Xunzi

Introduction

The Xunzi consists of 32 chapters in the edition prepared by Liu Xiang in the first century BCE. Unlike most early Chinese texts it is made up largely of argumentative essays on single topics rather than sayings or dialogues. It opens with “Encouraging Learning”; chapter 23, “Human Nature Is Bad”, attacks Mencius directly, and the “Discourse on Heaven” treats Heaven as the regular course of nature. Other chapters deal with ritual, music, the correct use of names and the art of government. The work was central to Han-dynasty Confucianism; later Neo-Confucians favoured Mencius, and the Xunzi has only recently been read widely again.

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Connections

Builds on

• Analects (Lunyu)c. 450 BCE · Confucius

Criticizes

• Mengzic. 300 BCE · Mengzi (Mencius)

Taken up in

• Han Feizic. 235 BCE · Han Feizi
• Distinguishing the Way (Bendō)1717 · Ogyū Sorai