What Are Mencius Concerns Of Human Nature

Money— sweeter than honey but oh so destructive. It facilitates a man’s life, while a lack of it imprisons him in the streets of penury. It raises his social status, while an absence of it leaves him unnoticed. It gives him an aura of superiority and importance among others, while a deficiency of it makes him worthless in society’s eyes. Considering these two roads, most do not take more than a second to decide to chase riches.

Both St. Augustine’s Confessions and Confucius’s Analects are significant teachings that have influenced people around the world not only in ancient times but in current history as well. Both doctrines provide discussion on the ethical values of society back in the ancient time they were written and lead us to discover similarities between the two beliefs. Although we find these connections, there are significant differences between St. Augustine and Confucius’s views on life and beliefs since they were living in different time periods and environments. Their experiences are the influencers that have impacted to the way that philosophies and traditions have grown today between the West and the East. I agree that Confucius celebrated social

Hsun Tzu's philosophy is built from the idea that human beings are by nature inherently evil, and the good they produce will only come through their conscious activity. Hsun Tzu believes that if man follows his nature and indulges in his natural desires, without transforming himself by conscious activity he is doomed to fall victim to his evil nature. "Any man who follows his nature will inevitably become involved in wrangling and strife, will violate the forms and rules of society, and will end as a criminal." Despite the pessimistic tone of Hsun Tzu's message he does propose conscious activity as a solution to man's evil. This paper will examine Hsun Tzu's perspective in light of both Mencius

For example, the Analects of government, sage, virtue, and manners give a sense of teachings and positive philosophies to follow in order to become a good ruler and obtaining and giving respect. While the Classics and ideals of popper conduct, political peace, moral power, love and ideal humanity help to reinforce the Analects by giving an ideology of a humanism. As Confucian gives words of wisdom of establish a community who should act only when necessary, use knowledge for the benefit of all, and to live in peace in order to developed a stronger culture. Confucius gives the Chinese people a focus on the cultivation of virtue and maintenance of ethics, creating a community of righteousness and moral disposition to do good and how one should act in a community. Overall, Confucianism is a source of values, the social code of the Chinese, and a substance of

Mencius addresses that men can become evil because of their actions. He uses the analogy of the forest. First it is beautiful but because of actions it can become barren. In other words, a man is born good and innocent. Still this man can do actions that lead to him becoming evil. This man still has the chance to go back to his good nature, but if he continues to be evil there is a point where he will be unable to turn back to his good ways. After a while of a person being evil people will stop believing that this person was ever good. Take Hitler for example, no one thinks of the innocent baby he was when he was born. Okay that is a pretty bad example but you get what I am saying, hopefully.

Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby, and Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn all explore the effects of wealth and class on society. On closer inspection, a common strand seems to form between these three classic novels. The idea that wealth (and the social class that comes with it) determines a person is refuted via the use of deep characterization. In the end, it seems, wealth and class don’t determine a person’s moral integrity and value, but rather how they interact those two things. Ultimately, Twain makes a case for the lower-classes, that even the poor (and enslaved) can be truly good, setting a better example than the wealthy. Fitzgerald, on the other hand, shows that rich aren’t entirely superficial, rather, that they can be great men. Bronte’s Jane Eyre is a bit more of an oddball than the other two novels, focusing instead on a protagonist that leaps from riches (under the supervision of a cruel aunt), to rags, then back to riches once again. Still, this common strand holds true between the three books: no class, poor or rich, is entirely exempt from moral bankruptcy. A poor person like Pap Finn can be morally corrupt, while a rich man like Jay Gatsby can be good. All character-based judgments in these books lay solely on the person they are judging, blind of the class and wealth that surrounds them.

In his essay, “The Gospel of Wealth,” Andrew Carnegie argues that the imbalance of economic wealth is essential to the advancement of society. In days past, there was little difference between the quality of life between a ruler and his subject. Alluding to a time when Carnegie visited the chief of an indigenous American tribe, he observed that the Chief of the Indians ', who lived in a state of antiquity, tent was no different from even the poorest among the tribe. Returning back to this stage of civilization would be detrimental to both the ruler and subject. Is it better for all of us to live in poverty than for a few of us to have riches? Shouldn 't those who prove themselves masters in art and literature and those of higher intelligence have more than those with no talent? This is the way society is progressing. Whether or not one actually believes that doesn 't matter, as changing the destiny of civilization is beyond one 's power. (Carnegie, 28-29)

According to the Tao Te Ching 3, Laozi said people should not be praise man’s wisdom to avoid arguments between peoples and should not think highly of goods to prevent theft. The reason why the world is in such a disarray is that people deem highly of the wisdom, scholarship, and the goods. Laozi doesn’t like class society based on people’s difference in terms of ability. He dreamed of a society without rank. He tried to make an equal society. Historically, the Analects of Confucius has been often mentioned when supporting the absolute monarchy in feudal system. Sometimes it has been used by high class in order to hide a social inconsistent as justifying social hierarchy. The difference between two texts is that philosopher Laozi doesn’t support class-society but Confucius accented the hierarchical order. However, the true value of Confucius idea is based on politics of human. In other words, he emphasized that leaders should restore their humanity to avoid society disruption. To be specific, he expected the society to follow this phrase: “Lord should behave like a lord and his retainers should remain faithful to

Mankind has the tendency to be self-conscious, greedy, and materialistic, and human history shows this to be the case in all societies. Even in China they suffer from the selfish aspects of humans. The Tao states on page 9, “Chase after money and security/and your heart will never unclench.” It is natural for people to

Availability and understanding of available information by an individual was taken as a very important treasure. The issues that Confucius taught to be followed were not entirely scientific learning but rather the study of the consecrated contents and the tenets of good worth and propriety (Oliver, 1985). An additional element which he held high was the control of proper example. The heroes, heroines and great people that existed were greatly exemplified by Confucius. Confucius did this by persisting on the scrutiny of the conservative models. Many of his well recorded aphorisms are tributes of his considered men of high caliber. Confucius trained his supporters the significance of constantly welcoming the rectification of personal liabilities. To further assist in the creation of an upright moral fiber, he cherished a particular amount of strength of will. He acknowledged the threat, particularly in the youthful, of falling into unwanted behavior, so he persisted on eradicating the push for uncalled for reassurances (Ferguson, 1972).

This essay is going to address what money means and its relation to inequality in society.

Confucius thrived on the idea of self-cultivation towards becoming more fully human. He expressed this as being a long process that will take time and develop as one ages. This can be found in the Analect 2.4. He is describing the journey to self-cultivation as a long one as he is still going through that path at the age of sixty. Going towards to become fully human can be described as being attaining “ren”. Ren can be describes as humanness, regardless of one’s social status. In order to attain humanness/ren one must be fully devoted (Analect 1.2) “Exemplary persons devote themselves to the root…The root of genuine-humanity (ren)?” This stems from oneself. In order to attain ren the “Practicing of self-restraint and returning repeatedly to ritual propriety is the way to become ren.” (Analect 12.1) Confucius believed that li was sort of a “blue print” for ethics, mortality, and social order. And this was the key way to achieving ren. In terms of governing by means of li is the

When looking at the ideas of Confucianism, one must look at the values that he expresses that are essential to human beings in order to become gentleman. Some of these values are present in every society and in every country. Ideas like jen and the Golden Rule are indispensable to life in almost every society on the globe.

Mencius states that “...if one is without the heart of compassion, one is not a human” (Mencius, 2A.6), which is a quote that captivates the essence of Mencius’s conventional life rather well. The conventional life is a lifestyle that focuses on the idea of all humans being born with these natural tendencies to be good, as well as to do good things. However we choose to care for these seeds planted within us will ultimately decide how we as humans treat others in this world. This conventional life contains the most convincing philosophy in my opinion, for it focuses primarily on the concept of humans being born as “good”, and choosing from that point on if they will use their natural born tools to remain “good”, or stray away from that path entirely.

The irrelevance of a static human nature that can be associated with Confucianism is one of the most interesting aspects of the belief system. Instead of the focus being on more of a definitional quality of mankind, the focus is more on the improvement of man on an individual level as well as the improvement of society in general. Confucius seems to definitely possess the ability to see human behavior on a scale that includes the broader ramifications that it can have on a society. For example, Confucius sees the accumulation of wealth as a counterproductive ambition that only detracts from one's character. A rich man may lie around drinking all day and not work on improving himself, his relationships, or the society in general. Therefore, any version of such self-indulgence is