Man's Nature is Evil

In this completely separate article a philosopher named Hsun Tzu explains his idea of how people are born purely evil. He believes that when you are born the only way to become good and stay good is through harsh discipline. Basically Hsun writes that people are naturally born with envy and hate that will eventually lead to violence and crime unless they are disciplined. The article is an argument against Mencius and his article on how mans nature is good. To be specific Hsun writes “Goodness is the result of conscious activity.” Personally I prefer Mencius’s view on mans nature because it is more of how I view it. It is very interesting to know where Chinas way of Law and Discipline stems from. You can clearly see how much of Hsun’s thoughts transferred over to the Chinese culture. The idea of man being born entirely evil seems too strong, because if man was born evil than how does someone such as myself have feelings and have care for people. My parents did not discipline me very much as a child because it was unnecessary and yet I still feel as if I am partly good. There are more flaws to Hsun’s way of thinking than there are with Mencius’s although they can and will be argued by many. It is also interesting to think about how many would agree with each article if brought to different countries such as America and China you would most likely get people in one country choosing one side and another country choosing the other side. All due to how information was transferred over so many years ago and whose thoughts were heard by whom.

Quote 1: “If the nature of man were good, we could dispense with sage kings and forget about ritual principles.”

Explanation: I chose this Quote because it brings up a good point and that is that people must not be born fully good but people must not be born fully evil both because we do have kings and we do have people who forget about ritual principles and live life along with everyone else.

Quote 2: “A man, no matter how fine his nature or how keen his mind, must seek a worthy teacher to study under and good companions to associate with.”

Explanation: This principle is still practiced today. Your parents always tell you to have good smart friends because they have a big impact on you just as your teacher does the same. People try so hard to get into a good college because good teachers reside there and if you are taught by the best teacher you have a better chance at being the best student.