The influence of Confucianism in Chinese culture and throughout the world is undeniable, but Confucianism itself is difficult to define, both because it is rooted in deeply philosophical, existential questions, but also because it has been interpreted and redefined by so many generations of thinkers.\u00a0 One critical aspect which differentiates different schools of Confucianism is how one answers the question of whether human nature is inherently good or inherently evil.\u00a0 Even just a hundred years after the death of Confucius, his disciple Mencius redefined his teachings by basing Confucian philosophy on the principle that human nature is inherently good.\u00a0 This so changed the foundation of Confucian belief that the new school came to be known as Neo-Confucianism.\u00a0 On the opposite side of the spectrum are thinkers like Xunzi and Ogyu Sorai, who base their philosophical interpretations on the idea that humans are naturally inclined towards evil.\u00a0 Although they all claim to be following and expanding on the teachings of Confucius, their approaches to Confucian teachings lead them in entirely different directions.<\/p>\n
Daniel Gardner in his book, Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition<\/em>, argues that the Neo-Confucian views of Mencius had a greater impact on Chinese education from 1300 to 1900 than almost any other figure, apart from Confucius himself.[1]<\/a> \u00a0Mencius famously argues that \u201call men have a mind-and-heart that cannot bear to see the suffering of others: Today, no matter the person, if he suddenly comes upon a young child about to fall into a well, his mind-and-heart fills with alarm and is moved to compassion.\u201d[2]<\/a> \u00a0This belief in an innate sense of compassion influences his entire philosophy and it is the foundation of his belief that it is our duty to cultivate this compassion through self-reflection.\u00a0 Gardner argues that it was required of anyone wishing to enter government service to internalise this philosophy of self-cultivation.\u00a0 As a result, Confucianism, and its practice by those in official government positions, was a highly individualistic philosophy which recommended that the best way to serve others was by turning inward and through the perfection of oneself one could become an example for others.<\/p>\n Ogyu Sorai argued for the opposite approach.\u00a0 He agrees with Xunzi that\u00a0 humans are predisposed towards evil, claiming that \u201cmen are not sages, and that evil inevitably abounds while good is scarcely to be seen.\u201d[3]<\/a> \u00a0This pessimistic view of human nature leads him to the conclusion that humans cannot attain moral perfection on their own.\u00a0 Arthur Tiedemann\u2019s analysis of Sorai\u2019s writings in Sources of Japanese Tradition: 1600-2000<\/em> argues that Sorai was convinced that traditional schools of Confucianism like Zhu Xi and Ito Jinsai, \u201chad failed to fufill the basic aim of scholarship: to provide for the needs of the people and the general social welfare. The NeoConfucians were too preoccupied with metaphysics, philosophical idealism, and personal cultivation.\u201d[4]<\/a> \u00a0Other schools relied on the inner good nature of the individual to eventually lead them towards goodness and virtue, but Sorai thought this perspective was unrealistic because it placed too much pressure on the individual.\u00a0 He argues that without established social and political structures to guide and support people, their material welfare would be neglected and as a result, the evil tendencies of human nature would be manifested.<\/p>\n The real opposition in these views lies in the contrasting ideas the true nature of human beings.\u00a0 If, as Mencius claims, humans must look within themselves to find good, then Confucianism is a philosophy which focuses predominantly on the individual and encourages an almost religious approach to personal perfection through self-reflection and self-cultivation.\u00a0 In this form of Confucianism, laws and government authority have little effect because one is expected to govern oneself and set an example for others.\u00a0 But, if one takes Sorai\u2019s view that humans possess a natural evil which they must overcome, it is necessary to look outside oneself, to social and political institutions to correct this inherent flaw.\u00a0 In this sense, Confucianism is a philosophy which stresses the importance of community and advocates for the structure and support which rituals and laws provide to keep individuals in check.\u00a0 These contradictory views both claim to be \u201cfulfilling the Confucian teaching, not breaking with it,\u201d but their social and political implications are vastly different.[5]<\/a> \u00a0The way in which Confucianism is interpreted in this case determines whether it is defined as a religion or as a political ideology.<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> Gardner, Daniel K., Four Books: The Basic Teachings of the Later Confucian Tradition<\/em>, (Hackett Publishing Company, 2007), ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/st-andrews\/detail.action?docID=1118881, p. xv.<\/p>\n [2]<\/a> Ibid., p. 65.<\/p>\n [3]<\/a> Tiedemann, Arthur, Sources of Japanese Tradition: 1600 to 2000<\/em>, edited by Wm. Theodore De Bary, et al., (Columbia University Press, 2005), ProQuest Ebook Central, http:\/\/ebookcentral.proquest.com\/lib\/st-andrews\/detail.action?docID=908716, p. 220.<\/p>\n [4]<\/a> Ibid., p. 218.<\/p>\n [5]<\/a> Ibid., p. 219.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The influence of Confucianism in Chinese culture and throughout the world is undeniable, but Confucianism itself is difficult to define, both because it is rooted in deeply philosophical, existential questions, but also because it has been interpreted and redefined by so many generations of thinkers.\u00a0 One critical aspect which differentiates different schools of Confucianism is … Continue reading “Human Nature: How Perception of Human Tendencies Alters the Definition of Confucianism”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[7,125,107,18],"class_list":["post-788","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-confucianism","tag-mencius","tag-neo-confucianism","tag-ogyu-sorai"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/31"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=788"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":790,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/788\/revisions\/790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/transnationalhistory.net\/world\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}