The Confucian philosopher Xunzi repeated the phrase that “man’s nature is evil; goodness is the result of conscious activity” throughout his self-titled book. He’s responding to another philosopher, Mengzi, who stated that human nature was good, even though both were Confucians.
Xunzi’s main position draws a distinction between our emotional impulsive side (our nature) and our rational side (conscious activity). Our nature can be best seen in our infancy when we didn’t consciously think things through and just acted on impulse. Conscious activity is the result from learning from teachers and following ritual principles. Because our emotions and impulses lead us to do immoral acts and Xunzi equates human nature with our emotional side, human nature is evil (according to Xunzi).
To illustrate this, Xunzi uses the example of dining with your elders. Teachers advocate for the ritual principle of allowing your elders to eat first, however, our emotional nature would cause us to immediately eat if we’re hungry. #philosophy #confucianism #humannature
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6 сен 2024
