He explains: "The Han dynasty, for the first time, began to show systematic respect for human life and to protect it under the law." Although philosophers from the Warring States period to the Qin dynasty had anthropocentric (as opposed to deistic) philosophies, China's early rulers saw people primarily as state resources and lacked any real respect for individual life.
「因為尊重生命並進而以法律來保護的事，到漢代才有可考」，邢義田指出，從戰國到秦漢，思想家對人類生命雖有極為人本的討論，但先秦君王基本上視人為國家工具，對人缺少真正的敬意與尊重。