Xunzi

More about the book

Xunzi is a collection of political writings by the late Warring States period educator and philosopher Xunzi or Xun Kuang. The book is composed of 32 "books" or chapters covering philosophy, ethics, politics, military affairs, education, etc.. In this book Xunzi critically summarized the academic thinking of the naive materialism of ancient China and was against the belief of the mandate of heaven and blind worship of the supernatural. Opposing Mencius' belief that human nature is good, Xunzi held that human nature is evil, and was therefore for combining ritual principles and law and attaching equal importance to moral enlightenment and rule by law with its punishments and rewards. Besides praising the Earlier Kings, Xunzi initiated the idea of being modelled on the Later Kings, which was different from Confucius and Mencius. The English translation of this edition is the first complete English translation of Xunzi.