Against Mencius' theory of the goodness of human nature, Xunzi says: "Human nature is bad; his goodness is the result of man's deliberate effort.,,21 This debate between Xunzi and Mencius on human nature has
Xunzi (Hsun Tzu)
captured the interest of many contemporary scholars. On the surface, Mencius and Xunzi seem to hold directly opposite views, but if we study their overall theory of moral cultivation, moral education, and rulership, then we see that their views are actually quite similar. As A. C. Graham says: "It is indeed far from easy to locate any issue of fact on which they disagree. Both recognize the need of learning, the moral acceptability of all fully reconcilable desires, the function of the heart as
arbiter between them, and the possibility of anyone becoming q sage. ,,22
Some scholars argue that there is no genuine disagreement between the two philosophers on the nature of human beings; what they have is simply a terminological dispute on the use of the term "nature. ,,23 Others argue that the two philosophers disagree more on the nature of morality and the method of moral education, than on the nature of human beings.24 To see the genuine disagreement between Xunzi and Mencius, we need to take a close look at Xunzi's definition of "nature" versus "deliberate effort," his analysis of the content of human nature and his arguments for the claim that human nature is bad.
To begin with, since Xunzi separates "deliberate effort" and "nature" as the sources of good and evil, let us see how he defines the two concepts. He defines "nature" as "whatever one is born with; whatever comes naturally and not from one's doing.,,25 Xunzi thinks that human nature is what one receives from Heaven; and as we saw in the previous section, Heaven for Xunzi is simply the totality of natural phenomena associated with the sky. Therefore, there is no teleological design or moral connotation associated with human nature. What one has at birth are basically one's biological characteristics, which are not so different from those of other animals. Xunzi says: "The basic nature of man is that which he receives from Heaven. The emotions are the substance of the nature and the desires are the responses of the emo tions. ,,26 In other words, he takes the content of human nature to in clude human desires and human emotions. Desires are related to our sense organs: our eyes prefer pleasing appearances; our ears prefer agree able music; our mouth prefers delectable tastes; our nose prefers fra grant smells. These desires are
natural
to us. We don't need to learn tohave these desires, since all sensory organs naturally prefer things that are agreeable to the senses. At the same time, our mind/heart also has natural emotions, in which Xunzi includes "love, hate, joy, anger, sorrow, or happiness.,,27 When the mind/heart loves a certain thing or finds it enjoyable, it generates the corresponding desire. This is why Xunzi calls desires "the responses of the emotions."
Xunzi defines "goodness" and "evil" in this way: "All men in the world, past and present, agree in defining goodness as that which is 93
Ancient Chinese Philosophy
upright, reasonable, peaceful and orderly, and evil as that which is unbalanced, dangerous, violent and chaotic. This is the distinction be tween good and evil." 28 If "goodness" is defined as "order and har mony," while "evil" is defined as "chaos and violence," then what we need to find out is whether the world will be peaceful and orderly, or violent and chaotic, when everyone follows his or her inborn nature. Xunzi thinks that humans are all egoists in that they would want to satisfy their own desires first and foremost. If humans follow their natural emotions and desires without any restraint, then the world will be brought to total chaos and eventual ruin. Without proper modifica tions of the inborn nature, everyone will become a villain. Human nature is bad in the respect that it naturally leads to an evil state.
As for the source of human goodness, Xunzi attributes it to human beings' deliberate effort
(wei).
The original Chinese term"wei,"
meaning literally "man-made" or "artificial," has been translated as "con scious activity" (Watson), "activity" (Chan), "human artifice" (Lau), or
"deliberate effort" (Ivanhoe and Van Norden). Xunzi does not associate any negative connotation with the term "artificial"; what he means is simply whatever is mixed with human effort. Since human goodness is the result of people's deliberate effort, this deliberate effort, which forms the basis of human culture, is good. Xunzi defines it as "acting upon the decision of the mind's deliberation; a habit or a routine that is devel oped after the accumulation of these deliberations and practices. ,,29 Among human beings' deliberate efforts Xunzi lists rites and righteous
ness, moral principles and moral teachings, laws and regulations, etc. What deliberate effort accomplishes are all forms of moral conduct and moral sentiments. The whole process of human civilization acts against man's innate desire to aggrandize his possession and gratify his senses. Therefore, Xunzi declares, the goodness of human beings is the result of their deliberate effort. In this sense, human goodness is