Shen Buhai
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Shen Buhai (simplified Chinese and traditional Chinese: 申不害) (d. 337 BC) was a Chinese Legalist who was a successful chief minister under Marquess Zhao of Han from 351 BC to 337 BC. He successfully reformed the bureaucracy in the State of Han; his reforms would later be copied by other states. He died of natural causes.
According to Han Feizi, Shen championed the concept of Shu (Methods). 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. Some modern scholars argued that his legalism was more a blend of Taoism and Legalism than just purely the conceptual Shu school of Legalism.
Shen was credited with writing a now extinct two chapter text, the Shenzi (This text was lost in the seventeenth century). The only traces of this work remain in surviving texts which quote from the Shenzi.
External link
- Hong Kong University Philosophy Department, Shen Buhai (http://www.hku.hk/philodep/ch/Shen%20Bu%20Hai.htm)
References
- Creel, Herrlee G., The Origins of Statecraft in China. ISBN 0226120430
- Duyvendak, J.J.L., The Book of Lord Shang: Translated From the Chinese with Notes by J.J.L. Duyvendak.fr:Shen Buhai