Decolonizing the Fact-Value Distinction

Reexamining Chinese Legalism (Fajia, 法家) Through Wael Hallaq’s Reconstruction of Sharīʿa

Bibliographic Data

ID19484036
AuthorsShuchen Xiang (0000-0001-5686-0390, Xidian University, corresponding author)
Year2026
Volume17
Issue5
Pages603
Publication date2026-05-18
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReligions (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2077-1444 • E-ISSN: 2077-1444
PublisherMDPI AG (PUBLISHER • IT)
DOI10.3390/rel17050603
OpenAlexW7161845897
LanguageEN
References cited14

This paper argues that the central thesis of Wael Hallaq’s The Impossible State is that traditional Islamic cultures as shaped by Sharīʿa did not abide by a fact-value distinction. Hallaq’s incisive account of traditional Islamic socio-political culture has relevant repercussions beyond the Islamic context from which he draws his conclusions. The importance of Hallaq’s project stems from how it reconstructs a specific tradition—Islam—to contest logics presented as modern and universal. His central argument, that the modern (Western) state is ultimately organized around a fact-value distinction, bears crucially on analyses of the historical Chinese state and its “modernization.” As this paper shows, the Chinese were the first to invent the modern bureaucratic state that Hallaq problematizes in his account of post-feudal European “modernity.” The critique that Hallaq makes of this modern bureaucratic state finds resonance throughout the millennia of Chinese history. Historically, the Confucians argued against the proponents of a similar fact-value distinction in political life—the “legalist” (fajia, 法家). Philosophically, the Confucians had conclusively won the debate against the legalists in dynastic China and the historic Chinese state and its political culture disavowed of the kind of fact-value distinction championed by the legalists. However, in contemporary times, due to the attempt by Western knowledge production to globalize the “modern” state, there has been a revival of legalism by Western scholars. This paper situates the revival within the context of Hallaq’s powerful critique, which frames the West’s attempt to globalize its political models as a form of epistemic colonization

Bureaucracy · China · CONTEST · Context (archaeology) · Legalism (Western philosophy) · Politics · State (computer science) · China's Ethnic Minorities and Relations · Islamic Finance and Banking Studies · Islamic Studies and History

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