What is mengzi's view of human nature?

Mencius (Mengzi), answered from the texts and cited to the page.

Mencius (Mengzi) answers

All men have a mind that cannot bear to see the sufferings of others.1 That is where the teaching begins — not with an abstract doctrine about what human nature is, but with a fact anyone can verify by looking at their own heart-mind in the moment of sudden crisis. If you suddenly see a child about to fall into a well, you will feel alarm and distress — not because you wish to gain the favour of the child's parents, not because you seek praise from your neighbours, not from any dislike of the reputation of having been unmoved.1

The response arises before any of that calculation. It arises from the heart-mind directly. That response is the sprout of benevolence (ren). And it is one of four such sprouts, all of them universal. The feeling of shame and dislike is the sprout of righteousness (yi); the feeling of modesty and deference is the sprout of propriety (li); the feeling of approving and disapproving is the sprout of wisdom (zhi).2

Men have these four principles just as they have their four limbs — and anyone who says of himself that he cannot develop them does violence to himself, as one who says his prince cannot develop them does violence to his prince.2 Now Gaozi objected. He said human nature is like the willow wood from which one carves cups and bowls — morally indifferent material that takes whatever shape the craftsman imposes.

I replied: to make cups and bowls from willow, you must do violence and injury to the willow. On Gaozi's own principles, then, to fashion benevolence and righteousness from human nature would require doing violence and injury to human nature — which is to say that the kingly way of benevolent government injures the people.3 The position leads to an absurdity; it cannot stand.

He tried again: human nature is like water in a channel, flowing east if you open a passage east, flowing west if you open a passage west — indifferent to good and evil as water is indifferent to direction. I replied: water is indeed indifferent to east and west, but is it indifferent to up and down? Its tendency is downward, always downward.

You can make it leap over your forehead by striking it, you can force it up a hill by damming it — but these are movements caused by external force, not by the nature of water.3 So with human beings: when men are made to do what is not good, their nature is being dealt with in exactly this way, by external force working against its tendency.

The doctrine, then, is not that all humans act well. The empirical record shows otherwise, and anyone looking at the courts of the warring states knows it. Under a sovereign as wise as Yao there yet appeared the wicked Xiang; with a father as good as Gu Sou there yet appeared the great Shun — which means the goodness of nature and the goodness of conduct are not identical.4

From the feelings proper to human nature, it is constituted for the practice of what is good. If men do what is not good, the blame cannot be imputed to their natural powers.4 The sprouts are present in everyone; cultivation is what develops them into mature virtues, and neglect is what chokes them off. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without — we are furnished with them already, and a different view is simply owing to want of reflection.4

The mature virtues, when cultivated, are rooted in the heart-mind; their growth and manifestation appear as a mild harmony in the countenance, a fullness in the bearing, a character imparted to the four limbs — so that the limbs arrange themselves rightly without being told.5 And on the political side, the ancient kings had this commiserating mind, and as a matter of course had likewise a commiserating government: to rule the kingdom with such a mind and such a government was as easy as making something go round in the palm.1

Let the four sprouts have their complete development, and they will suffice to love and protect all within the four seas; let them be denied that development, and they will not suffice for a man even to serve his own parents.26

Sources

  1. All men have a mind which cannot bear to see the sufferings of others. The ancient kings had this commiserating mind, and they, as a matter of course, had likewise a commiserating government... even now-a-days, if men suddenly see a child about to fall into a well, they will without exception experience a feeling of alarm and distress. They will feel so, not as a ground on which they may gain the favour of the child's parents, nor as a ground on which they may seek the praise of their neighbours and friends.
    The Works of Mencius
  2. Men have these four principles just as they have their four limbs. When men, having these four principles, yet say of themselves that they cannot develop them, they play the thief with themselves... Let them have their complete development, and they will suffice to love and protect all within the four seas. Let them be denied that development, and they will not suffice for a man to serve his parents with.
    The Works of Mencius
  3. Can you, leaving untouched the nature of the willow, make with it cups and bowls? You must do violence and injury to the willow, before you can make cups and bowls with it... Water indeed will flow indifferently to the east or west, but will it flow indifferently up or down? The tendency of man's nature to good is like the tendency of water to flow downwards.
    The Works of Mencius
  4. Hence it was that under such a sovereign as Yao there yet appeared Xiang... From the feelings proper to it, it is constituted for the practice of what is good. This is what I mean in saying that the nature is good. If men do what is not good, the blame cannot be imputed to their natural powers.
    The Works of Mencius
  5. Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge are not infused into us from without. We are certainly furnished with them. And a different view is simply owing to want of reflection.
    The Works of Mencius
  6. What belongs by his nature to the superior man are benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and knowledge. These are rooted in his heart; their growth and manifestation are a mild harmony appearing in the countenance, a rich fullness in the back, and the character imparted to the four limbs.
    The Works of Mencius