Philosophical Differences Between Confucius and Mencius

Philosophy Although there are a few philosophical differences between Confucius and Mencius, the most significant is Mencius' insistence on the goodness of human nature. For Mencius, humanness (ren) is an innate moral character that can unfortunately be corrupted by society or bad leadership. Mencius views all persons as inherently equal and inherently good. When he pleads with Kings in his dialogues (in The Essential Mengzi), the philosopher urges the King to rule with "benevolence and righteousness," (p. 1). This is because Mencius is primarily concerned with moral character.

Mencius emphasizes the active role a human being can take in order to achieve moral righteousness as well as philosophical wisdom. Confucius was concerned with ethics, and also emphasizes ren as a core component of a strong moral character. However, Confucius did not emphasize ren as much as Mencius would. Moreover, Confucius did not postulate much on human nature and whether human beings have tendencies to do good things or bad things based on selfish aims. Confucius remained primarily concerned with collective and macro-issues, such as social order and harmony.

Mencius probed deeper into the individual's moral character. The philosophy of Mencius remarkably resembles that of Aristotle due to their mutual consideration of and concern for virtue ethics. Mencius builds on some core Confucian philosophies, expanding on ideas like the chun-tzu (superior man), as well as ren and li, or rites. Like his predecessor, Mencius believed that following the traditional rites could be an ethical act. Mencius took Confucius's ideas a step further, though, by suggesting that a virtuous person follows the rites instinctively.

Mencius views motives behind human actions as being as important as the actions themselves, an issue that Confucius is ambiguous about. Confucius mentions learning as a means by which to achieve ethical goodness, but Mencius believes that a human being is already good and simply must cultivate that goodness via ethical behavior. There may be some specific reasons why Mencius developed his philosophies in light of Confucius' teachings. For one, there were many other disciples of Confucius whose ideas conflicted with those of Mencius.

Mencius, conscious of the various interpretations of the Master, might have wanted to articulate an optimistic vision of human nature that he felt best represented the manifestation of Confucianism in daily moral practice. Another reason why Mencius might have evolved a philosophy of human nature that was different from Confucius could have been historical and cultural in nature. Mencius (Mengzi's) writings refer much to rulers and kings. The philosopher wrote during the Warring States period, when the nature of ethical leadership was being called into question.

When Mencius asks what makes for a good leader, he draws on the Analects of Confucius but also asks how leaders can rule in a just way that is both idealistic and realistic. Mencius acknowledges that rulers are often militaristic in their approach to solving problems, and does.