HPC 53. A Worm Riding Clouds: Standards, Strategy and Power in the Han Feizi

History of Indian and Africana Philosophy by Peter Adamson, Jonardon Ganeri, Chike Jeffers

May 10, 202622:51Education

The Han Feizi and its “three pillars” of Legalist philosophy: fa (standards), shu (strategy), and shi (positional power).

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from History of Indian and Africana Philosophy.

Oct 4, 2026 - 28:00

An overview of Han Dynasty philosophy: its attention to change, its views on the cosmos, resonances acros...

Sep 20, 2026 - 30:37

What can archeological finds tell us about the political and intellectual culture of Han China? We find o...

Aug 1, 2026 - 19:04

How historians like Sima Qian and Ban Gu have shaped our understanding of ancient Chinese history, includ...

Jul 19, 2026 - 18:53

How were the texts of the Han dynasty different from those in the Warring States period? How historical c...

Jul 5, 2026 - 18:11

The relationship between philosophy and politics in the Han Dynasty, focusing on the example of Huang-Lao...

Jun 21, 2026 - 33:45

An interview about fa-thinkers like Shang Yang and Han Feizi, exploring their relationship to the Qin dyn...

Jun 7, 2026 - 20:44

Did the fa-thinkers recognize that human beings natural have moral capacities or dispositions? How did th...

May 24, 2026 - 19:42

Does Han Feizi’s focus on “standards” allow him to provide a more realistic political theory than the Con...