Mencius (371–289 bc): Human Nature is Good

Abstract

Perhaps out of wisdom, Confucius was silent on some subjects. This caused his followers to make many efforts to clarify and defend the ‘unstated assumptions’ in his thought system. One of these is related to human nature. Since the time of Mencius, human nature has been a main concern of Confucian philosophy. In traditional China it was common for philosophers to begin inquiries into morality and politics by asking the question: What is the nature of man? This question of the essence of human nature has been answered in different ways since there are multiple possible answers to the issue. For instance, one may argue that the issue of original human nature is itself meaningless. We don’t know at what point man begins to exist; in addition, human character is formed even before man is born into this world. In this sense, it is categorically impossible to prove the existence of original human nature. If, though, one assumes the existence of original human nature and one sets out to classify human nature into bad or good, then one immediately comes up against two extreme answers — human nature is good or human nature is evil.

Virtue and wisdom in their perfect purity, are ideas. But the wise man of the Stoics is an ideal— As the idea provides a rule, so the ideal serves as an archetype for the perfect and complete determination of the copy.

Kant (1781:319)