Innate goodness is a perspective on human nature that suggests that humans are inherently good and that doing good comes more naturally than doing evil. There are various schools of thought under the theory of innate goodness, including the belief that nature itself is good, as well as the theory of goodness in human nature.
The theory is associated with Mencius and Wang Yangming. It contrasts with Xunzi's Theory of Evil Human Nature.
Mencius believed that everyone had innate compassion. They didn't always act on it but always had potential to act on it.
Wang Yangming pushed it to an even bigger extreme. He said the streets are full of saints.
Mencius believed that human nature is good and made up of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. He regarded the heart as the place where human nature originates and develops, where one can recognize the goodness of one's nature and the brightness of one's inner heart. Mencius was focused on searching for the root and original heart, which is why he is known for his theory of establishing the foundation. Itō Jinsai, a Japanese Confucian thinker from the Edo period, praised and promoted Mencius' theory of the goodness of nature and the four ends of the mind.
Human nature
The term "xing" (性) means "human nature" and refers to the way people are born. Mencius thought that human nature was good. Xunzi disagreed and believed that human nature was evil.
Both believed in human nature and both believed it was possible to become better, but some people refused it. Mencius saw Xing as more related to an ideal state and Xunzi saw it more as a starting state
Wang Yangming went further and said that Xing could become Li or principle. That human nature could be perfected,
Mencius
Mencius was an advocate of the idea that humanity was intrinsically good. Xunzi by contrast believed in innate evilness. Some scholars think Mencius actually didn't believe people were intrinsically good but rather that it was in human nature to have a potential to be good Mencius tried to find the root of human nature. The view of the theory of the goodness of nature and the four endings of the heart was also praised and spread by the Confucian thinker Itō Jinsai of Japan in the Edo period. His writings on the goodness of human nature include statements such as.
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi built upon Mencius' theory of natural goodness, but also introduced his own modifications. According to Zhu Xi, 'natural goodness' is inherently good, but human desire for evil arises later in life. See #Rousseau for a similar position
Literary
The first sentence of the Three Character Classic, a popular enlightenment book in Zhong Yuan, is "At the beginning of man, nature is good"; this seems to be the view of the common literati and Baixing. The scholar Luo Si-guang believes that the traditional Chinese literati were overly optimistic about human nature and failed to set up various checking power measures as the West did, thus failing to eradicate corrupt officials for thousands of years.。
Wang Yangming
The streets are full of saints, which is recorded in Wang Yangming's masterpiece " ", which is one of the important philosophical arguments of Yangming's philosophy of mind . Modern translation:
Philosophical meaning
In "Biography and Xilu," there is a brief conversation about Wang Yangming's teaching method with three students: Wang Gen, Dong Yun, and Qian Dehong. He taught them differently based on their abilities. This was different from the Confucian tradition of teaching each student according to their specific needs, which had been in practice since Confucius.
Wang Yangming believes that everyone has a kind heart and the potential to become a saint. He thinks that "the streets are full of saints" is not strange and looks at people from their essence. This belief is consistent with Mencius's theory of "human nature is good" and Chinese folk opinions since the Song Dynasty, such as "human nature is inherently good" in the "San Zi Jing". Wang Yangming also wrote "Ode to Conscience" in simple language, where he says that everyone has a Zhongni in their heart, and they will cover up their confusion by seeing suffering. He thinks that once their sincerity is recognized, they will not doubt their conscience. Wang Yangming thinks that saints are not different from ordinary people; they have the same heart and nature. He believes that "the streets are full of saints" is a generally accepted fact, and it is not unusual.