Essay on Mencius and Xunzi
As a definite theory of social organization, Confucianism focuses on ethical rules, social norms, regulation and control. No one can examine and discuss Confucianism without mentioning the great philosophers, such as Mencius and Xunzi.
Thus, in this paper we are going to research and present own thoughts about Mencius’s and Xunzi’s ideas on human nature and approaches to government.
To begin with, Mencius developed the concept of human nature within the development of Confucianism. According to Mencius, human nature is endowed with “good”, even though this nature is not always manifested. “Good” can be realized in each person by four virtues, the foundation of which is knowledge, because knowledge of the order of things, peace and human leads to the realization in the society: 1) humanity, 2) intactness, 3) courtesy, and 4) knowledge.
Thus, I can conclude that “human nature is good” for Mencius. Moreover, I think that Mencius’s optimism about human nature is a real and powerful challenge to the fundamental idea that people need rules and laws in order to restrain and subdue a naturally depraved inclination.
Ox Mountain clearly demonstrates Mencius’s thinking. In this case, the Ox Mountain is a metaphor for a totally evil man, truly devoid of positive thoughts and any virtue. In the same way that trees can grow on mountains, so it is also natural for inceptive moral and ethical shoots to turn into moral and ethical virtues even in an evil man.
Xunzi was Mencius’s opponent and polemicizing with him, put forward opposing views on human nature. Moreover, in contrast to Mencius, he puts forward a thesis about a man’s evil nature and all his abilities and good qualities are a result of upbringing. Xunzi’s criticism of Mencius is based on the thesis that according to Xunzi human nature is evil. To my mind his criticism of Mencius does not underlie debates. He put forward his own point of view and tried to prove it in contrast to Mencius.
In addition to the above-mentioned information, Xunzi has realistic approaches to government. According to him, the best kind of government is the government acquired by the Way (Dao) through the moral powers. Our universe is not moral, a governor who controls efficiently, does not tax his people, makes allies of nearest-neighbor states can become a powerful hegemon.
In summary, it is possible to sum up that Mencius and Xunzi were Chinese philosophers who made a great contribution and laid a foundation for the development of philosophy as a whole.
