This course will introduce the philosopher Han Fei, and the book Han Fei Zi (3rd century B.C.). Han Fei's political philosophy played a crucial part in the unification of China under the First Emperor of China in 221 B.C.. Han Fei was already regarded as one of the great prose writers by the historian Sima Qian (1st century B.C.) and his book is regarded today as one of the great masterpieces of political philosophy, anticipating many of the crucial theoretical advances in Machiavelli's The Prince by many centuries.
We shall read selected chapters of the book and discuss in detail their philosophical, historical, as well as political significance, as well as Han Fei's rhetoric.
The class will be based on relevant handouts from my complete annotated interlinear edition and translation of the book.