The Book of Lord Shang: Difference between revisions
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* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: Intended to make the penalties of lesser crimes so horrible no-one would even contemplate greater crimes. Backfired when tried by the Qin dynasty, where it just created a huge mass of men who suddenly had nothing to lose in backing a rebellion. [[All Crimes Are Equal|There isn't really a way to top (horribly painful) death as a punishment.]]
* [[Dystopia Is Hard]]: The sheer amount of effort required to rigidly control people to the extent posited in the book seems a lot harder than simply keeping them well-fed and happy would be.
* [[Hobbes Was Right]]{{context}}
* [[Hoist by His Own Petard]]: Shang Yang met his end under a punishment that he himself formulated into Qin law, one reserved for law enforcers who broke the law themselves, when he ended up being accused of treason by the new king of Qin and he and his entire family were sentenced to death. When he tried to hide out in a hotel, he was refused, as the strict laws he had enacted in Qin while in power made it illegal for a hotel owner to admit a guest without proper identification. He was later caught, followed by drawing and quartering by chariot.
* [[Humans Are
* [[Misaimed Fandom]]: When Shang argues that the army should be at war whenever possible, he cites ''[[The Art of War]]'' in favor of his argument, apparently having missed the many parts where Sun Tzu specifically said that it is always and without exception better to resolve a conflict or dispute by diplomacy than by combat.
* [[Silly Reason for War]]: Shang advises that the army should be at war as much as possible to prevent the soldiers falling victim to such parasites as virtue and care for the elderly.
* [[Sins of Our Fathers]]: Since it is more important for law enforcers to obey the law than anyone else, it is advised that if they break it, then their children should be punished as well. [[Irony|Ironically]], Shang and his family would suffer this very punishment when he was convicted of treason against King Huiwen of Qin (see [[Hoist by His Own Petard]] above). The practice of family extermination, called the "Nine Exterminations" for the nine categories that family members would be put into, would be reserved for only the most heinous of offenses against the state (treason and rebellion) in feudal China until its eventual abolition by the Qing Dynasty in 1905.
* [[Utopia]]: This is how a China ruled by Legalist principles is presented. However, to many eyes, Shang's vision looks positively [[Dystopia|dystopic]].
* [[Won the War, Lost the Peace]]: Since peace is to be outright ''avoided'' under Shang's philosophy, it's hard to keep the government together without a war on. Sure enough, the Qin dynasty basically ended this way.
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