MMW 11 Study Guide - Final Guide: Han Feizi, Arvind Sharma, Wendy Doniger
19 Feb 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
Document Summary
Debate on salt and iron- literati claims trade is bad and makes people lazy and wealthy w/o deserving, farming was neglected bc of it and agriculture makes people simple and nice. Imperial secretary says w/o monopolies wouldn"t be able to fund army and xiongnu would invade more. Comparison of the legitimacy between legalist and confucian philosophies li ma: Shows how a specific group of the population, the scholar-officials, play a specialized role in the two systems, acting as a legitimisation group. Compares rites and laws as a way to obtain social order, and morality vs punishments as a way to obtain obedience. Concludes that the confucianist system is less fragile than the legalist, but also more oppressive, since it allows fewer personal choices to individuals. Farming after 10,000 y/a: agriculture only possible bc of trade, diverted animal labor for benefit of humans, more sexual inequality.
