(Excerpt from Han Feizi translated by Burton Watson)
Legalist thought in general, and that of Han Feizi in particular, is marked by a drastically low opinion of human nature. Some scholars detect in the latter case the influence of Han Feizi’s teacher, Xunzi, who taught that the nature of man is basically evil, though in the China of the third century B.C. one would hardly have had to sit at the feet of a philosopher to arrive at this morose conclusion. The Confucians and Mohists claimed that there had been better days under the sage kings of antiquity, and cited history to support their argument. Han Feizi, who customarily cited history only to enlarge his catalogue of human follies and idiocies, countered that, if there had actually been peace and order in ancient times, it was not because of any moral guidance of the sages, but only because there were more goods and wealth to go around then, and fewer men to scramble for them. According to him, all attempts to educate and uplift the common people are futile, and charity is a positive sin because it robs the industrious to pamper prodigals and idlers. The ruler, to succeed, must eschew all impulses toward mercy and affection and be guided solely by enlightened self-interest. Even his own friends and relations, his own wife and children, Han Feizi warned, are not to be trusted, since all for one reason or another stand to profit by his death. He must be constantly alert, constantly on his guard against deception from all quarters, trusting no one and never revealing his inner thoughts and desires.