Chapter 34 4. Han Fei: Human nature is evil

Han Fei just took one step further than Xunzi. As I said earlier, Confucius did not talk about human nature.Maybe he knew that there was an unfathomable trap in it.Mencius talked about human nature passively, but said good and not evil with reservations, leaving a loophole in the end.In order to fill in the loopholes, Xunzi had to divide human nature into two, into innate nature and acquired hypocrisy. The former is evil and the latter is good.This step is very critical.Because no matter how Xunzi sticks to the last line of defense, he actually admits that there is evil in human nature. This is a tipping point.

At this time, as long as someone takes another step, it will change qualitatively. In the end, Han Fei really did this.Moreover, he only told a few stories, and Confucian ethics collapsed across the board, losing everything. Then let's look at Han Fei's story. Han Fei said that Wu Qi, a military strategist, is said to love soldiers like sons.When he attacked Zhongshan as a general of Wei State, a soldier had a malignant sore on his body.Wu Qi knelt down and sucked the pus and blood of the soldier himself. When the soldier's mother saw her, she cried and cried. Someone asked: The general loves soldiers so much, why are you still crying?

My mother said: This is how General Wu treated my husband back then, and he died in battle.My son, I'm afraid he will die in battle too, right? After telling the story, Han Fei didn't comment.But he said another passage in the same article.Han Fei said that the hired workers planted the land for the landlord, and the landlord gave food and money. Is it because he loves the hired workers?No, I hope that the hired workers can work harder.Is it because the hired workers go all out, work hard, and sweat profusely because they love the landlord?No, it's to eat more food and get more wages.

It can be deduced from this that Wu Qi sucked the pus and blood of the soldiers because he did not love the soldiers, but wanted him to be cannon fodder.Yeah, think about it!Wang Liang from Jin was known as loving horses, and Goujian, king of Yue, was known as loving people.What was the outcome?Both horses and men were sent to the battlefield by them. So Han Fei went on to say: Those who run a carriage shop hope that people will be rich, and those who run a coffin shop hope that people will die early.Is it because the former is kind and the latter is cruel?no.If no one is rich, the carriage cannot be sold; if no one dies, the coffin cannot be sold.Whether it is the owner of the carriage shop or the coffin shop owner, they are just planning for themselves, and there is nothing benevolent or unrighteous, moral or immoral.

This is very telling. In fact, whether human nature is good or evil, there is no need to talk about so many reasons, just look at the relationship between people.If people love each other or have mutual righteousness, then human nature is inherently good, or tends to be good, or has goodness.Not the other way around. So, in these stories told by Han Fei, is the relationship between people love, righteousness, or profit? profit. Han Fei said that people, no matter they are stupid or smart, will have trade-offs when making choices.What is the standard of choice?Seek advantages and avoid disadvantages.This is human nature.Therefore, "Where there is profit, the people will return to it; where the name is manifested, the soldiers will die."People's pursuit is nothing more than fame and fortune.Everyone said that it was wrong for Yang Hu of Lu State to commit chaos.But as long as the interests are large enough, I ask all the officials in the world, who is not Yanghu?

Isn't human nature inherently evil? Therefore, no one is not profit-seeking, and no one is not counting. For example, Bole is highly respected.He taught people to look at horses, if he hated that student, he taught him to look at thousands of li horses; if he liked that student, he taught him to look at ordinary horses.Do you think Bole has a high reputation?wrong!The actual situation is that a thousand-mile horse is rare, and the benefits come slowly; ordinary horses are sold every day, and the commission comes quickly.Bole taught students this way, didn't he calculate it? The same is true for the relationship between monarch and minister.

Han Fei said that the ruler and the subject had nothing to do with each other.They can cooperate because the monarch needs the intelligence of the courtiers, and the courtiers are greedy for the monarch's rewards, so they can get along.But whether you are a ruler or a minister, you must remember: the minister will not do what is harmful to oneself but beneficial to the country; the ruler will not do what is harmful to the country but beneficial to the minister.The relationship between monarchs and ministers can only be established and consolidated if they each calculate their own accounts.

So Han Fei said—— The king uses the plan to feed the ministers, and the ministers use the plan to serve the king.The friendship between the monarch and his ministers is counted. This is really shocking, but also deafening. That's right, Han Fei's words were too extreme, so it was inevitably one-sided.In fact, society is not as dark as he said, and people's hearts are not as sinister as he said.In his own writings, not a single good man is absent.However, his point of view is not without a kind of one-sided profoundness. So, where is Han Fei's profundity? ——People are not reliable, but the system is reliable.

On the surface, this is nothing new.In fact, Confucianism and Mohism both attached great importance to the system.Confucianism respects propriety, Mozi respects the same, that is the system.But the systems of Confucianism and Mohism are based on benevolence or universal love.Therefore, they value morality more.Their system can only be implemented by an honest gentleman. Han Fei was completely different. In Han Fei's view, since human nature is evil, you can't expect him to be kind, let alone do good.The only thing that can be done is to use the system to prevent people from doing evil.Han Fei said——

There are not many people in the territory of relying on people to do good to me; employing people must not be wrong, and a country can make it all. The meaning is very clear: there are not ten real gentlemen who are self-conscious and self-disciplined in a country.Focusing on the fact that no one dares to break the law, the world will be peaceful from now on.Therefore, ideological education is useless, and neither is governing the country by virtue. What work is double-faced and three-handed swords and severe punishments.The two sides are rewards and punishments; the three swords are power, technique, and law.All of these add up to Han Fei's so-called "rule of law."

This is of course subversive.Because the authenticity and tradition of Chinese civilization is people-oriented, governing the country by virtue, establishing order by ritual, and achieving harmony by joy, but "ruling the country by law" has never been heard. Therefore, whether to rule by virtue or to rule by law has become the final debate.

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