Talk: Legalism (philosophy)

From open-encyclopedia.com - the free encyclopedia.

For some reason, 8th grade social studies left me with the impression that Legalism was based on the assumption that humanity was basically evil, and could be manipulated by the "two handles", greed and fear (think Skinner).

---

the idea of open public laws and equality under the law, is that not similar to the united states principles?

Well, yes and no. The United States operates under common law, so many of the laws are not specifically written down, or at least they do not need to be. Equality under the law is a principle in US law, but it does not appear to be a principle in legalism, which places the king above and outside the law. - Nat Krause 07:04, 9 Oct 2004 (UTC)