Good Beyond Evil
A radical thinker, Xunzi disagreed with Mencius on human nature. For him men are naturally evil. From this inverse assumption, he yet reached the same Mencian conclusion: moral education is paramount for society to function, and the ruler should be meritorious, protecting the people. This makes Xunzi a Confucianist, though Han Fei and Li Si, his students, were to subvert Confucian principles.
From Xunzi, Mingyuan Hu selects and translates three treatises, illustrating his argument.
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A radical thinker, Xunzi disagreed with Mencius on human nature. For him men are naturally evil. From this inverse assumption, he yet reached the same Mencian conclusion: moral education is paramount for society to function, and the ruler should be meritorious, protecting the people. This makes Xunzi a Confucianist, though Han Fei and Li Si, his students, were to subvert Confucian principles.
From Xunzi, Mingyuan Hu selects and translates three treatises, ‘Men Are Naturally Evil, Their Goodness a Matter of Cultivation’, ‘Human Demeanour, All Too Human Demeanour, Not at All Becoming’ and ‘Water Carries the Boat; Water Overturns the Boat’, illustrating his argument.
This book is part of the Erstwhile Series.