Man’s Nature Is Evil” By Hsün Tzu
Hsün Tzu was one of the three great early architects of Confucian philosophy. He lived toward the end of the Warring States period, generally regarded as the formative era for most later Chinese philosophy. It was a time of great variety of thought, comparable to classical Greece, so Hsün Tzu was acquainted with many competing ideas.
In reaction to some of the other thinkers of the time, he articulated a systematic version of Confucianism that encompasses ethics, metaphysics, political theory, philosophy of language, and a highly developed philosophy of education. An instance of some of his work is his writing toward the nature of man, discussing how he concluded what he did. As Hsün Tzu mentions a variety of people in his writing, ranging from the rich to the poor, the deviant to the gentlemen, the potter and the carver, he wishes to address a diverse audience. His clever use of ethos strengthens his argument considerably, however his stubborn, unwavering tone as well as his bias towards his own argument and a repetitive theme in his choice of words and analogies allows the reader to lose attention very easily.
Hsün Tzu believes that our natural tendencies lead to conflict and disorder, and what we need to do is radically reform them, not develop them. Hsün Tzu offers several arguments against Mencius’s position. He defines human nature as what is inborn and does not need to be learned. He argues that if people were good by nature, there would be no need for ritual and social norms. The sages would not have had to create them, and they would not need to have been handed down through the generations.
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They were created precisely because people do not act in accordance with them naturally. He also notes that people desire the good, and on the principle that one desires what one doesn’t already have, this shows that people are not good. Like Mencius, Hsün Tzu believed human nature is the same in everyone: no one starts off with moral principles. Hsün Tzu is rather pessimistic about people actually making efforts to reform themselves. They cannot be forced to do so, and they may in practice be unable to make the choice to improve, but for Hsün Tzu, this does not mean that in principle it is impossible for them to change.
