The social classes mentioned in Xunzi and Laozi’s philosophies are the ruling class and common civilians (Ebrey 28; Mair et al. 121). Though civilians are not excluded in their teachings, the texts are still directed towards the literati. This is intriguing because, seemingly, dao a universal ideology for all people; however, it is only those who are literate and also have leisure time who are able to delve into the philosophies of dao. The working class would not be able to cultivate their knowledge in schools of philosophies through text sources given that a majority of them are illiterate and also invested their time in work. “… Common people consider them customs,” Xunzi states, in reference to learning about dao rituals (Ebrey 25). The
