The Book of Lord Shang was an early Legalist work generally attributed to the eponymous Lord Shang. It is a foundational work of that harsh tradition: ""The Book of Lord Shang teaches that laws are designed to maintain the stability of the state from the people, who are innately selfish and ignorant. There is no such thing as objective goodness or virtue; it is obedience that is of paramount importance." The philosophy espoused in this work is quite explicitly anti-Confucian

Confucianism

Confucianism is a Chinese ethical and philosophical system developed from the teachings of the Chinese philosopher Confucius . Confucianism originated as an "ethical-sociopolitical teaching" during the Spring and Autumn Period, but later developed metaphysical and cosmological elements in the Han...

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Contents

1. The Reform of the Law
2. An Order to cultivate Waste Lands
3. Agriculture and War
4. The Elimination of Strength
5. Discussion about the People
6. The Calculation of Land
7. Opening and Debarring
8. The Unification of Words
9. Establishing Laws
10. The Method of Warfare
11. The Establishment of Fundamentals
12. Military Defense
13. Making Orders Strict
14. The Cultivation of Right Standard
15. The Encouragement of Immigration
16. Compendium of Penalties (missing)
17. Rewards and Punishment
18. Policies Planning
19. Within the Borders
20. Weakening the People
21. (missing)
22. External and Internal Affairs
23. Rulers and Ministers
24. Interdicts and Encouragements
25. Attention to Law
26. The Fixing of Rights and Duties

Text of the work

• The Book of Lord Shang Chinese-English parallel text, Chinese Text Project
• The Book of Lord Shang -(in Chinese)
• Text of The Book of Lord Shang -(translated by J.J.-L. Duyvendak (1889-1954) into English in 1928)
• Shangzi by Lord Shang -(Chinese; from Project Gutenberg
  Project Gutenberg
  Project Gutenberg is a volunteer effort to digitize and archive cultural works, to "encourage the creation and distribution of eBooks". Founded in 1971 by Michael S. Hart, it is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are the full texts of public domain books...
  
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Articles and essays

• The entry for Lord Yang in the Encyclopædia Britannica
• http://www.anu.edu.au/HRC/first_and_last/chapter_2/unity_dominion.htm
• http://www.hku.hk/philodep/ch/Lord%20Shang.htm
• Entry on Everything2
  Everything2
  Everything2, Everything2, or E2 for short is a collaborative Web-based community consisting of a database of interlinked user-submitted written material. E2 is moderated for quality, but has no formal policy on subject matter...