Mencius

Mencius was a who was arguably the most famous Confucian after Confucius himself.

Life

Mencius, also known by his birth name ''Meng Ke'' or ''Ko'', was born in the , now forming the territory of the county-level city of Zoucheng , Shandong province, only thirty kilometres south of Qufu, Confucius' birthplace.

He was an itinerant philosopher and sage, and one of the principal interpreters of Confucianism. Supposedly, he was a pupil of Confucius' grandson, Zisi. Like Confucius, according to legend, he travelled China for forty years to offer advice to rulers for reform. He served as an official during the Warring States Period in the State of Qi from 319 to 312 BCE. He expressed his when he took an absence of three years from his official duties for Qi to mourn his mother's death. Disappointed at his failure to effect changes in his contemporary world, he retired from public life.

Mencius' mother

The traditional Chinese four-character idiom refers to the legend that Mencius' mother moved their house three times—from beside a cemetery to beside a marketplace , to finally beside a school—before finding a location that she felt was suitable for his upbringing. As an expression, the idiom refers to the importance of a proper environment for the proper upbringing of children.

Influence

Mencius' interpretation of Confucianism has generally been considered the orthodox version by subsequent Chinese philosophers, especially the Neo-Confucians of the Song dynasty. The ''Mencius'' , a book of his conversations with kings of the time, is one of the Four Books that Zhu Xi grouped as the core of orthodox thought. In contrast to the sayings of Confucius which are short and self-contained, the ''Mencius'' consists of long dialogues, including arguments, with extensive prose.

View on human nature

While Confucius himself did not explicitly focus on the subject of human nature, Mencius asserted the innate goodness of the individual, believing that it was society's influence – its lack of a positive cultivating influence – that caused bad moral character. "He who exerts his mind to the utmost knows his nature" and "the way of learning is none other than finding the lost mind".

His translator James Legge finds a close similarity between Mencius' views on human nature and those in 's ''Sermons on Human Nature''.

The Four Beginnings

To show innate goodness, Mencius used the example of a child falling down a well. Witnesses of this event immediately feel

View on politics

Mencius spoke frequently and highly of the well-field system.

Mencius emphasized the significance of the common citizens in the state. While Confucianism generally regards rulers highly, he argued that it is acceptable for the subjects to overthrow or even kill a ruler who ignores the people's needs and rules harshly. This is because a ruler who does not rule justly is no longer a true ruler. Speaking of the overthrow of the wicked King Zhou of Shang, Mencius said, "I have merely heard of killing a villain Zhou, but I have not heard of murdering the ruler.".

View on wars

He said during the Spring and Autumn Period, there's no Just war.

Comparisons to contemporaries

His alleged years make him contemporary with Xun Zi, Zhuangzi, Gaozi, and Plato.

Xun Zi

Xun Zi was a Confucian who believed that human nature is originally evil, and the purpose of moral cultivation is to develop our nature into goodness. Obviously, Mencius was at odds with him. His views were declared as unorthodox by Zhu Xi, and Mencius as orthodox.

Plato

Mencius is often compared to Plato for their theories on human nature. Both were in that they believed in the innate moral goodness of all human beings.

Mencius' argument that unjust rulers may be overthrown is reminiscent of Socrates' argument in Book I of Plato's ''''.