Hsün Tzu Philosophy

The doctrines of Mencius and Hsün Tzu are the part of the core and major, almost compulsory to the studying of Classical Confucianism. Some of the researchers found their differences, even called contradiction among discussing about human nature. Here comes the conclusion that Men Tzu and Hsün Tzu are two extremes, with completely different in their views about human nature. Nevertheless, we should refocus on the root of their philosophy, to determine rather they are different or not. Conversely, it can be concluded that Mencius and Hsün Tzu are similar base on their process of thinking, also their continuous advocation on self-cultivation and education. Before the discussion, we need to clarify why the public claims Mencius and Hsün Tzu

By analyzing the goodness or evil human nature, they all points out that the only way to become virtuous and morally, or even further, sages, continuous self-cultivation and education are required, in order to enrich the knowledge, also sense of humaneness. These suggestions are coming from their analyses about human nature, which demonstrating the original idea about governing of Confucianism – self-cultivation as the root of regulating all social organizations. Not only the intention of education, but also the emphasizing about the learning environment shows the similarity between Mencius and Hsün Tzu. They both mentioned about the importance of influencing the impact of education by their circumstances. “Yi Chiu (奕秋), who is a master on playing chess in the country. If he teaches two apprentices, one of them concentrating on the teaching of Yi. While the other one, although he also attempting the lesson, he just thinking about a swan is coming and wanting to shoot it down with arrow…Although they were taught by Yi together, he performs worse than his peer. Is he more foolish than his peer? Answered: No” “Men Ke (Men Tzu’s name)’s mother, moved their home three times for Men Tzu to study better. This made Men Tzu to become a fabulous and well-known