A Comparative Study of the Ideas of Human Nature in Gao-zih and in the“Sing zih ming chu”

Author: Xiang-Yu Chu(Department of Chinese Literature,National Central University)

Vol.&No.：Vol. 52, No.1&2
Date：October 2007
Pages：19-35
DOI：10.6210/JNTNULL.2007.52.02

Abstract：

The large number of books from Guodians of the Chu dynasty found in Hu-pei in 1993 shocks scholars, especially those studying the feudal state in the Chin and Han periods. The previous knowledge of how Confucianism had been spread during this period was indefinite and incomplete. The discovery of the Chu dynasty texts led to a breakthrough in Confucian scholars’ understanding of the period. Among these Chu texts, the “Sing zih ming chu” presents an idea of human nature close to the original Confucian idea. This researcher has concluded that the ideas found in this text are also similar to the ideas Gao-zih, a philosopher with whom Mencius debated. This paper will reconsider Gao-zih’s ideas of Human Nature and redefine the role it played in Cinfucian development by comparing the ideas of human nature found in the “Sing zih ming chu” with Gao-zih’s own conceptions.

Keywords：Confucian theory of human nature, Pre-Chin, Gao zih, “Sing zih ming chu”, Chu dynasty books, Guodians

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