The Importance Of Living A Social Life

How to live a good life is imperative for countless people. In the Mengzi, Chinese philosopher Mencius explains how to live a good life by way of living the social life. It is in my view that the social life is the most convincing because it demonstrates how we as humans are cultivated into living a full, happy life.

In Mencius’ view, living the social life is identified as living as a truly happy person due to becoming part of society and having fully cultivated sprouts. The moral sprouts are humanity (ren), rightness (yi), social rituals (li), and wisdom (zhi) (Mengzi 1A7). Society shapes these sprouts much like a woodworker would shape dishware. In Mengzi 6A1, Mencius and Gaozi compare making cups and bowls to human nature. When wood is hacked, its original distinctions are worn away. This is much like human nature in that if humans were hacked away, their sense of humanity and rightness are worn away. Compare this to when the “grain” of human nature is followed, humanity and rightness are crafted into a beautiful final product. Society also cultivates the sprouts by making them flourish or diminish like seeds planted for crops. When we are born, we are born innately good. In an ideal environment, these sprouts will be nourished and flourish. If we turn bad, we are not at fault. Rather, it is society’s fault as we were in a poor environment that did not provide our sprouts proper nourishment (Mengzi 6A2). An example of how this may occur is the thought experiment Mencius