The Theories on Human Nature of Mengzi and Xunzi - Term Paper Example

HOW THEORIES OF HUMAN NATURE OF MENGZI (MENCIUS) AND XUNZI CAN BE USED TO CORRECT SOCIAL ILLS OF THE TODAY’S WORLD Mengzi (Mencius) and Xunzi were popular philosophers in the “Warring States Period”, which occurred between 403 and 221 BC. The two were students and disciples of Confucius who was respected for teaching incredible philosophy that aimed at uniting the people during such hard times. The purpose was to impart reasoning in members of the society so that there was peace and order. Mengzi and Xunzi adopted the teachings of Confucius and later built on that teaching to develop their own theories of “human nature”, which slightly opposed each other, but to a larger extent tried to lead towards creating a peaceful human being and society. This essay wishes to explore how the theories of human nature, as advocated by Mencius and Xunzi can help to correct social ills (such as rape and culture) of the today’s world. In order to arrive at the objective above, the essay will first give a brief highlight on the two theories of human nature and later relate on how the theories may be used to correct the social ills of today. According to Lau (1953), the theory of Mengzi (Mencius) states that human nature is good. It is only damaged by the environment or society in which that human is found. Mengzi reinforces the argument by stating that the young are well behaved in times of peace and stability but violent in bad times (although they become ashamed at the end). Therefore, there is need to propagate (cultivate) the heart (mind) so that it grows and maintains its goodness. This propagation can be done through rituals (morals or education). Lau (1953) adds that Mengzi further argues that the goodness of human nature is seen in the inborn heart of morality, commiseration, keeping oneself back in order to make way for others, and right and wrong. Mengzi elaborates that the heart of commiseration is the beginning of humanity; where people feel for others the way they feel about themselves. In this case, they will sympathize with those who are facing problems. The philosopher further explains that having shame is the beginning of righteousness; giving way for others is the beginning of observing ritual; and the heart of knowing wrong and right is the beginning of wisdom. Having shame will help people avoid doing evil lest they be ashamed. Similarly, keeping oneself back will help to make others first; and knowing right and wrong will help people approve right and disapprove wrong doing. On the other hand, Lau (1953) states quoting Xunzi, advocates that human nature is bad (evil). It is full of feelings or desires such as love, envy, hate, pleasure, anger, sorrow, greed and joy. Such desires lead people to some sort of actions. They start seeking things they desire. Unfortunately, since they live in societies where there are others who also desire to have the same things, there is conflict (strife) with others. Such strife is bad because it will create instability in the society. In order to avoid that strife, Xunzi suggests there should be enforcement of morals through establishment of rules and laws in the families and the society at large. Such morals will help the mind to control desires in individuals and therefore establish peace because they will create boundaries amongst different levels of members in the families and society. Xunzi further argues that education and societal ethics make eliminate the evilness in human beings so that they become good people with less desires. Whilst the two theories seem to differ in their arguments, they also seem to supplement one another in the quest to create a stable environment, especially in the world of today which is filled with a lot of problems such as rape, poor aspects of culture, theft, corruption, poor governance, wars, general behavior of the youths and gender inequalities. The discussion below tries to relate how the two theories can be used to correct the afore-stated ills. Mencius states that people are born good but the environment in which they live can damage or mislead them. Lau (1953) states that Mencius’ argument is true in the world of today. Many people who were perhaps good people in the societies and families have become lunatics in their behavior because of the societies in which they live. Very good students in school have dramatically changed their behaviors because they have joined bad groups. Youths have gone into drug addiction, theft and prostitution because of their environments have encouraged them to do so. Furthermore, where there is poor governance and students are facing crises in their schools or colleges, strikes are the order of the days. Therefore, it is necessary to set our environments with the necessary cultural norms (rituals), rules and laws, resources, education systems and other things that will make the environment friendly to the people so that their good nature thrives. According to Mencius, people should have commiseration which is the beginning of humanity. Lau (1953) states that here people learn to feel for others the way they feel about themselves. They feel sympathetic when others are in problems. The today’s world is largely lacking this aspect of commiseration. For example, when children enter into promiscuity, people who have the capacity to help them out just look at them; when two countries or societies fight, others just look at them; when some people are ultra poor, the rich just look at them; and when others are oppressed, free people celebrate. If the ideas of commiseration from Mencius can be applied today, people would start helping each other in time of trouble. Besides, when one feels for the other it means there is love. Where there is love there is hope to help peach other in times of trouble. Mencius says people who have a heart feel ashamed when they do something wrong. Such knowledge makes them become righteous since they are able to realize their mistakes. In that way they will be able to avoid such mistakes. The today’s world has many people who do not feel ashamed because of what they do. They just misbehave the way they want. They can steal, rape, steal or do other sorts of evil without feeling any remorse. Perhaps, as Mencius puts it, if people become ashamed of what they do today, they will become righteous and therefore be able to realize their mistakes. It therefore means that institutions that train people to become morally upright should be strengthened in order to develop the moral capacity in the people so that they are able to become righteous after recognizing their mishaps. Mencius further states that people are able to give way for others. This is the beginning of observing ritual of the oneself or society. Giving way for others means putting others first. The world today is filled with greed. Many people do not want to give way to others. They amass everything for themselves. Marriages break because other people snatch or rape other people’s wives, opposition parties quarrel with ruling parties because they want to rule and not others, countries invade others because they do not wants others to have what they have. However, giving chance to other people means giving them chance to have the same opportunities of life just like they have. If leaders, for example allow others, they will be seen as good leaders who care for others. According to Mencius, the heart of knowing right and wrong is the beginning of wisdom, which helps to approve rights and disapprove wrongs. The world today has problems or knowing right and wrong. Either members of the society do that ignorantly or deliberately. The wisdom they use becomes corrupt as seen in judging cases. Today people and countries are doing different bad things to their friends and countries respectively because they are unable to know right and wrong. If societies can strengthen the knowledge of knowing what is right and wrong, then things will change in the world today. People will be able to know right and wrong, in the process be able to have the wisdom with which to see others as their equals. On the other hand, Xunzi states that since human beings are evil in nature, they have different desires which make them misbehave. Xunzi’s argument that human beings are born with different desires makes sense in the world today. Desires (such as love, envy, etc) in different people such as political leaders, religious leaders, public servants, business people and individuals and children have brought different problems in the families, societies and countries as a whole. For example, some who want women may end up raping them because their desires direct them to do so. Others engage in wars, killings, theft and the like. Such problems come because such people with multiple desires engage themselves to accomplish their desires. Unfortunately, the search for what they desire in the society brings further problems. The society already has other people with similar desires, yet the desired resources are insufficient. As such, they start scrambling for the limited resources which in the final analysis they create instability as is the case in the world today. This argument therefore means that, there should be a mechanism set in the world today to regulate desires of people so that there is peace. Xunzi argues that since that since human beings are born evil, there should be an enforcement of morals - rules and laws – at all levels in order to control desires in different individuals so as to create peace. Without societal laws, people will grab for themselves and do nothing for others, including killing of others. In the world today, some of the rules and laws in our societies allow some groups of people to oppress others. For example, in some societies gender issues are not balanced together with other ills. Females suffer more than males. This is why sometimes they face issues of rape because laws and society norms are flexible. Some leaders and other people are corrupt, hence the less privileged suffer at the expense of those who are more powerful. This therefore means that if rules (societal ethics) and laws are strengthened in the today’s world to favour everybody, issues of corruption, female harassment, robberies, thefts, drug addition, to mention but a few. Finally, whilst Mencius states that education helps to develop and strengthen the already good human heart, Xunzi thinks education can change the inborn evilness in human beings so that they become good. People who are educated will be enlightened, hence do things in the right manner in the society. In the world today, many children are not going to school. Others do not go further with education to the level of enlightenment. Such people who are not educated in the world today cause a lot of strife in our societies. They are the people who do a lot of thefts, robberies, corruption, rapes and the like. In this case, they render the societies wrecked and hopeless. If the world today could adopt the teachings of Mencius and Xunzi on education, they will be able to put strategies in place that ensure all the people in the society become educated because such educated people will become good people. Much as there are differences in the theories, the points raised within them are quite important. They clearly show how the theories advanced by Mencius and Xunzi can help to change the world today. However, for this to happen, there is need for collective or multi-sectoral approaches that engage every person to work hard towards practically eliminating the said evils that have destroyed the world today. BIBLIOGRAPHY Lau, D.C. (1953). “Theories of Human Nature in Mencius and Xunzi.” Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 15.3; 541 – 565. Read More