Warring States - Assignment Example

Xunzi According to Xunzi, otherwise known as Xu Qing, education was the key to growing a nation politically, socially and economically. He argues that for a person to be morally upright he/she must first understand the Way, approve of it and abide by it. The Way in this case being a path that leads from personal obsessions and inclinations. As a result of adhering to the set of laws bound in the Way, the person would then both morally and intellectually stable. From most of his writings Xunzi is seen to promote learning through borrowing from his personal experiences and generally nature.

It is during the Zhou Dynasty that the kingdoms realized a dramatic shift in weaponry with the introduction of iron-ware in the form of helmets, arrows and spears. Politically this was a game changer for the kingdoms that embraced this new technology as opposed to the traditional wooden weaponry. This in turn led to a more skilled infantry and advanced kingdoms and warfare (Hobson, 2004). Xunzi through his scholarly exploits inclined towards educating the ordinary population as well as nobles through his odes and poems on the importance of embracing education without compromising governance.

Through his teachings and promotion for education, Xunzi apparently became one of the most sort after philosophers of his time and was soon elevated to the position of magistrate by Lord Chunshen of Chu the prime minister of Lanling. Confucius Confucius was regarded as one of the greatest philosophers of his time and his wise teachings still echo up to this day. It is from Confucius that great minds such as Xunzi and Mencius arose and the great Chinese revolution after the fall of the Zhou Dynasty.

In his philosophy, he is accredited for promoting personal and social morality as well as justice and honesty within the society and the government at large. Through his teachings the Zhou Dynasty was able to remain as one of the biggest ruling dynasties in the history of China. His fundamental teachings led people to value life more than property as opposed to that time when ordinary people were more inclined into acquiring personal property. As a result of his teachings, the Zhou emerged as undoubtedly one of the best political civilizations of its time (Creel, 1949).

It is from his idealistic principle of loving one another that most of the Warring States managed to coexist with each other in spite of their differences and moreso noticeable economic growth between the kingdoms. Mencius Although both Xunzi and Mencius shared the same teacher they ultimately did not share the same sentiments on how people were to live. Apart from defending the Confucian principles and teachings, Mencius fostered four main ethical themes in his teachings; humaneness, wisdom, propriety and observance of rites.

Mencius combed the land moving from one kingdom to another pleading for the lives of prisoners and smaller kingdoms based on his ideal teaching ‘human nature is good’ which was strongly refuted by Xunzi. However, it is from his teachings that most kingdoms were seen to be united through a common political point of view. Contrary to Xunzi’s teachings which promoted people to learn new ways, Mencius teachings promoted a much stable way of political governance of the kingdoms by holding fast to the basic of life’