XUNZI ON THE ORIGIN OF GOODNESS: A NEW INTERPRETATION

Abstract

This article explores a seeming mystery in the philosophy of Xunzi ( 310–238 bce), namely how goodness could have emerged in a world of people with only a bad human nature. I will examine existing interpretations and present a new reading of Xunzi. My purpose is to reconstruct a coherent view in Xunzi’s philosophy as presented in the book of the Xunzi rather than defend the truth of his claims regarding human history. In addressing the origin of goodness in human history, Xunzi faces a twofold difficulty. On the one hand, unlike theist philosophers who trace the source of goodness to the divine, Xunzi is a naturalist and, for him, there is no transcendent, supernatural source of goodness. On the other hand, unlike those who believe that humans are equipped with innate goodness, Xunzi holds that human nature is bad (e ); 1 he has to explain where and how goodness has originated. It seems harder for Xunzi to explain how humans become good than for believers in the goodness of human nature to provide an account of how humans become bad. Mencius, for example, argues that, while humans are born with the “four sprouts” in their hearts that can grow into the moral virtues of humanity, rightness, ritual propriety, and wisdom, people can lose their “original heart,” and when they do, they become bad. 2 It certainly would not make much sense had Xunzi said that, although humans are born bad, they become good simply by losing their bad nature. Yet, as a Confucian philosopher believing in human perfectibility, Xunzi has to answer this fundamental question regarding the origin of goodness. The question of goodness becomes complicated because it can be interpreted in different ways. One is how goodness in society originally emerged, namely how goodness was first generated in human society constituted by members with only a bad nature. This is the question of origin. Another is about social moralization, namely how humans born with egoistic tendencies become transformed to act