韓非子是先秦時代最為晚出，也是思想最為獨特的哲學家，他是融合各家思想而集其大成卻又影響深遠的一位法家人物。韓非師承儒家荀子，由於時代的鉅變、國家的處境，使得他拋棄儒家之禮治轉而倡「法治」。韓非所說的「法」具有客觀性、標準性等特性，他融合法、術、勢，建構一有系統的法治理論。就法理學的範疇而言，韓非子的法治思想是卓越的，他在政治領域的貢獻是被肯定的。韓非子的法治思想，植基於現實功利的人性觀、君國至上的國家觀，以及反對傳統的歷史觀上，在當時社會文化大轉型之際，固提供了有效的治國方法，然而由於過度偏激而產生流弊。又由於韓非強調國君需融合術、勢的運用，再加上無法釐清立法權誰屬的情況下，「法治」遂淪為政治治理的工具。更且因為韓非子任用法術之士，強調「以法為教，以吏為師」，強勢執行法治，乃有集權愚民棄賢反智的傾向。韓非子的法治思想，在「法」的觀念上可謂獨具洞識力。然而，他的法治理論的應用，卻使得我國走向君主專制政體數千年，影響可謂既深且深，因此，歷來學者對韓非子毀譽參半。凡此，都值得我們去闡述探討。

Han-Fei-tz was the last and unique philosopher in the Pre-Chin era. He was a Faist of profound influence, who synthesized and epitomized the earlier rule-by-law thoughts of Faist, Confucian, daoist, Mohist and Minist. He modeled himself after Confucian and Hsun-tz. Due to the changes of the times and the difficult situations of nation, he discarded rule-by-courtesy of Confucian. As a result, he advocated rule-by-law. The Law, proposed by Han-Fei, showed the character of objectivity as well as standardization. He synthesized the law, intention and power. A systematic rule-by-law theory was constructed. In the field of jurisprudence, it was outstanding. The contribution to the field of politics was affirmative. It was based on the conceptions of realistic-profit human nature, monarchism and anti-traditional history. It supplied an effective method of governing a country on that time of great changes, while the malpractice was produced in virtue of extremes. He stressed that the monarch needed to synthesize the application of the law, intention and power. And, the legislative power was not clarified. As a consequence, the Law became a tool of politics. Because he adopted the Faist and emphasized “Educated by Law, Teachings of Officer”, there was the tendency of power-centralization, keeping the people in ignorance, discarding persons of virtue and anti-intellectualism. The Law thought of Han-Fei-tz was penetrating. The application of his theory to our monarchism was continuous for thousands of year. Therefore, it got both praise and censure. The study on the Law thoughts of Han-Fei-tz was indeed discussed in detail.