Comparison Between The Styles Of Study Of Mencius And Xunzi

Both Mencius and Xunzi are students and inheritor of Confucian, but their styles of study are obviously different. Compared in the perspective of text, Mencius mainly models himself after Confucius and Xunzi mainly absorbs, uses and develops, which is reflected by the facts as follows. Mencius: 1. He takes Confucius' apporval and disap-poval for his approval and disapproval, and takes Confucius' words for the criterion when he makes judgement or appraisal. 2. According to Confucius' words, he not only judges the behavior in daily life, but also suspects the truality of the historial facts that are recorded in Shangshu . 3. He takes Confucius' behavior for the model of him. Xunzi: 1. He can abstract the essence of Confucius' speech and express it with concise words. 2. He can elucidate the inner meaning of Confucius' words more specifically. 3. When using the Confucius' words, he adds some special concepts of himself. Based on the confucius' thought, he further develops the Confucian school. Compared in the perspective of the political theory, Xunzi inherits the pragmatic and flexible thinking methods of Confucius, and Mencius' rigidly overadhering to the dogma makes him fall into the idealism. Taking the rites for the supreme guiding principle of their theories, both Confucius and Xunzi hope to set up a class society in order of the inferior and the senior. However, Mencius takes the policy of humanity for the supreme guiding principle of his theory. About the kingly way and the mighty way, although the three men all cherish the kingly way, both Confucius and Xunzi not negate the mighty way, furthermore, they set a high value on it, but Mencius thinks it shameful. On the?n ?basis of the facts that the mankind has entered the class society and their times are troubled times, both Confucius and Xunzi establish their theories. However, rigidly overadhering to the policy of humanity, Mencius imagines a life prospect of the primitive clan society. Both subjective reasons and objective reasons make the different styles of study of Mencius and Xunzi. The objective reasons include the different academic origin and atmosphere and the influence of the change of times theme on the academic thought. The subjective reasons include their different academic thought and disposition and the different degrees in which they hold in esteem for Confucius.