Mengzi’s Theory of Human Nature and Its Role in the Confucian Tradition

Abstract

Mengzi’s theory of human nature is one of the most fascinating narratives in traditional Chinese intellectual history. His arguments are ambitious, have moral power, and contains philosophical implications. Mengzi made use of metaphors and analogies such as water, plants, and dogs to illustrate his ideas and theory of human nature vividly. All of these helped him to compete with the ideas of others such as Gaozi and SHI Shuo. Many ideas of his still play an important role in the daily life of Chinese people, and billions of people use and sing slogans quoted from Mengzi without being aware of it. Different theories have also been developed based on Mengzi’s theory, such as “human nature is originally good” and “human nature tends toward goodness.” We will explore the philosophical and historical aspects of Mengzi’s theory of human nature. Kongzi (Confucius) did not say directly what human nature exactly is, and it was Mengzi who laid the milestone for the Confucian theory of human nature and henceforth provided a new horizon for the Chinese theory of human nature.