the sake of the state; the state is not established for the sake of the prince. Officials are installed for the sake of their offices; offices are not established for the sake of officials... Usually disregarded by the Fa-Jia, Shen Dao considers moral capability useful in terms of authority. If the ruler is inferior but his command is practised, it is because he is able to get support from people. But his ideas otherwise constitute a "direct challenge" to Confucian Virtue. Virtue is unreliable because people have different capacities. Both morality together with intellectual capability are insufficient to rule, while position of authority is enough to attain influence and subdue the worthy, making virtue "not worth going after." Notes References Further reading The Shenzi Fragments: A Philosophical Analysis and Translation translated by Eirik Lang Harris, 2016, Columbia University Press External links Shen Dao: Text and Translation Hong Kong University Philosophy Department, Shen Dao Surviving text of the Shenzi 慎到 慎到與《慎子》考 350s BC births 270s BC deaths 4th-century BC Chinese philosophers 3rd-century BC Chinese philosophers Legalism (Chinese philosophy) People from North China Zhou dynasty philosophers