Xunzi Vs Mencius Analysis
For centuries, mankind has struggled with the question, "Are we good by nature?" Do we do good deeds only out of selfish desires, or is there a real shred of decency somewhere in our being? Even today, lawyers argue whether a killer's motives for committing atrocious crimes stem from the fact that he has a naturally incompetent tendency, or if outside influences, such as a difficult childhood, turned a naturally innocent person into a murderer. The Chinese philosophers, Mencius and Xunzi, explored this difficulty in their philosophies. While both considered themselves disciples of the philosopher, Confucius, their perspective on humans were different. Mencius had an optimistic view of humans, while Xunzi saw humans as creatures in need of reform.
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He gives an example that when one is hungry, his natural is to eat without thinking of other people first. It is only because of artificial social convention that he thinks about other people eating before him. Because these tendencies are undesirable, Xunzi believes that they must be transformed rather than developed. He compares moral development to straightening a board or sharpening metal. It must, in effect, be reshaped. The solution, Xunzi writes, is that "one must be transformed by the example of a teacher and guided by the way of ritual and rightness before one will attain modesty and yielding, accord with refinement and ritual, and return to order." He argues that if people were truly innately good, there would be no need for social norms and rituals. People perform these rituals, Xunzi argues, because they desire to be good people, showing that they are not good. Xunzi's view of human nature is fairly accurate to today's society. While I believe that the majority of humans do not belong to the extreme end of immorality, there is a common desire to become good people. The self-improvement section of a bookstore contains resources to better oneself, and good deeds such as donating money to a charity or even attending church can be considered modern "rituals". What ultimately seems to define a person's living testimony is how good of a person he or she was; the activities and situations he or she was in to claim himself as a "good person". The Catholic church even shares Xunzi's view, teaching that the number of good works a person does determines whether they go to heaven, purgatory, or hell. Relating to Xunzi's argument that rituals would be unnecessary had human nature been good, the same goes for the various opportunities to become good in today's society. If we are truly good, then these
He gives an example that when one is hungry, his natural is to eat without thinking of other people first. It is only because of artificial social convention that he thinks about other people eating before him. Because these tendencies are undesirable, Xunzi believes that they must be transformed rather than developed. He compares moral development to straightening a board or sharpening metal. It must, in effect, be reshaped. The solution, Xunzi writes, is that "one must be transformed by the example of a teacher and guided by the way of ritual and rightness before one will attain modesty and yielding, accord with refinement and ritual, and return to order." He argues that if people were truly innately good, there would be no need for social norms and rituals. People perform these rituals, Xunzi argues, because they desire to be good people, showing that they are not good. Xunzi's view of human nature is fairly accurate to today's society. While I believe that the majority of humans do not belong to the extreme end of immorality, there is a common desire to become good people. The self-improvement section of a bookstore contains resources to better oneself, and good deeds such as donating money to a charity or even attending church can be considered modern "rituals". What ultimately seems to define a person's living testimony is how good of a person he or she was; the activities and situations he or she was in to claim himself as a "good person". The Catholic church even shares Xunzi's view, teaching that the number of good works a person does determines whether they go to heaven, purgatory, or hell. Relating to Xunzi's argument that rituals would be unnecessary had human nature been good, the same goes for the various opportunities to become good in today's society. If we are truly good, then these