Mencius (book)

The Mencius (Chinese: ; pinyin: Mèngzǐ; Old Chinese: *mˤraŋ-s

Mencius
tsəʔ) is a collection of conversations, anecdotes, and series of genuine
and imagined interviews by the Confucian philosopher, Mencius.[1] 孟⼦
The book is one of the Chinese Thirteen Classics, and explores
Mencius’ views on the topics of moral and political philosophy, often
as a dialogue with the ideas presented by Confucianism.[2][1] The
interviews and conversations are depicted as being either between
Mencius and the various rulers of the Warring States period, or with
his students and other contemporaries. The book documents Mencius’
travel across the states, and his philosophical conversations and
debates with those he meets on his journey.[2] A number of scholars
suggest that the text was not written by Mencius himself, but rather by
his disciples.[3] The text is believed to have been written during the Early-13th-century Mencius printing
late 4th century BC.[3] held in National Palace Museum
Author Mencius
Country China
Contents
Language Chinese
History
Genre Philosophy
Interpretations
Publication date c. 300 BC
Contents
Moral Philosophy
Mencius
Political Philosophy
Influences on Hermeneutics
Selected translations
References
Footnotes
Works cited "Mencius" in seal script (top) and
External links regular (bottom) Chinese
characters
Chinese
History
Hanyu Mèngzǐ
Mencius’ core ideas on education and human nature were largely Pinyin
shaped during the Warring States period (c. 770–221 B.C.).[4] The Literal "[The Writings of]
period marks the transition of China's system of slavery to that of meaning Master Meng"
feudalism, one that expanded the accessibility of culture and
Transcriptions
education to various sectors of society.[4] It was during this time, that
Mencius was able to access, and further developed the philosophical Standard Mandarin
doctrines of Confucius. The creation of the Mencius, serves as a Hanyu Pinyin Mèngzǐ
further elaboration on the Confucian school of thought called
‘subjective idealism’.[5][4] Through this work, Mencius developed the
Bopomofo ㄇㄥˋ ㄗˇ
Gwoyeu Romatzyh Menqtzyy
theory of natural goodness (xingshan), that confers that all people Wade–Giles Mêng4 Tzŭ3
have an intrinsic cardinal virtues, and that these virtues are developed Yale Romanization Mèngdž
in the same way that knowledge is cultivated.[6][5][4]
IPA [mə̂ ŋ.tsɹ̩]̀
The Mencius came to be regarded as one of the most important texts Wu
that explores the philosophy of Confucianism.[2] Mainly, due to its Romanization Man-tsy
philosophical dialogue with the Analects of Confucius.[1][2] Despite
Yue: Cantonese
this noted importance, the Mencius was not canonized as one of the
Chinese Classics until over 1,000 years later during the Song- Yale Romanization Maahngjí
dynasty.[3][2] Jyutping Maang6zi2
IPA [màːŋ.tsǐː]
Interpretations Southern Min
Hokkien POJ Bēng-chú
Various interpretations exist of the Mencius as a philosophical and
Tâi-lô Bīng-tsú
literary text.[1][5] Academics E. Bruce and A. Taeko Brooks state that
these various interpretations belong to a continuous discourse that Middle Chinese
represents each new generation of readers.[1] Examples are scholars Middle Chinese mæ̀ng dzí
such as James Legge, who opened the text to Western readers by
Old Chinese
comparatively exploring the Mencius through a Victorian missionary
perspective.[6] The text's ability to transcend culture and time is seen Baxter–Sagart (2014) *mˤraŋ-s tsəʔ
by scholars such as Behuniak Jr. as what canonises the Mencius as a
world classic.[5]

Contents
There are seven chapters within the Mencius, each divided into two halves.[6] The book's narrative depicts its
characters’ extensive dialogues on specific philosophical arguments, alongside Mencius's own reflections upon
them in the form of short sentences. Most of the chapters that explores Mencius’ moral philosophy, are
structured in the form of a conversation between Mencius and other philosophical thinkers. While chapters that
offer Mencius’ political advice and counsel are depicted as conversations with various rulers and himself.[6]

The book explores Mencius’ most famous idea, in that there exists an intrinsic human nature that is good.[6]
His argument that each person possessed an inborn potential of virtue, contrasts with the position of
contemporary figure Yang Zhu, who argued that that human nature is motivated by self-interest.[2] Alongside
this, the Mencius largely expands on Confucian ideas of political ruling, and benevolent politics.[4][6][5]

Moral Philosophy

In the Mencius, debates about morality and human nature are in direct dialogue with Confucian views.[6][5]
The theory of ‘natural goodness’, where human beings are inherently good, are explored through a concept of
“sprouts”.[7][5] According to Mencius, “sprouts” are unlearned moral habits that are inborn and present at a
person's birth. These moral habits are related to one's “family affection” (qīn ), and like “sprouts”, grow out
within the environment of familial activities.[7]

There exists four virtues of morality that makes up one's “sprouts” (duān ):

1. “humanity” (rén 仁)
2. “appropriateness” (yì 義)
 3. “ritual propriety” (lǐ )
4. “wisdom” (zhì 智) [5][7]

The four sprouts are what distinguish humans from other beings.[5] However, there exists a distinction in that
they are not what constructs humanity, but rather, something innate in which all humans already have.[5] The
Mencius states that these virtues develop in the acculturation of one's environment, “just as we have four
limbs” (Mencius 2A:6).[8][5] This environment being family affection, where the “four sprouts” activates
amongst other unmonitored impulses.[7]

Mencius also thinks that there exists a common human nature that causes for people to respond the same way
to certain ethical situations. One of the most famous arguments for this is presented within the Mencius in the
chapter 1A:6,[8] where Mencius successfully predicts an observer's immediate reaction to seeing a child about
to fall into a well.[9] Mencius argues that all people have a biological or inborn compassion, and goes further to
imply that this inborn compassion is also a universal duty.[9] Mencius refers to the idea of a biological sense of
compassion as a form of duty in:

“our sense of duty pleases the heart just as meat pleases the tastebuds.” (Mencius 4A:2)[9][8]

In other words, in doing compassionate things, we not only pleases ourselves biologically but also dutifully.[9]

Political Philosophy

The Mencius expands on the Confucian claims about the necessary practices of a good ruler.[8][5][7] This
consists of “virtue politics” (de zheng 德政 ), “benevolent politics” (ren zheng 仁政 ), or “politics that is
sensitive to the suffering of others” (bu ren ren zhi zheng 不忍⼈之政 [7]
). These terms refers to the ideal way
of governing politically, which is that a society must have policies that extends benevolently. These consists of
fairness in goods distribution, and mainly policies that protect the most marginal societal members. Confucius,
and in extension, Mencius contends that a good ruler must gain the devotion of the people through the exertion
of benevolence and goodness. Mencius asserts Confucian ethics as the basis to achieving an ideal state.[7][4]

Within the Mencius, this is expressed in his encounter with King Xuan of Qi, who rules over the Central
Kingdom without practicing “benevolent politics”. In this chapter, Mencius refers to the King's action as:

“looking for fish by climbing a tree.” (yuan mu er qiu yu 緣⽊求⿂) (Mencius 2A:4) [7][8]

Other passages within the Mencius addresses benevolent politics more directly:

“An Emperor cannot keep the Empire within the Four Seas unless he is benevolent; a feudal lord
cannot preserve the altars to the gods of earth and grain unless he is benevolent; a Minister or a
Counsellor cannot preserve his ancestral temple unless he is benevolent; a junzi or a commoner
cannot preserve his four limbs unless he is benevolent. Now if one dislikes death yet revel in
cruelty, he is just like someone who drinks alcohol beyond his capacity while he dislikes
drunkenness.” (Mencius 4A:3)[8][7]

Mencius also counsels against the political use of violence and force:
 “When one uses force to win people's allegiance (yi li fu ren 以理服⼈), one does not win
people's heart and mind (xin fu
[8][7]
⼼服
); they submit to your force because they are not strong
enough.” (Mencius 4A: 7)

Influences on Hermeneutics
Asides from its influences on Neo-Confucianism. The Mencius has also had an effect on the field of literary
discourse in China.[10][11] Mainly, in the advancement of Chinese literary criticism into a direction that
resembles the methods of Western intentionalist hermeneutics.[11][10] These intentionalist concepts of
interpretation (termed Mencian literary criticism), are seen as having dominated the methodology of literary
criticism and interpretation in China ever since.[11]

The Western intentionalist position traditionally judges the meaning of a literary work by the intentions of the
author at the moment of its conception.[11] Jane Gearney notes, that there exists various passages within The
Mencius that proposes a theory of literary interpretation that resembles this tradition.[11] An example being:

“. . . one who explains poetry should not let the form obstruct the phrases or let the phrases
obstruct the drift. One should meet the drift with one's own thoughts—that's how to obtain it.”
(Mencius 5A:4)[8][11]

In her evaluation of this passage, Gearney notes that the “drift” being referred to here can be understood as the
author's intention.[11] In this passage, Mencius poses that when it comes to evaluating a text, its form or
structure should not come before the individual phrases. While the individual phrases should not obstruct the
authorial intention (the drift) of the work, where the intention is met with the reader's own thoughts to form
meaning.[11] Mencius also encourages a friendship-based approach to literary criticism:

“The good scholars of a village befriend other good scholars of the village. The good scholars of
the world befriend other good scholars of the world. If befriending the good scholars in the world
isn't enough, they also proceed to consider the ancients. But how can they recite their poetry and
read their books without knowing what kind of people they are? Therefore, they consider their
age. This is “proceeding to befriend” [the ancients].” (Mencius 5B:8)[8][11]

The idea of knowing authors as people, is seen by Gearney as Mencius’ suggestion for the reader to attempt to
learn, as best they can, the author's intention when they were creating the text.[11] Mencius emphasises
knowing the author as a person, to suggest the importance of the setting and temporal context of a literary
work in one's evaluation of it.[11]

Though Mencian literary criticism is seen as having fostered intentionalist hermeneutics in China.[11][12]
Gearney notes that the form of intentionalism within the book differs from the style of traditional Western
intentionalist modes of criticism.[11] This difference is mainly to do with Mencius’ emphasis on learning the
author's contextual settings during the conception of the work, instead of the author's own feelings during its
conception.[11] Hence, the standard by which a work should be analysed does not involve the sentiments of
the author at the exact moment of conception (as characterised by E.D Hirsh).[11] But rather, Mencius’
standards posits that one should become acquainted with the author's personal, cultural, and political context,
before evaluating the literary work.[11]

Selected translations
 Legge, James (1895). The Works of Mencius (https://archive.org/details/chineseclassics02ming
goog). The Chinese Classics. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
Lyall, Leonard A. (1932). Mencius. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
Ware, James R. (1960). The Sayings of Mencius (https://archive.org/details/sayingsofmencius0
0jame). New York: Mentor Books.
Dobson, W. A. C. H. (1963). Mencius, A New Translation Arranged and Annotated for the
General Reader. London: Oxford University Press.
Lau, D. C. (1970). Mencius (https://archive.org/details/mencius00menc). London: Penguin
Books.
Van Norden, Bryan (2008). Mencius: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries.
Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
Bloom, Irene (2009). Mencius. New York: Columbia University Press.

References

Footnotes
1. Brooks, E. Bruce; Brooks, A. Taeko (2017-12-31), "11. The Nature and Historical Context of the
Mencius", Mencius, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 242–281, doi:10.1515/9780824863609-013
(https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9780824863609-013), ISBN 978-0-8248-6360-9
2. Fuller, Michael A. (2004-07-01). An Introduction to Literary Chinese. Harvard University Asia
Center. doi:10.2307/j.ctt1tg5n4n (https://doi.org/10.2307%2Fj.ctt1tg5n4n). ISBN 978-1-68417-
322-8.
3. Kern, Martin (2010-04-01), "Early Chinese literature, beginnings through Western Han", The
Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Cambridge University Press, pp. 1–115,
doi:10.1017/chol9780521855587.003 (https://doi.org/10.1017%2Fchol9780521855587.003),
ISBN 978-1-139-09541-9
4. Zhengming, Ge (1994). "Mencius". Prospects. 24 (1–2): 121–130. doi:10.1007/bf02199011 (htt
ps://doi.org/10.1007%2Fbf02199011). ISSN 0033-1538 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0033-15
38).
5. Behuniak, James (2011). "Naturalizing Mencius". Philosophy East and West. 61 (3): 492–515.
doi:10.1353/pew.2011.0045 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fpew.2011.0045). ISSN 1529-1898 (htt
ps://www.worldcat.org/issn/1529-1898). S2CID 201778623 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Cor
pusID:201778623).
6. Mencius. (2013). The Life and Works of Mencius. Neeland Media LLC. ISBN 978-1-4209-4816-
5. OCLC 1028955469 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1028955469).
7. Xiao, Yang (2009). "Agency and Practical Reasoning in The Analects and The Mencius".
Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 36 (4): 269–241. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6253.2009.01546.x (http
s://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1540-6253.2009.01546.x).
8. Coleman, Earle J.; Lau, D. C. (1976). "Mencius". Philosophy East and West. 22 (1): 113.
doi:10.2307/1397970 (https://doi.org/10.2307%2F1397970). ISSN 0031-8221 (https://www.worl
dcat.org/issn/0031-8221). JSTOR 1397970 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/1397970).
9. Munro, Donald J. (2017-12-31), Chan, Alan K. L (ed.), "13. Mencius and an Ethics of the New
Century", Mencius, University of Hawaii Press, pp. 305–316, doi:10.1515/9780824863609-015
(https://doi.org/10.1515%2F9780824863609-015), ISBN 978-0-8248-6360-9
10. Zhang, Longxi (1994). The tao and the logos : literary hermeneutics, East and West. Duke
University Press. ISBN 0-8223-1211-5. OCLC 1043024926 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/104
3024926).
11. Gearney, Jane (2000). "Mencius's Hermeneutics". Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 27 (1): 93–
100. doi:10.1111/0301-8121.00005 (https://doi.org/10.1111%2F0301-8121.00005). ISSN 0301-
8121 (https://www.worldcat.org/issn/0301-8121).
12. Liu, James J. (1986). Chinese theories of literature. Univ. of Chicago Pr. ISBN 0-226-48693-1.
OCLC 313041189 (https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/313041189).

Works cited
Behuniak, James (2011). "Naturalizing Mencius". Philosophy East and West. 61 (3): 492–515.
doi:10.1353/pew.2011.0045 (https://doi.org/10.1353%2Fpew.2011.0045). JSTOR 23015355 (ht
tps://www.jstor.org/stable/23015355). S2CID 201778623 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/Corpu
sID:201778623).
Chan, Alan K.L (2002). Mencius: Contexts and Interpretations. Hawaii: University of Hawaii
Press. pp. 242–281.
Fuller, Michael A (2004). An Introduction to Literary Chinese. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard
University Asia Center: Distributed by Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-01726-9.
Gearney, Jane (2000). "Mencius' Hermeneutics". Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 27: 93–100.
doi:10.1111/0301-8121.00005 (https://doi.org/10.1111%2F0301-8121.00005).
Kern, Martin (2010). "Early Chinese literature, Beginnings through Western Han". In Owen,
Stephen (ed.). The Cambridge History of Chinese Literature, Volume I: To 1375. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press. pp. 1–115. ISBN 978-0-521-85558-7.
Lau, D. C. (1993). "Meng tzu 孟⼦
(Mencius)". In Loewe, Michael (ed.). Early Chinese Texts: A
Bibliographical Guide. Berkeley: Society for the Study of Early China; Institute of East Asian
Studies, University of California, Berkeley. pp. 331–335. ISBN 1-55729-043-1.
Xiao, Yang (2009). "Agency and Practical Reasoning in the Analects and the Mencius".
Journal of Chinese Philosophy. 36 (4): 629–641. doi:10.1111/j.1540-6253.2009.01546.x (http
s://doi.org/10.1111%2Fj.1540-6253.2009.01546.x).
Zheming, Ge (1994). "Mencius". Prospects. 24 (1–2): 121–130. doi:10.1007/BF02199011 (http
s://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02199011).

External links
Works related to Mencius at Wikisource
The Works of Mencius (http://nothingistic.org/library/mencius): Legge's English translation
Mengzi (http://ctext.org/mengzi) Chinese text with Legge's English translation
Mencius (Selections) (http://www.acmuller.net/con-dao/mencius.html), translated by A. Charles
Muller
Mencius 《孟⼦》 (http://chinesenotes.com/mengzi.html) Chinese and English text with
matching English vocabulary at Chinese Notes

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