arguing that if the techniques of supervision and reprimand are correctly applied, one cannot fail.
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The syncretic approach employed at the academy left a lasting impression on him, as he mastered rhetoric, argumentation, and teachings of the various masters.
In his early works, Xunzi critiqued the Jixia scholars and ideas associated with Zhuangzi, Huizi, Shen Dao, ShenBuhai, and others.
381, n.9, argues that the original meaning of the term in the teachings of ShenBuhai was "unconstrained action, with no bad moral sense," a sense attested in Zhuangzi, 6 "Dazongshi," 3.13b, where it means "carefree."
Nonetheless some of what they advocate has a rational basis, and their statements have perfect logic, enough indeed to deceive and mislead the ignorant masses.
M.E. Sharpe, Inc. - Book Information(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
By so doing, it brings into sharp focus a new sense of the roots of the great Chinese philosophy-as-statecraft tradition.
The Legalists -- most famously Li Kui, Shang Yang, ShenBuhai, Shen Dao, and Han Fei -- had a great impact not only on the institutions and practices of Chinese imperial tradition but also on the Maoist totalitarianism of the People's Republic of China.
Amazon.co.uk: China's Legalists: The Early Totalitarians (East Gate Books): Books(Site not responding. Last check: 2007-11-04)
This period and its personalities, as well as a taste of the style and spirit of the Legalists' discourse, are made accessible to the student and general reader, placing into focus the roots of the great Chinese philosophy-as-statecraft tradition.
The Legalists - most famously Li Kui, Shang Yang, ShenBuhai, Shen Dao, and Han Fei - had a great impact not only on the institutions and practices of Chinese imperial tradition but also on the Maoist totalitarianism of the People's Republic of China.
