The good and evil of human nature is a controversial problem in the Chinese and foreign history, Majority of ethicists such as Laozi, Mengzi, Xunzi etc. published their own opinions on human nature, good and evil in human nature of the different answer to construct the theory system. The most significant influence about ancient Chinese history theory of human nature of is Mencius’s theory of "goodness" which I believe is the impressed content I learned from ancient Chinese philosophy.
The understanding of human nature from Mencius is mainly from the nature of the people to understand the moral attribute of human nature, that human nature is "people who are different from animals. Physiological instincts …show more content…
You must violate and rob the willow tree, and only then can you make it into cups and bowls. If you must violate and rob the willow tree in order to make it into cups and bowls, must you also violate and rob people in order to make them benevolent and righteous? If there is something that leads people to regard benevolence and righteousness as misfortunes for them, it will surely be your doctrine, will it not?”
Contrary to Gaozi, Mencius theory of goodness based on the social nature of people. He does not deny that people have a common nature, but he believes that these nature element are common in both human beings and animals, it is not enough to reflect the essence of the unique characteristics of human nature. If human satisfied with comfort life that makes no difference with animals.
Humans have a common nature, the nature is benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom and moral consciousness as the content of social attributes, rather than the beast without other natural attributes
So what is the mainly significant difference between human beings and …show more content…
“It is not the case that only the worthy person has this heart. All humans have it. The worthy person simply never loses it.”
Mencius linked up Confucianism to the ethical norms and theory of virtue, the essence of which is that the ruling class of the patriarchal ethics as innate human nature,
From the Mencius’s argument on "benevolence”. It can be seen that there is not much difference between basic content and Confucius "benevolence" such as未有仁而遗其亲者也. They are both piety and seems to satisfy the moral norm of Confucianism. But Mencius apply benevolence to politics, "benevolent governance" is put forward, revoke the high achievement of personal moral cultivation. This brought great effect on Chinese political thought.
Mencius to realize human kindness, also recognize that do not stay in the day after tomorrow nature is not only the influence of the external environment, is also a result of its own factors
Mencius's theory of virtue "as the foundation of Chinese traditional culture, the Chinese level of personality and ideas are profoundly