Careful - Shinto

Date of birth and death unknown. A legalist thinker in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring States Period in China, he excelled in the study of power, such as the power and status of a monarch. Born in the state of Zhao (Shanxi Province), he was one of the Jixi scholars of Qi. His political ideas were that one should not rely on personal talents such as wisdom and intelligence, but should rely on the power and status of a monarch, which are objective means of governance such as power and law. These ideas are thought to have been influenced by Qi, and can be found in the Fa Fa and Seven Ministers and Seven Main Chapters of "Guanzi". In the Tianxia chapter of "Zhuangzi", he is treated as a Taoist thinker, but there is agreement in the criticism that he relies on objective factors rather than subjective ones. According to the Records of the Grand Historian, he is said to have written 12 treatises, and the Book of Han records 42 chapters of the Shenzi; however, most of his works were lost after the Song dynasty, and only five remain today.

[Takio Sawada, December 14, 2015]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

生没年不詳。中国、春秋戦国時代の法家(ほうか)思想家で、君主の権勢や地位といった勢に関する考察に優れていた。趙(ちょう)国（山西省）の生まれで、斉(せい)の稷下(しょくか)学士の一人。彼の政治思想は、賢・智(ち)といった個人的な才能に依存せず、勢・法といった客観的統治手段である君主の権勢や地位に依存すべきだというもの。こうした考えは斉での影響と考えられ、『管子(かんし)』法法・七臣七主篇(へん)などにもみえる。『荘子(そうじ)』天下篇では道家思想家として扱われているが、主観的なものによらず、客観的なものに依存していると批評されている点では一致している。著作は『史記』では12論を著したとされ、『漢書(かんじょ)』芸文志(げいもんし)には『慎子』42篇が著録されているが、宋(そう)代以後、大部分が亡逸して5篇のみ現存している。

［澤田多喜男　2015年12月14日］

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