A Study Of Mencius And Xunzi’s View Of The Ancient Kings

Mencius and Xunzi were outstanding thinkers in the pre Qin period.And Xunzi was the successor and innovator of Confucianism.In the theoretical system of Mencius and Xunzi,the view of ancient kings is the important clue of their thought,but each has its own emphasis.The concept of ancient kings is an important part of the history of political thought in ancient China,and it is the theory of ruling the world in ancient dynasty.This paper mainly analyzes the meaning,implementation path,internal basis and historicity of Mencius and Xunzi’s views on the ancient kings,trying to summarize the political thoughts of Mencius and Xunzi based on the interpretation of history.The first chapter discusses the meaning of Mencius and Xunzi’s view of the ancient kings.The ancient king is the model of kingly politics,the ancient kings concept is the concept of political history,and the ancient king’s doctrine is the core embodiment of the ancient kings concept.Among them,the concept of "earlier" represents historicity,and the concept of "king" embodies politics,the view of the ancient king is a political theory based on historical knowledge and a product of the close combination of Chinese history and politics.Mencius and Xunzi’s view of the ancient kings not only respects the classics and worships the ancient,but also faces the reality.Its essence is an affirmation and inheritance of the wisdom and experience of the historical tradition,and also a construction of governing way in response to social needs.Mencius advocated that "following the example of ancient kings",and its essence is to carry out benevolent government.Xunzi advocated that "learning from the ancient and later kings",and its core is the rule of rites.The second chapter discusses the implementation path of the ancient kings concept of Mencius and Xunzi.The politics of the ancient kings is the political nature represented by the "King" of the ancient kings concept.Mencius put the politics of the ancient kings into benevolent government,and expounded the specific content of the ancient kings concept from the respect for the sages and love the people,the practice of the square-fields system,the tax reduction,and the human relations education;Xunzi put the politics of the ancient kings into the rule of rites,and expounded the specific content of the ancient kings concept from the origin,essence,and the combination of rites and laws.Mencius and Xunzi constructed the political system on the basis of the ancient king and history,and inherited the doctrine of the ancient king to govern the country,and used it in the real society.The third chapter discusses the internal basis of Mencius and Xunzi’s view of the ancient kings.Confucianists hold that the change from "inner saint" to "outer king",and personality cultivation and political action are internally unified.Therefore,the theory of human nature is the theoretical basis of the view of ancient kings,the premise of moral and political theory,and the key to grasp the views of Mencius and Xunzi.Mencius pointed out that human nature was originally good from the aspects of good side,conscience and ability,while Xunzi pointed out that human nature was originally evil by defining "nature" and "artificial".Their views on human nature are different and similar,so their views on the ancient kings also reflect their own characteristics.The fourth chapter looks at the historical view of Mencius and Xunzi from the ancient kings,that is,the historical thought represented by the "earlier" of the ancient kings concept.Mencius and Xunzi examined the relationship between ancient and modern times,and thought about the law of historical change and the trend of development,their views of the ancient king reflected the awakening of historical rationality.Mencius thought that the change of history was the alternation of governance and disorder,and sages promoted the social development;Xunzi thought that "doctrine runs through ancient and modern times",and historical development is the unity of "constant doctrine" and "changing doctrine".In their insight into the trend of historical development,Mencius pointed out that "unification" with kingly way,while Xunzi also pointed out the historical trend of "great unification",but advocated the combination of Wangdao(rule by benevolence)and Badao(rule by force).