A Study Of Xunzi's "Yi" Philosophy

Xunzi's philosophy is a milestone in the history of Chinese Philosophy.Throughout Xunzi,Xunzi's "Yi" is especially like a logic clue,which connects many seemingly independent philosophical views in Xunzi's philosophy system("living together in a community in harmony and unity","modeling Later Kings,unifying the rules","unifying the whole empire,controlling the myriad things","making what he said equal what he did,uniting guiding principles with the proper categories for each things","using the army in attacks and campaigns,firstly unifying the people","emptiness,unity,and stillness")and forms a comprehensive and meticulous "Yi"philosophy system.Xunzi's philosophy of "Yi" runs through Xunzi's all-round thinking on the universe,society and life.It contains the spiritual essence of"internal saints and external kings" of Confucianism.It is also Xunzi's philosophical theory construction about the coming ideal of "great unification" of society based on the relation between the individual and the whole.This paper will focus on Xunzi's philosophy of "Yi" from the perspective of pre-Qin Zi Xue,concentrating on three dimensions of cosmology,life theory and epistemology,so as to contribute to the study of Xunzi's philosophy of "Yi".