In the fourth and third centuries B.C., Mencius argued that “benevolence is the distinguishing characteristic of man,” while his fellow Confucian Xunzi retorted: “People’s nature is bad.” ...

Angle starts with a history of Confucianism’s five main figures: Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Zhu Xi, and Wang Yangming.

Into the twentieth century, the philosopher Xunzi (third century B.C.) was criticized as the progenitor of a scriptural legacy that derailed the original Confucian mission and plunged China into a ...

Philosophy East and West, Vol. 68, No. 3 (JULY 2018), pp. 737-761 (25 pages) Using a method of analogical induction, I argue that the metaphysics of ritual in the Xunzi can be better understood by ...