Mencius
5 Pages 1291 Words
We are all affected by our surroundings and experiences, as these are the fundamental building blocks on which we perceive our world. It is not surprising, then, that two of Confuciusf most distinguished followers, Mencius and Xunzi, hold two very different views on Human Nature. Although the Confucian philosopher Mencius did not live during a particularly peaceful era in Chinese history—he was a traveling advisor during the Warring States period, lasting from 403 until 221 BCE—the time during which Xunzi (a member of the following generation of Confucian scholars) lived was much darker and bloodier as he witnessed the wars leading up to the Qin dynasties conquest in the late third century which where galmost indescribably brutal [as] the intrigues surrounding them [were] often intensely bitter.h
While Confucian never saw the need to make his thoughts on the character of human nature unambiguously clear, insisting that gby nature men are very much the same, [and that] it is through practice that they drift apart,h his followers, Mencius and Xunzi, have addressed the question much more clearly. The former believed that man was predisposed to good, and if some individuals wandered from the right path and turned to evil, it was because external influences has gperverted their hearts.h He maintained that there exists a natural tendency for goodness, as inevitable as the natural tendency of water to flow downward, (Mencius, 6A.3) and that human beings gain a natural sense of pleasure from acting morally. He puts much greater emphasis on the innate goodness of human nature, which he insists is the gift of Heaven to each and every man. Also Mencius tries to grecall and enlarge the Confucian idea of ren, or humaneness and the principle of yi, or rightness.h
Xunzi on the other hand insists that Human Nature is inherently evil. He thought; people's natural tendencies are corrupt, and moral education runs against t...