Xunzi's Thought Of Justice

As the last Confucians before Qin dynasty, Xunzi is a great materialistic ideologist of ancient China. He absorbed and developed Confucianism, emphasized the function of"Li"and"Yi"to the society. And he paid attention to the construction of the society system, formed the thought to justice of the Confucianism.The thought to justice of Xunzi is based on his views to the Nature which emphasized the difference between nature and human, and Humanity which emphasized the difference between natural matters and artificial ones. Xunzi took the"differentiation"as the principle of society, which means to the differentiation of ethic, vocation, and wealth. Xunzi thought the practice of this principle make it possible for people to be content to the social status, to receive what they deserve, and for the social order to be formed. That is the basic sense of his"differentiation"and"peace", only which would lead to a perfect society, and to harmony of the society.Xunzi's theory reaches the fundamental levels to social life, and is an institutional arrangement of structure of the society. He took his principle as the norms not only for people, but also to the nation and society. He took it as the bedrock. It is the responsibility for people, as well as the nation and the society, to comply to this principle, even the supreme prince. To this purpose, Xunzi emphasized the emergence of"gentlemen", focusing the institutional realization on the advanced people with"morality and capability". In his opinion, sound institutions and high-qualified persons are two necessary conditions for justice. Mean-while, institutions have their principle and supremacy. These ideas can stand the test of time.Generally speaking, Chinese are subtle for the individual justice, but ignore the institutional justice. Factually, the institutional justice is more basic and fundamental. Only under the sound institution, there are common happiness and justice. Researching Xunzi's theory on justice can absorb his wisdom and is meaningful for today'people and life.