Analysis on Mencius
Analysis on Mencius’ perception of the human nature
Introduction The term Philosophy, according to the definition provided by Wikipedia, is “the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. From the establishment of human civilizations, people started asking themselves about the underlying truths of the world. Among those questions they delved into, the question about the human nature – whether humans are good or evil by nature – grasped many philosophers’ interest. For this question, many western and eastern philosophers came up with their own unique explanations for the human nature. Among those uncountable philosophers, Xunzi and Thomas Hobbes are the most prominent philosophers who advocated the innate evilness of human beings; and Mencius, along with Jean-Jacque Rousseau, is the one most frequently referred to when talking about innate goodness of human beings. The Chinese philosopher Mencius stands out among the philosophers who dealt with the truths of human nature, for while other philosophers focused on explicit and direct explications, Mencius combined the profound ideological content with a high level of artistry through ample usage of metaphors and analogies. Although his words are quite circuitous, this certain degree of ambiguity allows the listeners to find the core of the meaning by themselves, and his painstaking selection of apt metaphors makes it much easier for listeners to illustrate the points in their heads. Throughout this paper I will give the explanation of how Mencius reached the conclusion that humans are good by nature and his reasoning – including innate pity for ones in danger – written in the book Mencius, focusing on his usage of ambiguous expressions and implicit messages hidden behind the passages.
Mencius’s explanation of human nature Heavily influenced by Confucian philosophies, Mencius, throughout his long book named after his name –
Introduction The term Philosophy, according to the definition provided by Wikipedia, is “the study of general and fundamental problems, such as those connected with existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. From the establishment of human civilizations, people started asking themselves about the underlying truths of the world. Among those questions they delved into, the question about the human nature – whether humans are good or evil by nature – grasped many philosophers’ interest. For this question, many western and eastern philosophers came up with their own unique explanations for the human nature. Among those uncountable philosophers, Xunzi and Thomas Hobbes are the most prominent philosophers who advocated the innate evilness of human beings; and Mencius, along with Jean-Jacque Rousseau, is the one most frequently referred to when talking about innate goodness of human beings. The Chinese philosopher Mencius stands out among the philosophers who dealt with the truths of human nature, for while other philosophers focused on explicit and direct explications, Mencius combined the profound ideological content with a high level of artistry through ample usage of metaphors and analogies. Although his words are quite circuitous, this certain degree of ambiguity allows the listeners to find the core of the meaning by themselves, and his painstaking selection of apt metaphors makes it much easier for listeners to illustrate the points in their heads. Throughout this paper I will give the explanation of how Mencius reached the conclusion that humans are good by nature and his reasoning – including innate pity for ones in danger – written in the book Mencius, focusing on his usage of ambiguous expressions and implicit messages hidden behind the passages.
Mencius’s explanation of human nature Heavily influenced by Confucian philosophies, Mencius, throughout his long book named after his name –