Human nature, which is an inborn characteristic which guides the way of thinking and attitude, can be shown by behaviors of people. Some people may show compassion towards the needy and some may just ignore the one who is in need, these actions can show good and bad human nature respectively. Behaviors of people may have some variations, for this reason, nature of human has been disputed for a long time. One of the arguments was Xunzi who claimed human nature is bad as people are born with desires. Also, goodness could be regarded as a kind of deliberate effort (Week 3 Lecture - Mengzi & Xunzi). This essay will agree with Xunzi and argue that human nature is bad intrinsically. This argument will be supported by tendency to maximize private benefits, reaction of humans when facing …show more content…
When children are growing up, they would make friends with others by playing or sharing things with them. It indicates that children love each other and they show their care to people around them. These actions seem to display a good human nature, but it may not be true. Care and love are deliberate efforts which are taught by others. Originally children would not share things with others as they want to get more things in order to fulfill their wants. It is also a kind of protecting rights for themselves (Grossman, n.d.). However, teachers teach them to share with others as they can benefit from sharing such as making friends with each other. As a result, children start to share. This implies that children would show their greed and desires by getting more things if there is no guidance from other people, they would behave well just after someone teaches them good behaviors. In this case, this is exactly Xunzi said consolidating virtues like fixing warped wood. Good virtues can be developed by the guidance of teachers, but not develop spontaneously (Week 3 Lecture - Mengzi &