New York, USA

Columbia University Press

Basic Writings

by
Han Fei Tzu

Translated from Chinese by Burton Watson

From the
United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization
(UNESCO)

Han Fei was a prince who's' family was located in the small state of Han in Central China. Some biographers believe that he was born around 280 B.C., but there has not been a definite date established. This series of writings probably started around 246 BC.

Because Han Fei had a stutter, he took to writing. In Basic Writings he writes about

1. The way of the Ruler

2. On having standards

3. The two Handles

4. Wielding power

5. The eight Vanities

6. The Ten Faults

7. The Difficulties of Persuasion

8. Mr. Ho

9. Precautions within the Palace

10. Facing South

11. The Five Vermin

12. Eminence in Learning

From the logicians came the work of Han Fei for the term hsing-ming - literally "forms and names." The members of this philosophy called the School of Names believed in the problem of semantics. The term was used to bring about the understanding of a need for correspondence between the name of a thing and it correspondence with its actual form or reality.

  For Han Fei, concerned with Laws and policies, he took a less esoteric stance on the term and used to mean that a man's position and title, along with his duties, should correspond with the meanings of the words used to describe them. Therefore, if a man performed according to his title and duties, then he should be rewarded. If ones actions did not correspond, then he should be punished.

by Watson, Burton Watson
Paperback - 134 pages (February 1997)
Columbia Univ Pr
ISBN: 0231086091
Dimensions (in inches): 0.38 x 7.97 x 5.17