Legalism

After searching the web it seems as though Legalist were extremely harsh and ruled by with an iron first. They seemed to use strict laws with swift punishments. It also seems that they tried to practice mind control with their subjects. They would burn books that disagreed with their philosophies or weren't "essential." The only books allowed were on agriculture, medicine and pharmacy. Even books on the teachings of Confucius were destroyed (big surprise). Can we do something with this? Are were supposed to be comparing this to modern day and other dictators throughout history or strictly sticking to ancient China?

Legalism believes that people are fundamentally evil. In order to avoid chaos and have order, Legalists believe the government should control the public with a strict punishment/reward system. Essentially, they are manipulating the public into behaving a certain way. They discourage free thinking and burn books. Eventually the Chinese population revolted and Legalism ended.

The philosophy of legalism is concerned with the state, not the family. The family exists in order to meet the state's needs. War and punishment are highly desirable to legalists. Shang Yang felt that people needed to be told what to do and if they didn't adhere to the rules they should be punished. History and learning from the past was not important to the legalists. Their central concern was to get and hold onto power in new situations. People are naturally bad and must be manipulated. In order to maintain order in the government spying was important. There needed to be discipline among the people and the bureaucrats. Wealthy families were forced to disburse their wealth and property so that no one family held too much power. To me this philosophy is very similar to Skinner's (much) later research in the Behaviorist Theory.