Legalism is all about politics and how you should rule an empire. It “is a classical chinese philosophy that emphasizes the need for order above all other human concerns”(Legalism and Chinese Philosophy 1). Harsh punishment was used and effective to keeping people in line and so that people would behave morally. Legalism arose in response to the period of warring states. They needed a strong military power and “..., believed that part of strengthening rules was to force everyone to simply obey and not speak out ...”(Wu 1). People that lived in a civilization that used legalism as their form of government had to be careful to not fall out of line because there would be consequences for not following the rules that come with the legalism beliefs.
