PHIL101 Essay: Xunzi's Philosophy on Human Nature and State Control

This essay delves into Xunzi's Confucian philosophy, particularly his views on human nature and the necessity of state control, as articulated in his systematic version of Confucianism. Xunzi believed that humans are inherently inclined towards disorder and evil, necessitating extensive state intervention and rituals to reform their nature. The essay explores Xunzi's characterization of human nature, the need for control, and the potential consequences of unchecked desires. It then presents criticisms of Xunzi's views, primarily through the lens of Zhuangzi's philosophy, which emphasizes the innate goodness within individuals and the importance of self-cultivation and natural living. The essay concludes by critiquing Xunzi's perspective, highlighting the significance of Zhuangzi's counter-arguments and the importance of respecting human dignity and potential for goodness. The provided references support the arguments presented in the essay.

Running head: PHILOSOPHY
Philosophy
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................2
Discussion..................................................................................................................................2
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................3
References..................................................................................................................................5

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Introduction
One of the greatest architects of the Confucian philosophy was Xunzi. Xunzi
articulated the systematic version of Confucianism which encompassed political theories,
ethics, philosophy of languages and much developed educational philosophy (Tan, 2018).
According to his belief, it is crucial to have rituals for reforming the original nature of the
human beings. This paper focuses on the Xunzi’s belief on extensive control over individuals
lives together with the critics towards his views.
Discussion
Xunzi is mainly known for his theories of the evil nature of the man.According to
him, human nature lacks the innate moral compass and falls into disorder and contention.For
this reason, Xunzi characterizes the nature of the human as a bad nature (Tan, 2018). He
further stated that the natural tendency of the human nature is to result in conflict and
disorders.According to the thoughts of Xunzi, humanity was one in the state of natural
reminiscence.With the lack of proper ways, the desires of the people will run rampantly and
they will result in finding themselves in confusion and conflict of trying to satisfy their
wishes and desires. Xunzi stated that this scenario will definitely lead the people to fall into
poverty,, and conflicts of living a nasty, short and brutish life (Wang, 2017). Thus according
to his perceptions, extensive state control is needed over the lives of the individuals so that
they can lead a normal happy life.
One of the actual critiques of the Xunzi’s position is the political remarks of
Zhuangzi.It is one of the earliest texts in the contribution of the philosophy. This is
commonly known as the Daojia (Fraser,2016). According to Master Zhuang, all human
beings share an innate goddess inside them that can either be excavated or cultivated by the

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means of self-discipline or education or by external influences. According to his insight, the
characteristics of god inside each and every human being can never be lost altogether.His
views of human nature, political organizations and the path for the development of the
personal skills start and end at heart-mind. Throughout his texts, he has explained the holistic
philosophy of life, the excavation of the natural and ancestral skills and potentials of the
human being, notion of disengagement from the artificialities of the human life for living a
natural and simple life that is full and flourishing in nature (Singh, 2015). He furthermore
stated that it is critical for the human categorizations to note the multiplicity of the various
modes for initiating understanding among the different cultures and natural creatures.His
views directly stated that the lack of the nature of independence results in the comparative
evaluation of the creatures of nature. The Zhuangzi text advocates the understanding mode
which is not dependent on a fixed system bit is flexible and fluid in nature. According to his
critic towards the Xunzi’s view, the early world was dominated by all the powerful deities
and throughout the time, these powerful powers have been forwarded to the human as their
extra-human absolute power.In his text, he describes the virtues of co-humanity, ritual
propriety, rightness, wisdom, and sagehood (Wang, 2017). He furthermore explained that
each and every human needs to be valued the most since they inherit the extra human powers
that are aligned with moral goodness, dependent on human agents for actualization and
naturally unpredictable with mortal actors.
Conclusion
It can thus be concluded that the view of the Xunzi was not at all relevant.This is
because Xunzi characterized the human nature as a bad nature.Furthermore, he mainly
focused on the part of humanity for the creation of the practices and roles of the orderly
society.He furthermore gave a very little place and role of the human being to nature or to the

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heaven as the source of the order or the concept of morality.He stated that the bad nature of
the human thus needs to be controlled efficiently by the state to make them in a systematic
order. Zhuangzi's text, one of the actual critique of the views of Xunzi gave justified
viewpoints regarding the nature of human beings and their characteristics. His views gave
much respect and restored the rights of dignity towards the nature of human beings. This is
because he considered humans as the most important creature of nature who are bestowed
with powers from the deities of the ancient world. His theories furthermore stated that the
negative characteristics of any human can be abolished by cultivating the goodness from him.
According to Zhuangzi's text, the goodness and the pureness of the human nature can never
get lost altogether and thus it can be restored by effective means. Thus the critics of the
Xunzi’s view is justified and it should be supported.

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References
Fraser, C. (2016). Political Authority-Selected Readings (pp. 1-45). Retrieved from
http://2203694_1424217668_1034-Reading4%20.pdf
Singh, D. (2015). Health as human nature and critique of culture in Nietzsche and Zhuang
zi. Comparative Philosophy, 6(1), 10.
Tan, K. C. (2018). Taming Human Nature? Reflections on Xunzi and Hobbes.
Wang, S. L. (2017). A Study of Xunzi’s Political Philosophy and His Theory of Human
Nature.