先秦諸子探討三代滅亡的原因，莫不留意桀、紂的暴行。孟子首先提出「暴君放伐論」，主張桀、紂身處「君」位，卻不能施行仁政，因而，肯定湯、武推翻暴政之舉。荀子從桀、紂失去民心而無天下的觀點，認為湯、武並非弒君。韓非則提出「人臣弒君說」，強調君、臣的上下關係。儒家與法家對於「暴君放伐論」的看法分歧，也影響了漢初學者的討論，孟子之說受到儒家學者的重視。由於君權日趨集中，「暴君放伐論」不再被歷代學者討論，然而，孟子的「暴君放伐論」，闡明儒家思想以民為本的政治主張，是超越時代侷限的創新思想。

The philosophers of Pre-Chin kept eyes on King Jia's and King Zhou's atrocities when they studied the reasons for the demise of Xia, Shang, Zhou Dynasty. Mencius' Monarchomachia argued that it's acceptable that Tang and Wu overthrew the tyranny as Jia and Zhou, being Rulers, were not capable of taking care of people's needs and governing people benevolently. XunZi thought that killing Jia and Zhou didn't mean killing Kings because Jia and Zhou were losing people's faith. HanFe brought up the murder of a ruler by his minister to emphasize the hierarchy relationship between the ruler and his ministers. The different opinions about Monarchomachia by Confucianism and Legalism influenced the philosophers' discussions in the early Han Dynasty. Mencius' Monarchomachia was respected by Confucian. Even though Mencius' Monarchomachia was not the core thoughts among the philosophers in the following dynasties because of the increasing centralization of sovereignty, it was still the innovative thought in that period that Confucianism stated to stick to the principle of people foremost.