Hsun Tzu Vs Mencius Research Paper

People are born with views of the world which vary between individuals. Mencius was a philosopher who believed that man is born with a good nature but whether or not they turn evil in nature depends solely on his or her environment. Although Hsun Tzu believes man has an evil nature, Mencius better argues man’s goodness exists from birth but must be nurtured by his environment and practiced by the individual.
Mencius believes that it is the environment that nourishes man into becoming good or evil. Mencius beliefs are much similar to clay or willow wood because “If you maul willow wood to make cups and bowls, then I guess you maul human nature to make Humanity and Duty.”(Mencius 79) As a child grows in life, they are taught that punishment is the result of any bad action that child might act on. If a child was to destroy all of his or her toys and didn’t feel bad for doing so, then one might think that the child has evil tendencies. The child is then thought of to be evil, but this is not true because the child must first learn that there are consequences for their actions. A …show more content…
Mencius noticed that evil does exist but it is for “Some to make more of themselves than others, maybe two or five or countless times more. But that’s only because some people fail to realize their inborn capacities.”(Mencius 80) If there is a child who grows with the lack of any teachings he will still be considered to have good righteous acts because good will still be present within that child. Mencius beliefs are similar to Christianity in a way, a religion that I am acquainted with. He trusts that Heaven is an ethical power whose order is to be regarded and took after by people. We take after Heaven's command by knowing and feeding our human nature and honing great custom acts. Our human nature is great when we rehearse and are taken care of