Argumentative Essay On Mengzi And Xunzi

One of the most important writers of the Enlightenment was the philosopher and novelist Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778). The work of Rousseau has influenced a generation and beyond and it is argued that the main ideals of the French and American revolutions arose from his works, for example The Discourse on Equality. The main concept of Rousseau's thought is that of 'liberty', and his belief that modern society forced humans to give up their independence, making everyday life corrupt and unfree. One of the central problems Rousseau confronted is best summed up in the first line of arguably his most important work, The Social Contract.

Rousseau’s assumptions and beliefs of his era are society and the growth of social interdependence. He was from 1700, (1712-78) it was very different compared to our beliefs.

Confucius’ high emphasis on morality instead of profit was one of his major political ideals that he tried to persuade the the rulers of the kingdoms to pursue. However, his failure to convince any of those rulers reflected the prevalent pragmatic political culture at that period. After all, the kingdoms were at war with each other so that Confucius’ idea was inevitably less popular than those battle-winning strategies in favor of “profit.”

Most importantly for Rousseau, however, is not necessarily how history lets him see how men might have been or how history lets him strike a balance between grasping the intricacy of human history and succeeding fluidly from one thought to another; it is how framing his work in such a way lets him give the greatest demonstrative proof of the point he makes. The first part of the work consists in a history of mankind until the institution of the social contract, and it reads easily and freely, just as man in Rousseau’s conception was in those days. The second part of the Second Discourse, which deals with the critique of the social contract itself, however, reads much more heavily, as if Rousseau were attempting to give the reader a taste of the gravity the social contract itself imposes upon man. The opening lines of the second half already launch his scathing attack on civil society by associating this notion with a man who takes advantage of his fellow men:

Rousseau proposed that the state is a natural development of a family relationship, the father being the ruler/rulers and the children, being the people/citizens. And the even though families are tied by blood and love, no such bonds exist on the level of the state, and so a situation of attempted supremacy will arise. Therefore we need a mechanism to guarantee that people of the state work in agreement. Rousseau reasoned that the mechanism being a “social contract”, a balance between the rulers, the politicians/cooperate elites and the sovereign, the collect

China is a country with long history, which at the same time comes with a complex philosophy system. Date back to the Warring States period, the rising of Confucianism, Daoism, Legalism, and some other schools captured the attention of the society. These schools created their different and special philosophies, which in some way guided the trend of the society development. With several hundreds years of inherited and people applied their own thoughts to the original philosophy and tried to explain that in their own way, some philosophy look different from what it used to be. However, some people’s opinions will give a philosophy a new life. Zhu Xi, an unforgettable person in China history, is “generally ranked as second only to Confucius in influence and as rivaling Zhuang Zi in philosophic acumen in the Chinese philosophical tradition (Thompson, 2).”

Rousseau is theorizing from the concept of the general will, which promotes individuals to become conscious citizens who actively participate as a community to form policies for a governing structure. The general will advocates for a commitment to generality, a common interest that will unite all citizens for the benefit of all. Rousseau states, “each one of us puts into the community his person and all his powers under the supreme direction of the general will; and as a body, we incorporate every member as an indivisible part of the whole” (Rousseau 61). The general will is an expression of the law that is superior to an individual’s

Rousseau’s philosophy is based on a body of people with individual thought involved to overcome obstacles in nature and run the country properly. He incorporated the rights of the people with the government to make an effective system with almost to no oppression from the upper class. These philosophers all altered our view on thought, rights, and elite culture.

One of the oldest philosophies in Chinese history is Confucianism. At the time of the warring states, Confucius wandered throughout China seeking a ruler who accepted the Confucian way. Since then, his ideas grew and are still relevant today. Throughout time other philosophers, Mengzi and Xunzi, have interpreted Confucius’ teachings and have long debated whether human nature is good or bad. I argue that human nature is not, as Mengzi believes, inherently good, instead, completely self-interested.

Therefore, he depends on the people to express their desires, and that the government would, in turn, bring that to life. As stated in The Social Contract, “Since no man has any natural authority over his fellows, and since force alone bestows no right, all legitimate authority among men must be based on covenants” (Rousseau 53). Coming from the pre-revolution era of France, he perpetuated this very skeptical perspective on

This portion of the paper justifies the concepts presented within the letter, and how they reflect the basic theories and ideas of Jean Jacque Rousseau.

Before relating Rousseau’s ideas of property and strength to past affairs of the U.S. and Native

Xunzi was a follower to the Confucian philosophy that was an influence to the work Xunzi would contribute into 32 essays. As he was the first Confucian philosopher to convey his views in an organized manner all on his own, with clarity and specific reasoning. Xunzi’s famous claim was that human nature is evil, and that man’s only source of goodness comes from years of training. As a cultural specific philosophy Xunzi would maintain a constant explanation that human nature would be acquired at birth, where human nature is similar to animalistic nature when it comes to following an instinctual. But with society, human nature would be refined by a civilized influence, Xunzi would mention “Blue dye is gotten from the indigo plant, and yet it is bluer than the plant.

To better understand Rousseau’s thesis and social contract he proposed, we must first understand why Rousseau felt compelled to write and his main criticism of society during the 18th century. In sum, Rousseau argued that states (specifically France, though never explicitly stated) have not protected man’s right to freedom or equality. Rousseau began The Social Contract in dramatic fashion. He wrote, “man is born free, and everywhere he is in chains” (1). This quote is still used today, and is a powerful description of Rousseau’s central issue with society. He believed that every man is “born” naturally free—he has full autonomy and can do what he chooses. However, Rousseau argued that man is bound to the injustices of society.

This then lead to some jobs being looked at as more honorable or important than others. From this people began to develop social classes and that eventually leads to oppression and inequality.