History can't bear to look at the complete collection

chapter 105
History's Misunderstanding of Mencius
The academic circle has always recognized that Mencius advocated the theory of good nature.Most people also believe in it.But in fact this is a wrong understanding of Mencius thought.

In the age of Mencius, the issue of human nature has become a hot topic, and there have been different theories.According to "Mencius?According to Gao Zixia, there were various sayings at that time, such as "human nature can be good and evil", "human nature can be good or bad", "human nature can be good, and human nature can be bad".After Mencius, there are Xunzi's "nature is evil", Shang Yang and Han Fei's human nature "likes the good and hates the bad" and other views.These theories of human nature basically define human nature in terms of natural physiological attributes such as "food and sex".Only Mencius's theory of human nature is unique: he made a strict distinction between human's natural physiological attributes and social moral attributes, and believed that the former is just "nature" and the latter is "human nature".

Mencius defined "nature" and "human nature" in the comparison between humans and animals.The "human nature" he refers to is "the reason why human beings are different from beasts", including the "compassion", "shame and disgust", "reciprocity" and "right and wrong" that "everyone has".He believes that all people have these "four hearts", and those who do not have these "four hearts" cannot be regarded as human beings.It can be seen that the "four hearts" are the essence of human beings, that is, the specific content of human nature.

In addition to the "four hearts" that are different from animals, humans also have similarities with animals. Mencius said that "the reason why humans are different from animals is a few things."But he does not regard these as the essential attributes of human beings, and therefore does not consider them to belong to "human nature", but only calls them "nature". "The mouth is related to taste, the eye is related to color, the ear is related to sound, the nose is related to smell, the limbs are related to safety, and sex is also." The "nature" he mentioned is obviously the physiological desire of human beings, that is, Humans have the same natural attributes as animals; while "humanity" is the moral attribute of "the reason why humans are different from animals", which is concentrated in the virtues of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, etc. that can distinguish humans from animals.In order to show the difference between the two, when Mencius called "human nature", he usually added qualifiers such as "junzi" and "qi" before "nature", so as not to be inconsistent with the physiological desires such as "food and sex" of people. "Nature" is confused, such as "the nature of a gentleman, benevolence, righteousness, propriety and wisdom are rooted in the heart", "preserve his heart and nourish his nature, so he serves heaven", "one who does his best knows his nature".

Mencius made a strict distinction between human nature and nature.He said: "People have the way. If they are full of warm clothes, live in leisure and have no education, they are close to beasts." If people blindly satisfy their "nature" (natural attributes) without moral education, people will become like beasts. Almost the same, "sex" is the source of evil that traps people in injustice.Therefore, when he mentioned "sex" and "desire", he warned people to "forbearance" and "wildness"; when he talked about "human nature" or "four hearts", he regarded it as "good end" and praised As far as the preparation is concerned, it is strongly advocated to "raise", "preserve" and "expand".It can be seen from this that "nature" and "human nature" are distinct and cannot be confused in Mencius' mind.What he advocates is actually "goodness of human nature" rather than "goodness of nature".In his view, "sex", which expresses people's natural desires, is not only bad, but can even be said to be "evil".Mencius started from the understanding that "human nature" is good and "nature" is the source of evil, and then proposed the principle of moral cultivation to expand the good and restrain the evil.

Therefore, what Mencius advocated is not the theory of "good nature", but the theory of "evil nature" and "good human nature".

(End of this chapter)