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Name: Mencius, Xunzi, and Morality
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00:00After Confucianism was established by Confucius, Mencius and Shuanzi inherited and developed

00:05Confucianism in the midst of the disputes of the warring states period.

00:10However, their understanding of morality was polarized. Mencius emphasized the inherent

00:16goodness of human nature, believing that everyone has the potential to become a benevolent person

00:21and that politics should be based on benevolence, righteousness and indoctrination.

00:25Shuanzi, on the other hand, asserted that human nature is inherently evil, and argued that

00:31rituals and laws are the key tools for curbing human desires and establishing social order.

00:37This fundamental difference in human nature theory determined their different directions

00:41in political philosophy, state governance, and social ethics. Mencius represents the peak of

00:48idealism, while Shuanzi symbolizes the maturity of Confucian realism. Mencius put forward the

00:54concept of righteous war, placing the justification of war under moral judgment.

01:00He emphasized that war should not be a tool for the ruler to pursue expansion, but a means to prevent

01:06violence, promote benevolence, and safeguard the well-being of the people. This conception of

01:12placing political power under moral constraints was undoubtedly revolutionary in the context of the

01:17chaotic world of that time. More importantly, Mencius not only gave moral logic to the justice of war,

01:24but also proposed for the first time a prototype of international moral order.

01:29He envisioned that disputes between nations should be handled according to the way of the king,

01:33rather than the way of the hegemon, a conception that transcended the realities of interest patterns

01:38and demonstrated his forward-looking international political philosophy.

01:43Mencius' political philosophy is based on the principle that, the people are the most important

01:48thing, the gods of earth and grain come second, and the ruler is the least important thing.

01:53He redefined the mandate of heaven as a synonym for the people's will and denied the rationality of

02:00absolute monarchical power. On the one hand, this idea inherits the ideal of benevolent government

02:06of Confucius, and on the other hand, it also raises a moral question to authoritarian politics.

02:12In Mencius' view, the quality of governance of a country and the moral value of a monarch must be judged

02:19by the people in their daily lives. He emphasized that a just government is a

02:24parental government, which should use education, moralization, and benevolence as the means to guide the

02:30people towards goodness. This philosophy still has far-reaching relevance in today's democratic theory.

02:36After Confucianism was established by Confucius, Mencius and Schuenzi inherited and developed

02:43Confucianism in the midst of the disputes of the warring states period. However, their understanding

02:49of morality was polarized. Mencius emphasized the inherent goodness of human nature, believing that

02:56everyone has the potential to become a benevolent person and that politics should be based on

03:00benevolence, righteousness, and indoctrination. Schuenzi, on the other hand,

03:05asserted that human nature is inherently evil, and argued that rituals and laws are the key tools

03:11for curbing human desires and establishing social order. This fundamental difference in human nature

03:17theory determined their different directions in political philosophy, state governance, and social

03:22ethics. Mencius represents the peak of idealism, while Schuenzi symbolizes the maturity of Confucian

03:29realism. Mencius put forward the concept of righteous war, placing the justification of war

03:35under moral judgment. He emphasized that war should not be a tool for the ruler to pursue expansion,

03:42but a means to prevent violence, promote benevolence, and safeguard the well-being of the people.

03:48This conception of placing political power under moral constraints was undoubtedly revolutionary in

03:53the context of the chaotic world of that time. More importantly, Mencius not only gave moral logic to the

04:00justice of war, but also proposed for the first time a prototype of international moral order.

04:06He envisioned that disputes between nations should be handled according to the way of the king,

04:11rather than the way of the hegemon, a conception that transcended the realities of interest patterns

04:16and demonstrated his forward-looking international political philosophy. Mencius' political philosophy is

04:22based on the principle that the people are the most important thing, the gods of earth and grain come

04:27second, and the ruler is the least important thing. He redefined the mandate of heaven as a synonym for

04:34the people's will and denied the rationality of absolute monarchical power. On the one hand,

04:41this idea inherits the ideal of benevolent government of Confucius, and on the other hand,

04:46it also raises a moral question to authoritarian politics. In Mencius' view, the quality of governance of

04:53a country and the moral value of a monarch must be judged by the people in their daily lives.

04:59He emphasized that a just government is a parental government, which should use education,

05:04moralization, and benevolence as the means to guide the people towards goodness.

05:09This philosophy still has far-reaching relevance in today's democratic theory.

05:15Schuenzi highly integrated personal morality with political governance.

05:18He believed that through the example of propriety, set by the king, society as a whole could achieve

05:25moral enlightenment. Politics should not only govern the external order, but also shape people's inner

05:31ethics. This is a Confucian unity of government and religion, with both a rational structure and a

05:37spiritual content. Schuenzi's thought constructed a top-down logic of order, from the ideal governance of

05:44the sage king to the daily rituals of the common people, all reflecting the institutional power of

05:49rights. Mencius and Schuenzi, one represents the glory of ideal morality, the other shows the calmness

05:56of institutional reality. While they took different paths, they shared a common commitment to thinking

06:02about the moral nature of human beings, social order, and political ideals. Their ideological disputes not

06:10only shaped the two major Confucian traditions of later generations, but also became an important

06:15resource for the parallelism of ideals and realities, and the rule of morality and the rule of law,

06:21in the political culture of East Asia.

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