Historical Studies (Chinese Edition)

No.6, 2013

 

Xun Zi's View on Human Nature is not that Man's Nature Is Evil

(Abstract)

 

Yan Shian

 

The statement "Man's nature is evil" is seen only in the eponymous chapter in the Xunzi. The other chapters in the Xunzi either say nothing about human nature being evil or take a positive attitude to emotions and desires. They may have expressions that veer towards suggesting human nature is evil, but these are not representative of Xun Zi's view of human nature. The basis of Xun Zi's political thought is not the theory that human nature is evil, but the traditional Confucian consciousness that human nature is originally good plus his own distinctively positive attitude to emotions and desires. The chapter "Man's Nature is Evil" in the Xunzi is free-floating; it does not represent the culmination of Xun Zi's view of human nature, but rather is an attempt to set up a heterodoxy contrasting with the idea that "human nature is good." The author of "Man's Nature is Evil" may have been a later scholar; it cannot represent Xun Zi's view of human nature.