Legalism (Chinese philosophy)

Fǎ-Jiā (法家), usually (although inaccurately) translated as Legalism is a classical school of Chinese philosophy. Sometimes compared with modern social sciences, its reformers rejected their Confucian contemporaries' espousal of a regime based solely on the charisma of the aristocrats, focusing on political technique that would ultimately form guiding principles for the First Chinese Emperor, Qin Shi Huang. Highly effective in the short run, their dismissiveness of traditional culture, morality and "anti-ministerial" approach earned them enmity, and with the fall of the Qin dynasty the imperial administration would often be overlaid with Confucian ideology and customs.