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MENCIUS (Mengzi,372-289B.C.) is regarded as the "Sec-ond Sage" because of his,significant role in promot-ing the thinking of Confucius.He wasborn in the state of Zou,in what is nowZoucheng City of Shandong Province,but lost his father at an early age and hismother had the most profound influenceon his upbringing.They lived first near agraveyard,then near a market,then neara school,each move instigated by themother's concern about the effect of thelocal environment and its people uponher son's character.In proximity to theschool,thanks to the example of thosearound him,the boy began to learn eti-quette and show interest in books.
The story illustrates the important in-fluence of one's surroundings and under-lines the fact that humans as active agentshave the power to choose where they wantto live.This is part of the Confucian creedthat self-cultivation implies cultivatingco-existence of one's body with one's liv-ing environment.
Later,Meneins went on to be educatedby Zisi,a grandson of Confucius,and be-came the second most important Confu-cian philosopher after the master himself.
Confucius proposed humane love asthe central ideal of his political philoso-phy,but he did not demonstrate a system-atic method to realize it.Meneius filled inthis gap with a systematic way of practic-ing humane love,making it the essence ofhis political and philosophical theories.
Just like Confucius (but with a muchbigger entourage) Meneius traveledaround various states in an attempt tospread his doctrines,and like Confuciushe received the cold shoulder from thosewho ruled.In his later years,Menciuswent back home,discussed and taughtfollowers,and wrote the book of Mencius,which earned him the title of "SecondSage" in Chinese cultural history.
Political Philosophy Basedon Idealism
Meneius remained strongly idealisticthroughout his life.We might say thatMencius is a book full of moral idealism,which places morality above metaphysi-cal thinking.He advocates fostering amind capable of penetrating the myriadthings in the universe,of conceiving thetransformation of things and events inthe cosmos.
Mencius did not hold the powerful ingreat awe,believing that status,fameand worldly clout - the things that wentto make earthly rulers - to be counteredby the "heavenly honors" he himself hadbeen granted,namely kind heart,intel-lect and integrity.Meneius stressed inde-pendent thinking,contending that if onebelieved everything written in historicalbooks,one might be better off withoutthem.
Under Chinese monarchical systems,the king or emperor had supreme author-ity.But Mencius took a contrary view,arguing in enlightening fashion that thepopulace is more valuable than rulers,propounding the notion: "People are themost important,the state is the secondmost important,and the king the leastso." Mencius supported the "nine-square" system of land ownership,which allowedfarmers private land with reduced taxes.For him,the key to a morally stable work-ing class was to ensure stability of theirproperty and livelihood.
Mencius favored a new division ofsocial labor: people who live on theirbrainpower and those who live by theirphysical strength.One of his most famousquotes is: "Those who work with theirbrain rule,and those who work with theirmuscles are the ruled."
Meneius took an idealistic approachto the ethical dilemmas in Confucianthinking.For example,a student onceasked Mencius: what should King Shun (asage in prehistory with a notoriously evilfather) do if his father murdered some-one? Mencius answered that as the stateleader,Shun should observe the law andhave the Justice Minister arrest and pros-eeute his father.But,Meneius continued,as a son,Shun could choose to step downfrom power and flee to seclusion with hisfather.The philosopher emphasized thatthe king's filial duty outweighed his obli-gation to the nation.
This reply has provoked criticismof Mencius for putting human feelingsabove legality,arguing that this thinkinghas bred corruption in Chinese societythroughout history.Others disagree,ob-serving that if Mencius really meant Shuncould ignore the law,he would have sug-gested the king prevent the Justice Min-ister from taking punitive action ratherthan accompanying his father into exilefrom the ldngdom.
In the scenario of the king's fathercommitting a felony the Justice Ministeralso faces a painful conundrum.A corequality of officials in feudal times wasto be unconditionally supportive of andsubmissive to the ruler.Prosecuting theking's father and thus bringing shameto the royal family clearly runs againstthis expectation.But as the top judicialfunctionarv,the minister is also obligedto defend justice,the cornerstone of goodstate governance and acknowledged byboth kings and Confucian scholars.Thisrepresents the intractable challenge toMencius' goal of running a nation withhumane love.
Mencius' Views on Human Nature
In order to demonstrate the feasibilityof governing by humane love,Meneiusextensively studied human nature.Men-cius believes that it is a human instinctto sympathize with the weak and those insuffering,since one can feel empathy withother people or even animals.He gave theexample that virtually every human beingwould automatically rush to the rescueon seeing a child fall into a well,compas-sion being part of human nature.Menciustakes this sentiment as a motivator forgood deeds,one that can develop intounderstanding and concern for others.The inclination to feel sympathy for otherpeople and other beings is the seed ofkindness in one's heart and therefore thefoundation of morality.
Confucius emphasized interpersonalrelationships and the ties between man-kind and the world,stressing for example that family reverence is the proper behav-ior for dealing with elders.Mencius devel-oped this to say that all people are bornwith innate moral awareness and virtues,and hence concluding that all are bornkind-hearted.He calls this predispositionto goodness "the four moral beginnings"(siduan 四端): commiseration; sense ofshame and revulsion; a reverential at-titude toward others; sense of right andwrong.Meneius sees these as fundamen-tal elements of human nature that candevelop into the supreme human virtues-of benevolence (ren 仁),righteousness(yi 意义),ritual propriety or etiquette (li 礼),and wisdom (zhi 智).
Of the four "moral beginnings," com-miseration ranks the highest.Saving aehfld from drowning is an altruistic actionand since people can help others withoutbeing motivated by personal gain,it fol-lows that humanity is a heaven-endowedgift,he argues.
As for the other three "moral begin-nings," the sense of shame and revul-sion - a kind of awareness of misdoings- means humans are born with a senseof shame.Modesty and a reverentialattitude toward others is an innate un-derstanding of the ritual propriety thatguides proper behavior.The sense of rightand wrong has not only to do with morals,but also with judging human affairs.
Mencius holds that the four moralbeginnings are the basis for the humanexistence and puts the feeling of commis-eration above that of a sense of right andwrong: i.e.he emphasizes feelings aboveknowledge.This also proves that the coreof his thinking is governance by humanelove,not an understanding of the worlditselfi
Meneins reiterates that self-reflectionis crucial for maintaining one's naturalgoodness,since people often inadver-tently stray away from it just as they maycarelessly lose a hen or a dog.For thisreason,Meneius urges people to "retrieveone's lost heart." Cultivating humanelove should begin with family members,"Love your parents and children,andtreat all aged and young who are not kinin the same loving fashion." He suggeststhat one should preserve and reinforcethis inherent goodness at night,andprotect it from distractions and tempta-tions during the day.Through sustainedcultivation,one can eventually achievegreat moral energy and be unswayed bytemptations of wealth or fame,by thepressure of poverty or violent intimida-tion.Mencius insists on fostering thismoral energy because he faces the toughchallenge of putting into political prac-tice the concept of governing by humanelove.To justify his idea,he must placethe value of morality over worldly profit.His prioritizing of inner rectitude had amajor impact on Confucianists to come,especially those frustrated in handlingworldly matters.
For Meneius,sustaining one's originalgoodness is the precondition to compre-hend the diverse dimensions of one's nat-ural tendencies,and hence the first stepto a comprehensive understanding of thewider world.It is essential to an apprecia-tion of things as they are and not being atodds with life's events.
The story illustrates the important in-fluence of one's surroundings and under-lines the fact that humans as active agentshave the power to choose where they wantto live.This is part of the Confucian creedthat self-cultivation implies cultivatingco-existence of one's body with one's liv-ing environment.
Later,Meneins went on to be educatedby Zisi,a grandson of Confucius,and be-came the second most important Confu-cian philosopher after the master himself.
Confucius proposed humane love asthe central ideal of his political philoso-phy,but he did not demonstrate a system-atic method to realize it.Meneius filled inthis gap with a systematic way of practic-ing humane love,making it the essence ofhis political and philosophical theories.
Just like Confucius (but with a muchbigger entourage) Meneius traveledaround various states in an attempt tospread his doctrines,and like Confuciushe received the cold shoulder from thosewho ruled.In his later years,Menciuswent back home,discussed and taughtfollowers,and wrote the book of Mencius,which earned him the title of "SecondSage" in Chinese cultural history.
Political Philosophy Basedon Idealism
Meneius remained strongly idealisticthroughout his life.We might say thatMencius is a book full of moral idealism,which places morality above metaphysi-cal thinking.He advocates fostering amind capable of penetrating the myriadthings in the universe,of conceiving thetransformation of things and events inthe cosmos.
Mencius did not hold the powerful ingreat awe,believing that status,fameand worldly clout - the things that wentto make earthly rulers - to be counteredby the "heavenly honors" he himself hadbeen granted,namely kind heart,intel-lect and integrity.Meneius stressed inde-pendent thinking,contending that if onebelieved everything written in historicalbooks,one might be better off withoutthem.
Under Chinese monarchical systems,the king or emperor had supreme author-ity.But Mencius took a contrary view,arguing in enlightening fashion that thepopulace is more valuable than rulers,propounding the notion: "People are themost important,the state is the secondmost important,and the king the leastso." Mencius supported the "nine-square" system of land ownership,which allowedfarmers private land with reduced taxes.For him,the key to a morally stable work-ing class was to ensure stability of theirproperty and livelihood.
Mencius favored a new division ofsocial labor: people who live on theirbrainpower and those who live by theirphysical strength.One of his most famousquotes is: "Those who work with theirbrain rule,and those who work with theirmuscles are the ruled."
Meneius took an idealistic approachto the ethical dilemmas in Confucianthinking.For example,a student onceasked Mencius: what should King Shun (asage in prehistory with a notoriously evilfather) do if his father murdered some-one? Mencius answered that as the stateleader,Shun should observe the law andhave the Justice Minister arrest and pros-eeute his father.But,Meneius continued,as a son,Shun could choose to step downfrom power and flee to seclusion with hisfather.The philosopher emphasized thatthe king's filial duty outweighed his obli-gation to the nation.
This reply has provoked criticismof Mencius for putting human feelingsabove legality,arguing that this thinkinghas bred corruption in Chinese societythroughout history.Others disagree,ob-serving that if Mencius really meant Shuncould ignore the law,he would have sug-gested the king prevent the Justice Min-ister from taking punitive action ratherthan accompanying his father into exilefrom the ldngdom.
In the scenario of the king's fathercommitting a felony the Justice Ministeralso faces a painful conundrum.A corequality of officials in feudal times wasto be unconditionally supportive of andsubmissive to the ruler.Prosecuting theking's father and thus bringing shameto the royal family clearly runs againstthis expectation.But as the top judicialfunctionarv,the minister is also obligedto defend justice,the cornerstone of goodstate governance and acknowledged byboth kings and Confucian scholars.Thisrepresents the intractable challenge toMencius' goal of running a nation withhumane love.
Mencius' Views on Human Nature
In order to demonstrate the feasibilityof governing by humane love,Meneiusextensively studied human nature.Men-cius believes that it is a human instinctto sympathize with the weak and those insuffering,since one can feel empathy withother people or even animals.He gave theexample that virtually every human beingwould automatically rush to the rescueon seeing a child fall into a well,compas-sion being part of human nature.Menciustakes this sentiment as a motivator forgood deeds,one that can develop intounderstanding and concern for others.The inclination to feel sympathy for otherpeople and other beings is the seed ofkindness in one's heart and therefore thefoundation of morality.
Confucius emphasized interpersonalrelationships and the ties between man-kind and the world,stressing for example that family reverence is the proper behav-ior for dealing with elders.Mencius devel-oped this to say that all people are bornwith innate moral awareness and virtues,and hence concluding that all are bornkind-hearted.He calls this predispositionto goodness "the four moral beginnings"(siduan 四端): commiseration; sense ofshame and revulsion; a reverential at-titude toward others; sense of right andwrong.Meneius sees these as fundamen-tal elements of human nature that candevelop into the supreme human virtues-of benevolence (ren 仁),righteousness(yi 意义),ritual propriety or etiquette (li 礼),and wisdom (zhi 智).
Of the four "moral beginnings," com-miseration ranks the highest.Saving aehfld from drowning is an altruistic actionand since people can help others withoutbeing motivated by personal gain,it fol-lows that humanity is a heaven-endowedgift,he argues.
As for the other three "moral begin-nings," the sense of shame and revul-sion - a kind of awareness of misdoings- means humans are born with a senseof shame.Modesty and a reverentialattitude toward others is an innate un-derstanding of the ritual propriety thatguides proper behavior.The sense of rightand wrong has not only to do with morals,but also with judging human affairs.
Mencius holds that the four moralbeginnings are the basis for the humanexistence and puts the feeling of commis-eration above that of a sense of right andwrong: i.e.he emphasizes feelings aboveknowledge.This also proves that the coreof his thinking is governance by humanelove,not an understanding of the worlditselfi
Meneins reiterates that self-reflectionis crucial for maintaining one's naturalgoodness,since people often inadver-tently stray away from it just as they maycarelessly lose a hen or a dog.For thisreason,Meneius urges people to "retrieveone's lost heart." Cultivating humanelove should begin with family members,"Love your parents and children,andtreat all aged and young who are not kinin the same loving fashion." He suggeststhat one should preserve and reinforcethis inherent goodness at night,andprotect it from distractions and tempta-tions during the day.Through sustainedcultivation,one can eventually achievegreat moral energy and be unswayed bytemptations of wealth or fame,by thepressure of poverty or violent intimida-tion.Mencius insists on fostering thismoral energy because he faces the toughchallenge of putting into political prac-tice the concept of governing by humanelove.To justify his idea,he must placethe value of morality over worldly profit.His prioritizing of inner rectitude had amajor impact on Confucianists to come,especially those frustrated in handlingworldly matters.
For Meneius,sustaining one's originalgoodness is the precondition to compre-hend the diverse dimensions of one's nat-ural tendencies,and hence the first stepto a comprehensive understanding of thewider world.It is essential to an apprecia-tion of things as they are and not being atodds with life's events.