Xunzi's Spread Of Confucianism

Xunzi broadened the spread of Confucianism in rural cities through steps Mencius took for people to believe in him. Mencius was a philosopher and a teacher; throughout his studies, he claimed, “all human beings are naturally good. We all have ingrown dispositions that can grow into goodness.” He believed that human nature is good and possesses a natural structure composed of four impulses or sprouts including humanity, benevolence, appropriateness, and wisdom. However, Xunzi stated, “…Human-beings are born with a fondness for profit, hatred, and dislike towards each other.” 5 Although the teachings of Mencius were unsuccessful during his time, Xunzi felt that through Confucius and Mencius he would be able to reshape his ideas. During the

As a follower of Confucius, he was an early central figure in the “consolidation of what came to be thought of as the Confucian tradition”. People had often underestimated Xunzi’s significance by saying that his ways were the same as Mencius. In fact, this was not true, during Xunzi’s time as a teacher and follower in the Zhou’s government, citizens soon found that Xunzi’s thoughts of Confucianism were completely contrary to Mencius’s. 4 One of the major differences between the two philosophers was that Mencius believed that all human nature was good where Xunzi’s belief was that “Human beings are born with a fondness for profit, a hatred, a dislike of others, and desires for sensual pleasure, if we follow our natures we will continue destructive conflict with each

Also stated in his book was the goal to create peace among the warring states by reinforcing good morals such as education, heaven, and ethics through the use of Mencius and Confucius philosophical ideas of creating a fair government. These ideas of peace helped restore the current government system for law, their judicial systems, as well as the ruling class. Xunzi’s most famous dictum was that “the nature of man is evil; his goodness is only acquired training.” What Xunzi preached was thus essentially a philosophy of culture. “Human nature at birth,” he explained, “consists of instinctual drives, which left to themselves, are selfish, anarchic, and antisocial.” Society as a whole, however, exerts a civilizing influence upon the individual, gradually training and molding him until he becomes a disciplined and morally conscious human being.