The Legalists of the Qin Dynasty were heavily inspired by Mohists and Daoists. Generally speaking, many philosophical beliefs are taken from one another without giving the specific organization credit. Although Legalists did pick and choose certain ideologies and beliefs, fundamentally Legalism created their own organization without basing too heavily on other philosophies.
The Mohists stress on utilitarianism through organized standards and the mobilization of society. Evidently, the Legalists were heavily inspired as emphasized the use of totalitarianism to achieve their goals. However, Mozi’s insistent on universal love was ignored in favor of the Legalists’ uses of harsh punishments and desire to have their citizens submit to them1. Legalists also ignored Mozi’s condemnation of brutal warfare as they wanted to expand their empire through any means, especially war1.
The Daoists use of non-assertion (wuwei) can be applied to the Legalists’ own concept of an ideal ruler who would have no strong authority in the government1. The goal of the Legalists’ concept of a government is that the ruler would eventually preside in the deep crevice of the palace once there is no challenge or issue against the structure of the government. The ruler would be seen as a figurehead while the government would rule on its own accord without the need for the ruler.
Source:
(1) De Bary, Wm Theodore., Irene Bloom, Wing-tsit Chan, Joseph Adler, Richard John Lufrano. 1999. Sources of Chinese Tradition. 2nd ed. Introduction to Asian Civilization. New York: Columbia University Press. http://public.eblib.com/choice/publicfullrecord.aspx?p=908711_0.
