Startseite Allgemein The vital centre: understanding the concept of Yao 要 in the Han Feizi 韓非子
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The vital centre: understanding the concept of Yao in the Han Feizi 韓非子

  • Federico Brusadelli ORCID logo EMAIL logo
Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 15. April 2021
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Abstract

The eighth chapter of the Han Feizi is dedicated to the ways of “wielding power” (揚權). As the entire book attributed to Master Han Fei is arguably dedicated to the problem of power – establishing, exerting and protecting it from external and internal enemies, this section of the book is crucial for the entire text. The present article starts from the term “yao 要” and applies the method of conceptual history to this pre-imperial text. It intends to shed light on the conceptual associations between the survival of the State, the ruler’s position, the importance of a political centre, and the use of objective ruling techniques, within a newly conceived “political sphere” with its own laws and necessities. The paper then addresses the heritage of the Han Feizi to conceptualizations of politics during the imperial period, eventually considering the function of the ruler in Han Fei’s thought.


Corresponding author: Federico Brusadelli, University of Naples “L'Orientale”, Piazza San Domenico Maggiore 12, 80134 Naples, Italy, E-mail:

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Received: 2019-10-22
Accepted: 2021-01-04
Published Online: 2021-04-15
Published in Print: 2021-03-26

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