Mencius’ Thought
1 min readThe Second Sage
One cannot discuss Confucianism without at least mentioning the man the Chinese cal1“The Second Sage”，Meng Tzu，or，in Latinized form，Mencius（c.372-289 B.C.）.Mencius，like Confucius and Mo Tzu before him，concerned himself entirely with political theory and political practice；he spent his life bouncing from one feudal court to another trying to find some ruler who would follow his teachings.Like Confucius and Mo Tzu before him，he was largely unsuccessful in his endeavor.
Mencius’ Thought
As a philosopher，Mencius’main doctrine is the Goodness of human nature.He advocated“Nourishing the moving force，”and put forth the idea of“Heaven and man combine into one”.Compare with Confucius，in the viewpoint of human nature，Mencius took a big step forward.Mencius declared definitely that human nature is “originally good”.Moreover，he built his entire philosophy on this tenet，and presented a series of concepts:（1）Man possesses the innate knowledge of the good and“innate ability”to do good；（2）If one“develops his mind to the utmost”，he can“serve Heaven”and“fulfil his destiny”；（3）Evil is not inborn but due to man’s own failures and his inability to avoid evil external influences；（4） Serious efforts must be made to recover men’s original nature；（5）The end of learning is none other than to“seek for the lost mind”.
