Perspectives on human nature in Plato, Mencius, and Hsun Tzu

Plato, Mencius, And Hsun Tzu on Human Nature

Reading Response

Human beings have been faced with many challenges like war, power, and crime. These challenges have caused problems for mankind and caused hatred. The three philosophers Plato, Mencius, and Hsun Tzu have different views in regards to human beings, but they all agree that human beings need to be taught, trained, or led in order for them to live moral lives. Mencius believes that humans are born with good nature while Hsun Tzu believed that all humans are born evil, but they can be taught to become good. Plato believes that human beings had a desire to seek one another in an attempt to complete them. The three philosophers lived in different times, and the perceptions that people had of human beings at that time were quite different. Hsun Tzu and Mencius both agree that human beings give birth to offspring based on their inherent reaction towards life. If the children are not given proper teachings they would become uncivilized, and ineffective towards contributing anything in society. The tender age is very vital as it is at this time that the children's perspectives can be formulated. The point where these two philosophers differ is based on the rationality of good nature and evil nature. They both placed claim on the interpretation of their philosophical teacher, Confucius but with very contrasting ideas. The ideas of Hsun Tzu seemed to resonate well with the people of China. Plato believes that human nature is filled with a desire to love one another, and share this love with each other. It is because of this love that human beings seek one another and embrace each other Lane ()

. The ideas of Hsun Tzu indicate the true nature of human beings. All humans are born with a desire to make a profit and if this desire is not curtailed we would all forever be evil in nature. Teaching people how to be good and exercise restraint in order to avoid making mistakes is the main purpose for sages. People also learn from their mistakes, and if a person does not make mistakes it is unlikely that they will learn to be good.

Human nature based on the three philosophers

Hsun Tzu was a devout follower of Confucius, although he departed from the Confucian way of thinking. His beliefs were totally based on the dedication and effectiveness that political officials based their governance. The official would be taught self-cultivation in order to better his virtues and live a modest life. The teachings of Hsun Tzu encouraged people to cultivate sacrifice in order for them to live a modest life. The lack of faith in the corrupt government of his time was naturally due to Hsun Tzu's belief in Confucian teachings Tran ()

. Hsun Tzu stated that people were naturally born evil because they had desires to gain profit for their own good. This is why an individual needed to be taught by a sage how to become good. To prove his point he said that if people were to follow their desires, then a hungry person would not wait for their elders to serve first, they would follow their hunger and not respect their elders. Hsun Tzu goes ahead to show that a person who is not taught how to be good will forever follow the path of evil. This is because the individual will follow their emotions and not be concerned with what is good. This is a clear indication that humans are born evil, and they should be taught how to attain good. For a person to become good, they will need to follow the ritual teachings of sages. These rituals are not products of men, but rather they are the conscious activities of the sages. To demonstrate this Hsun Tzu uses the analogy of a potter who molds clay into a vessel, the vessel is not a product of the potter's human nature, but rather of the potter's conscious activity Austin, Page102()

Mencius believed that all human beings are born good. He uses the analogy of water to demonstrate his beliefs when he says that water will always flow downstream. He states that just as there is no water that will not flow downhill, human nature is inherently good Austin, Page 95.

Mencius continues to say that human nature responds to forces around it. Therefore, one can make a person become evil. Mencius believed that if a person is evil, they were not born like that. Everyone has a heart of reverence, conscience, right, and wrong.

While Hsun Tzu believed that people are taught rituals, Mencius believed that people were born with rituals. Mencius and Plato seem to be speaking of the same things but using different analogies. Mencius speaks of the heart, and Plato speaks of love. These two all represent the same thing called love. Plato understood that when people love one another they will endeavor to be good to those people at all times. Mencius believed that all good things if natured they will blossom. If human beings embrace that which they love they will see it grow but if they ignore it will fizzle. It is clear that all three philosophers believed that human nature can be good at all times. It does not matter if one is taught or they are born with it. Their philosophies are all geared towards the goodness of human nature.

Mencius did not believe that people are different, he believed we are all the same and all one needed was to be taught how to cultivate their own innate tendencies Chan ()

. He uses the example of Yi Ya who was able to savor different tastes. Why was it possible that people could all manage to savor the same tastes that Yi Ya savored? Before Yi Ya people still savored taste, it is just that Yi Ya was the first to discover that which tongues savor Austin, Page 97.

This demonstrates that all people are born the same, and it is only through teachings that they are able to use their innate tendencies. Without teachings people would not have managed to savor the different tastes, yet before the teachings, they used to have the same taste, but since they were not aware of them they could not have differentiate the tastes Bloom ()

. The main flaw in the philosophy of Mencius was due to the contradictions and vacuity of his arguments.

Conclusion

Human nature should always be good, and that is why these philosophers are insisting that people either need to be taught, or they are naturally good and all they need is articulation of things. Teaching people the rituals they need to follow will ensure that they are obedient to their elders, they are virtuous people, and they put the needs of other before theirs. This is the how a person will be able to lead a good life. A person who is taught rituals will endeavor to live their life according to these rituals. If they had not been taught to them then the person would not know about them, and they would lead an evil life. As Plato stated, the androgynous creatures desired to be like god, and that is why it would run in circles. The creature had desire to become something that it knew nothing about. This desire was seen as a threat by the greek gods, and that was the reason they had to separate the creature. The separation resulted in two distinct life forms, which could desire to have each other in order to feel complete. The desire to love each other was inherent in the people, they were not taught, but they possessed the power to love one another. This shows that human nature needs to be cultivated in order for them be good and love each other. The creatures loved each other because they felt the separation. Before the separation they did not care for each other and that is why the creature would run in circles in different directions. The separation was the god's way of teaching the people how to love and be good.