The Significance of Mencius

8/13/2019 The Significance of Mencius

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The Significance of MenciusAuthor(s): Carsun Chang

Source: Philosophy East and West, Vol. 8, No. 1/2 (Apr. - Jul., 1958), pp. 37-48Published by: University of Hawai'i PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1397420.

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CARSUN CHANG

TheSignificancefMenciusMENCIUS (372-289 B.C) is knownin China as Confucius'successor hohandeddownthe traditionf theTao. In a certainense,Menciuss a greaterhilosopherhanConfucius.WhileConfuciusaidthesolidgroundworkorConfucianism,encius learly efinedheprinciples,penetratednto heirmeaningsmoreprofoundly,ndbuilt more ompre-hensive ystem.n theperiodfollowing onfucius' eath,known s the

period f the Warring tates, owerpoliticswere nvolvedxtensively,andthe chools fthoughtada very ophisticatedayofarguing. herewasa great eedfor philosopherikeMencius.With ourage, e criticizedthe strategists,hediplomats,nd thephilosophers.omeof thefunda-mental rinciples hichMencius aveto the aterphilosophersreas fol-lows: to takeemperors ao and Shun as philosopher-kings;o assert hathumannaturesgood;togivepriorityothemind,whose unctionsthink-ing;and tonourish he entimentfmoral upremacy. ll these rincipleswereaccepted, eveloped,nd practicedn theensuing ynasties,uch sSung ndMing, ndgavemuchmoral trengtho theChinese eople,whoat those imes nderwentreatnational isasters. inceMencius xerciseda powerfulnfluencenmany pheres fChineseifefor long period ftime, emaywell be consideredgreaterhilosopherhanConfucius.heextentowhichnapplicationfMencius'heories asmadenphilosophicalandpractical roblemss ampleevidence hathis theories eredetermin-ingfactorsn shapingChinesenational haracternd thought. he factthat disciple'swork xercised greaternfluencehan hat f hismasterdoesnotnecessarilyuthis mastern a lesser ight.So itwas withCon-fuciusndMencius.It is interestingo notewhatJamesLegge,a Western inologistndtranslatorfChinese lassics,aid aboutMencius: The firstwenty-threeyears f his (Mencius'] ife hus ynchronizedith he asttwenty-threefPlato's. Aristotle,eno, Epicurus, emosthenes,nd other reatmen oftheWestwerealso hiscontemporaries.henwe placeMencius mongthem, e can ook them ntheface. He does notneed ohide diminishedhead. '

1JamesLegge, The Life and Works of Mencius (London: Triibner & Co., 1875), p. 16.37

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38 CARSUN HANGLet us nowproceed o inquirewho Mencius' eacherwas. Formerlytwas heldthatTz~i-ssu,he grandsonfConfucius, as Mencius' eacher;

butthiswas laterfound o be incorrect.upposing zii-ssi o havebeenbornn theyearwhenhisfather,i,died,hewouldhave to havebeen112years ldwhenMenciuswas born. f onesupposeshatMencius tthe geof twentyound good teacher, zil-ssiiwould have already een 132;years ld. Thattheytoodbeforeach other s masternddisciples, thus,inconceivable.herefore,sui-ma h'ienwroten his book, heShihChi,thatMencius tudied iththedisciplesfTzfl-ssUi.his s supposedobecorrect.n Mencius' ooktheresa shortentenceeferringohisdisciple-ship. He said: Although couldnotbe a disciple fConfucius,haveendeavoured o cultivatemyselffter heexample f thosewhom ap-preciated. Anotherroof hatMenciuswas acquainted ith he choolofTziT-ssi~sfoundna paragraphn Mencius' ookwhich snearlydenticalwith a paragraphf theChungYung (The ProperMean) whichs at-tributedo Tzi-ssiiWho Mencius'mmediateeacher as is veryhardto ascertain.n anycase,Mencius' evotion o Confuciuss clearlyeenfrom iswritings. esaid: FromConfucius'imeuntilnowa hundred ears nd morehavepassed. It is remoteonsideredrom hepointof time,butverynearathand whenconsideringhe sage'sresidence. o far there s no one totransmitisdoctrines.ea, is there eally o one to do so? Menciuswasmuch nspiredyConfucius. lthough e hadanothereacher,onfuciuswasthe eachernhismind.Menciuswas consideredyChao Ch'i as themanwhotransmittedhemessage f Confuciuso latergenerations.hao Ch'i lived n theHanDynastyA.D. 108-201) and was thefirstommentatorn theBookofMencius. hao Ch'isaid: The sevenbookswe havecomprisehewholedoctrinef Heaven ndEarth ndare examinationsf thousandsftopicsof thingswhich xist n theuniverse. 3he term HeavenandEarth 3means n ancient hina theuniverse. hefullsignificances that,whenone discussesheproblem fhuman ifeor ethics, ne shouldgo to thefundamentals,hats,theuniverse,r, nthe erminologyfmodernWest-ernphilosophy,hemetaphysicalackground.hao Ch'iwenton to saythatMenciusdiscussedhe subjects f Ien (benevolence), (righteous-ness),Tao (reason),Ti (virtue), henaturefman, hedecreesfHeaven,

'Book of Mencms, Bk. IV, Part II, Chap. XXII. in JamesLegge, trans., The Four Books (Shanghai:The Chinese Book Company,n.d.), p. 261.'Chao Chi, Mng-tsu-Ching-I, Book I (Shanghai: Chung-hua Book Company, 1936), p. 7.



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THE SIGNIFICANCEF MENCIUS 39miseryndhappiness--andmorebrilliantlyhandid hisdisciplesuchasKung-sun h'ouorWan Chang.Thislastsentencemplies hatMencius'Book was written yhimself.Mencius' reatmentf ethicsgoesto thefundamentaluestion f whetherumannatures goodor evil; he thustouched ff hiscontroversialuestion.BecauseMencius'Book coversverywidefield,wemust ead and nterprett in the ight f modern hi-losophy,ncludingthics,ogic, heoryfknowledge,ndmetaphysics.Han Yii,who lived n theT'ang Dynasty768-824) andwhofoughtagainstBuddhism,n influentialeligiouschoolof thoughtt that ime,discussedhe ineofChinese postolicuccessions follows: Yao (a sagekingofantiquity]ransmittedheTao to Shun[anotherageking];ShuntransmittedttoYii,founderf theHsia Dynasty. ii transmittedtto thekingsW&n ndWu andtotheDukeofChou. The latterhree ransmittedit to Confucius nd the latter ransmittedt toMencius.AfterMenciusitwasno longer ransmitted. '4his o-called ransmissionftheTao doesnotmeanthat t washanded own ctually rom neperson otheother,butthat traditionalineofphilosophicalonviction asfollowed ythescholarsn thedifferenteriods,nspite fnewdevelopmentsomingntothemain urrentrom ime otime.This inewas nterruptedhenMenciusdied. No Confuciancholar fterMencius' eath reatednyphilosophicalsystemhat ould be consideredqualto thesurvivingonfucianism.Undoubtedlyenciuswas thephilosopher,ogician,nddialecticianhoexercisedreaternfluencen later hinkershan nyone lse.

UMencius s thefirst onfucian ollower ho built systemaseduponthe doctrinef ideas. He seesrealityn one'sownconsciousness,ot inthe phenomenalworld. Knowledge,which s necessaryorvirtue, oesnotconsistnwhatonesees,hears, astes,ndtouches,ut n whatcomesfrom ne's innermind. Mencius s an idealist, utnot in thePlatonicsense---chatclass-concepthould e traced ackto therealm f deas.Heseesthat he deal world s basedonwhatought o be,orwhat s right.Wheneach man doeshisduty ccordingo whatought o be,therealmof ideascan be attained. he whole ystemf Mencius s builtuponthefunctionfthinkingndhis heoryf he our irtues.As a preliminaryo the tudy, fewwords boutChinese hilosophyngeneralmay ehelpful.

'This eulogy of Han Yai is to be found in his essay Yuan Tao ( Inquiry of Tao ).



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40 CARSUN CHANGAs Chinese haracters,entenceonstruction,ndwayofpresentingdeasare so differentrom hoseof theWesternworld, omeEuropeanshinkthere remany mbiguousermsnChinese hilosophical ritings.hereare also shiftingsn themeaningsfWestern hilosophicalerms; hereis much mbiguityn Western hilosophicalerms s well as in Chinese.Yet theChinese o not find tdifficulto understand estern hilosophy.When one really ppliesoneself o Chinese hilosophy,nd if onereadstheterms arefullyn their ontext,ne can find hespecific eaning rmeanings. hroughouthe ges, here as been definiteay f nterpreta-ton.Another ifficultys that omeChinese resentheir deas n aphorismsandnot nsystematicreatises. hisdifficulty,orWesterntudentsfChi-nesephilosophy,s directlyttributableo thefact hat tudentsf WesternPhilosophy re accustomed o systematic orks like those of Plato,Kant, ndHegel.Letme usea simple nalogy opoint utthatneitherhe mbiguityortheaphorismsn Chinesephilosophyhould onstitute serious ifficultyforWesterners.n painting, Chinese an drawa portrait ith fewstrokes,ndmanyWesternersind hat hese ew trokesresent lively

picture.fa few trokes resufficientor portrait,hy annot few en-tences resent completedea? ndeed,nmaking comparativetudyfChinesendWesternhilosophy,findome imilar undamentalrincipleswhich rethe oundationfboth raditions.A. Startingoint:Thinking.Mencius s thefirst onfucian hoassignedto thinking hevital role of philosophizing.onfuciusut thinkingand learning n thesame evel. He said: Learningwithouthoughtslabor ost,thought ithoutearnings perilous. 'Thesesentencesmeanthat, inceknowledges derived rom xperiencenddata andfromwhathas beendiscoveredyothers,ne should earn n order o enlarge ne'sownfield fknowledge. utbymerelyearningromthers,ne'smindmaybe perplexedndconfused,s if therewere oomany hreadsn onehand.Confuciuslso admonishedispupils o think n a moreprofound ay norder o find systemrthefundamentalrinciples.Modifyingonfuciusina specific ay,Mencius mphasizedhinkings thefunctionf themind.It isnoexaggerationosaythatMencius'mphasisnthinkings thefunc-tionofthemind s as importants Descartes' ictumCogiso rgo um,

'Confucius,Analects, k. II, Chap.XV, in James egge, rans.,The FourBooks Shanghai:TheChinese ookCompany, .d.), p. 748.



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THE SIGNIFICANCEF MENCIUS 41which s thestarting ointofmodernWestern hilosophy. owever,tshouldbepointedut thatMencius id notplay uch n importantole ntheEastas Descartes id n theWest. Nevertheless,f onetraces hephi-losophyf LuChiu-yiianfthe ungDynastynd that fWang Yang-mingof theMing Dynasty,ne cannot utbe persuadedhatMencius' mphasison thinkingsthepioneeringpirit hich ventuallyroducedhe dealismofChina.Mencius ays: The senses fhearingndseeing o notthink,nd areobscured y (external) hings.When one thing omesnto contact ithanother,s a matter f course t leads it away.To themind elongsheofficefthinking.ythinking,tgets theright iew fthings]; yneglect-ingto think,tfails odo this.These[thesenses ndthemind] rewhatHeavenhasgiven o us. Leta man firsttand ast n (thesupremacy]fthe nobler artof hisconstitution,nd the nferiorartwill notbe ableto take tfrom im. t issimplyhiswhichmakes hegreatman. ' Menciussaidrepeatedlyhat hemind hould arryutthefunctionfthinking,ndthat neshould otrestrictneselfo the enses,which reconcerned ithseeing, earing,nd tasting.He drew line ofdemarcationetweenhesenses ndthinking. e maintainedhat, s the mpressionsf theexternalworld,which timulateur enses,hange rom ime o time ndare nter-preteddifferentlyydifferentersons,hese mpressionsannotgiverisetoknowledge. e warned hat he enses anonly ead oneawayfromheright iewofthings.A right iew ofthings, e held, omesoutofself-conscious irtuesnly. Thesevirtues,ccordingo him, re benevolence,righteousness,ropriety,ndknowledge. want o stresshat knowledge,ascontainednMencius' roup ffour irtues,sa virtueecauset s realizedfor he akeofthegood. It hasnothingodowith hePlatonicdeaof theclassconcept.However, lato'sphilosophyfthegoodas thehighestdeafindstscounterpartn Chinese hilosophy, hichholdsthatthesefourvirtuesonstitutehehighestood.AccordingoMencius,hinkings a self-reflectionor heattainmentfself-consciousirtues. hismay eadus to think hatMencius ompletelyneglectsogical hinking.his is nottrue.Mencius id notexclude uchimportanttemssdefinitionnd lassificationrom is ystem.Thisdemarcationetween enses ndthinkings nor feature eculiarto Mencius. t is a necessary aywhich eads to philosophy.lato alsomadethisdistinction.hefollowinguotationrom hePhaedo hows heidenticaliews eldbyMenciusndtheGreek hilosopher:

'BookofMencius, k. VI, Pt. I, Chap.XV.2, bid.,pp. 884-885.



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42 CARSUN CHANGWhatagain hallwe sayof theactual cquirementfknowledge?-is hebody,finvitedo share n theenquiry, hindererra helper? meantosay,havesightandhearingny ruthnthem?Arethey ot, sthepoets realways ellings, nac-curatewitnesses?.. Andthoughts best,when he mind s gatheredntoherselfand noneof these hingsrouble er-neitherounds orsights orpainnoranypieasure,-whenhe takeseaveofthebody,ndhasas little s possible o dowithit,when hehasnobodilyense rdesire, ut saspiringfter rue eing? ertainly-7Again, Plato says:Andhe attains othepurest nowledgefthemwhogoesto each with hemindalone,not ntroducingrintrudingnthe ctofthoughtight ranyother ense o-gether ith eason, utwith heveryight fthemind n her wnclearnessearchesinto heveryruthfeach;... Forthebodysthe ource fendlessroubleousbyreason fthemere equirementffood; nd s liable lsotodiseaseswhich vertakeandimpede s inthe earchfter rue eing: itfills s fullofloves, nd usts,ndfears,ndfanciesfallkinds,ndendlessoolery,nd nfact,smen ay, akeswayfroms the ower f hinkingtall.Does notthelastsentence, ... takes wayfromus thepowerofthinking.remind s ofwhatMencius aidofthesenseseading ne awayfromheright iewofthings?ndeed, hesimilaritys so strikinghatone cannotbutnoticet. It seems hat he dea ofsensationsndratio, onstitutingwosources fknowledge, as unknownn ancient hinaand Greece.Onlyduringhedevelopmentfmoderncientificnowledge avesensationsrimpressionseen ecognizedsanotherourcefknowledge.B. Logical deas.Among hephenomenanderman's observationndexamination,herere certain ifferentiatingttributeshich recommon,respectively,oeach ofthekinds.How canthese ttributese discovered?They refoundnthephysical orld y bservationndexperiments,here-as ethicalprinciplesre foundby religious rophets,eachers,nd phi,-losophers. thical rinciplesannot e arbitrarilyade,because heymustbeapprovedy communityrby hemajorityfa community.ince heymustbe approved,heremustbe a basisuponwhichmankind anagree.The agreements embodiedn concepts,aturalaws,conventions,r in-stitutions.Withregard o moralprinciples,nanimousgreementannotbe reached s easilyas is possible n the case of principles uidingnatural henomena.et some ort f nassentmust e ndicated henmostof themembersfa communitybservehe amemoralprinciples.Menciusnames hese wo kindsof lawsunderlyingocialand naturalphenomena righteousnessnd principles. n modern erminology,

'Phacdo in B. Jowect,The Works of Plato, Vol. II (London: Oxford University Press, 1924), pp.203-204.SPhacdo, n ibid., Vol. II, p. 205.



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THE SIGNIFICANCEOF MENCIUS 43righteousnessmeans laws of moral obligation, and principles meanslaws governing hysicalobjects and social phenomena. Righteousnessndprinciples re found, ccording o Mencius on the basisofcommon pprovaland commondisapproval.What do the words approval and disapprovalmean? Theydo not meanmerely n act ofapprovingordisapproving. heyare concretizedn language,sciences, r institutions, hich are the basis ofhumansociety.Specifically peaking, ommonapproval is themeansof ar-riving t concepts.In thefollowingremarksMenciusconstantly ses the term kind. Thisshows hathe attached reat mportanceo t:

Thus llthings hich re the ame nkind re iketooneanother;-whyhouldwe doubtnregardoman, s ifhewere solitaryxceptionothis?Thesageandwearethe ame nkind.In accordance iththisthe scholar ung aid, If a manmakehempenandalswithout nowingthesize of people's]feet, yet) I knowthathe will not make[them ike) baskets. andals re all like one another,ecause ll men'sfeet relikeoneanother.So with hemouth ndflavors;--all ouths avethe amerelishes. i-ya only)apprehendedeforeme whatmymouth elishes. upposethathis mouthn hisrelish or lavorsifferedromhat f othermen, s is thecase with ogsorhorseswhich renot he ame nkindwith s,why hould llmen be found ollowingi-ya n their elishes?n thematterftasteshewhole mpiremodelstself fter i-ya;thats, hemouthsf ll men re ike ne nother.And so also t iswith heear. In thematterfsounds,hewhole mpiremodelsitselffterhemusic-master'uang;thats,the arsof all men re ikeoneanother.And soalso t iswith heeye. n the aseofTsu Tu,theres no manbutwouldrecognizehathe was beautiful. nyonewhowould notrecognizehebeauty fTsuTumust avenoeyes.Therefore say,-Men'smouthsgree n having he samerelishes;heir arsagree in enjoying he samesounds;theireyes agree in recognizinghe samebeauty:--shallheirminds lonebe withouthatwhich heyimilarlypprove?Whatis it, hen,f whichheyimilarlypprove?t is, say, heprinciplesofournature),andthedeterminationfrighteousness.hesagesonly pprehendedeforemethatofwhichmymind pproveslongwith thermen. Thereforeheprinciplesfournature ndthedeterminationsfrighteousnessare] agreeableomymind,ust sthe leshfgrass-ndgrain-fednimalssagreeableomymouth.

At first lance,thispassage mayappear as a collectionof rather bvious,common-sense emarks. But when one reads it carefully s a student fphilosophy, ne finds that it implies the logical theoriesof classification,definition,nd objectivereference.These shouldbe analyzedand explained.Let me begin with substituting he world class for kind. Legge's'Mencius, k.VI, Pt. I, Chap.VII, inLegge, p.cit.,pp. 865-868.



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44 CARSUN HANGtranslation hould be changedas follows: Thus all thingswhichare in thesame 'class' are like to one another. Mencius elsewhereuses thesamewordclass in another context:When man's ingers not ikethose fother eople, eknows o feeldissatisfied,but fhismind enot ike hat fother eople, edoesnotknow ofeeldissatisfac-tion.This scalled-Ignorancef the elative[importancefthings).10What Mencius meant by this is clear. The finger,s a partofthebodyis not themost mportant artofman,whereas hemind, as thespringofthinking,s the most important This distinction etweenclasses-physicalandspiritual-is, according oMencius, nimportantssue.The following s another llustrationfMencius'emphasison classification.The unicorn s oneof thequadrupeds,hephoenixs one ofthebirds,heTaishanas oneamong hemoundsndant-hills,he iversnd eas mong herain-pools,achbelongsoa class. o the ages remembersfthe ame lass s the est fmankind.

In the paragraphquoted previously, egarding he making of sandals asdifferentrom basket,hemeaningsobvious. he sandal sa kind f foot-wear,while a basket s used forcarrying hings.Their uses put them ntodiffEerentlasses. So themakersknow whattheir ttributes re,and do notconfusehemnthemaking.Indeed, heemphasisaidbyMencius n differentinds fthingsanbetaken s an indicationhat he dea ofa so-called reeofPorphyryas alsoknownn ancient hina.Mencius' onceptfmanas one capable fper-ceiving he deasofrighteousnessndprincipless closely kin othedef-inition fmanas a rational nimal nWestern hilosophy. he TreeofPorphyry,hich s thebasis fphilosophizing,sindeed ommono East ndWest. Eventhough Chinese ext-bookn logic s lacking, he deasofterm, ivision,lassification,nddefinitionreusedbyChinese cholarslso.In connectionithkind rclass, he ommonracticefdividingatural

objects nto nanimatehings, lants,nimals,ndman furnisheshebasisonwhich definitions formulated,or, bviouslyergenus tdifferentiamis nothing ut by-productftheTreeofPorphyry.Letusnowfind utwhat sthefoundationfMencius'moralaw. In thequotation iven bove,Mencius ointed utthatmen'staste, earing,ndsight re in agreement iththeobjects fdesire.He then urnedo thesubjectofmind,askingthe rhetorical uestion, ... shall theirmindsalonebe withouthatwhich hey imilarlypprove? The words similarlyp-'lbid.,Bk.VI, Pt. I, Chap.XII.2, p. 880.

ulbid., Bk. II, Pt. I, Chap. II.28. The translation, this writer's own, appears to be clearer thanLegge's (op. cit., p. 539).



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THE SIGNIFICANCE F MENCIUS 45prove obviously mbrace wo processes:first,ach individualmakessubjectivemental ctof approving,econd, groupofpersons ivetheircommonpproval.Thattowhich hemajorityfmen gree s a moralaw,ora reality hich hemindgrasps r interpretsy ts act of udgment.notherwords,Mencius olds heview hat lawofmoral bligationra lawof physicalhenomenas nota subjectivepinion; t is judgmentgreeduponby majorityfpeople. ndeed,when certaindeaprevailsn a cul-ture,t canbe assumed hat heres commonssent.This commonssentis thefoundationf moral ndnaturalaw.Thus ogical deasplayed heir ole n Mencius' hilosophy.t has beenpointed ut that t is a fallacy oasserthat logicalor an epistemologicalbackgrounds lackingn Chinese hilosophy.t is true hatno book ikeAristotle's rganon xistedn ancientChina. Nonetheless,ogical ideaswere xistent.C. Menciu?' heoryfmind.Mencius' pproach o theproblemfthemindis fromthe standpoint f values, rather hanfromthat of facts.He,likeConfucus, o Tzil, ndLao Tzid,wasa teacher-philosopherhosewrit-ings imed t raising hepersonalityfhisstudentsnparticularnd man-kind n general.Thus,he and the others sedethical tudies o raise hemoral ife of thepeopleof their ay. Theyalso spokeon such ssues spolicy-makingnd how king remperorught ogovern iscountry.heargumentgainstgoverningor hesake of territorialxpansionndwarwas that ulerswhoadhered o suchpolicy ailed o observe heprincipleofrighteousness,rethical alues. n Mencius' ime he ineofdemarcationbetween act-finding,hich s the functionf the scientist,nd policy-shaping,which s theworkof thestatesman,an hardly e expectedohave xisted.Mencius'tartingointsthatman sa rational eing.He arrivedtthisconclusionfter lassifyingll objects mongnatural henomenas inani-matethings, lants, nimals, nd men. The common haracteristics,rdifferentiae,ponwhich ebasedhisclassificationrethatnanimatehingsarematerialsavingno ife; hat lants row ut annotmove; hat nimalslive,move, ndsense, uthavenomoralknowledge;hatmen re theonlyliving eingswhocandistinguishetween ightndwrong.Mencius aysthatmandiffersrom nimals nlyby smallmargin.This smallmarginmeans hatman hasknowledgend moral ense.His emphasisn this anbe seen in the followingquotation:When say llmenhave mindwhich annot ear to ee the ufferingsf]others,mymeaningmaybe illustratedhus:--even owadays,f mensuddenlyeea childabout ofall nto well, hey illwithoutxceptionxperience feelingfalarmnd



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46 CARSUN CHANGdistress.Theywill feel o]nor s a groundnwhich heymaygainthefavorf thechild's arents,or s a groundnwhichheywillfind hepraise ftheir eighborsand of friends,orfrom dislike o thereputationf [having eenunmovedy]such thing.From his asewemayperceivehat hefeelingfcommiserations essentialoman, hat hefeelingfshame nddislike... modestyndcomplaisances essentialtoman,ndthat he eelingfapprovingnddisapprovingsessentialo man.Thisfeelingf commiserations theprinciplefbenevolence.hefeelingf hameanddislikes theprinciplefrighteousness.hefeelingfmodestyndcomplaisanceis theprinciplefpropriety.hefeelingfapprovingnddisapprovings theprin-cipleofknowledge.Men havethesefourprinciplesustas they ave their our imbs.Whenmen,having hese our rinciples,et ayofthemselveshat hey annotdevelophem],they laythethiefwith hemselves,nd he whosaysofhisprince athe cannoc[develop hem], lays he thiefwithhisprince.Since ll menhavethesefour rinciplesnthemselves,etthem now ogivealltheir evelopmentndcompletion,ndthe ssuewillbe likethat fa firewhich asbegun oburn,r that fa spring, hich asbegun o find ent.Letthem avetheircomplete evelopment,nd theywill sufficeo loveandprotectll within he fourseas. Let thembe denied hatdevelopment,ndtheywillnotsufficeor mantoservehisparents ith.'2If we followtheChinesetext iterally, e will see that Mencius'presen-tation of the idea ofman as a rationalbeing s writtenn strong anguage.Thus, the first ew sentencesof the above quotationcan be rendered ntoEnglishexactly s: Without thefeeling fcommiseration,e is nota man;without hefeelingof shame and dislike,he is not a man; without he feel-ing ofmodesty, e is not a man; without hefeelingof approving nd dis-approving, e is nota man. These sentences eave no doubtin thereader'smind of what Mencius considers s a man's essential qualities qua man.ElsewhereMenciusrepeatsthe same idea in a slightly ifferentorm:The feelingf commiserationelongso allmen; o doesthat f shame nddislike;and thatof reverencend respect;nd that f approvingnd disapproving.hefeelingfcommiserationimplies heprinciplef]benevolence;hat f shame nddislike,heprinciplefrighteousness;hat freverencendrespect,heprinciplefpropriety;hat fapprovingnddisapproving,heprinciplefknowledge.enevol-ence, ighteousness,ropriety,ndknowledgere not nfusedntous fromwithout.We arecertainlyurnishedith hem. And differentiew] s simply romwantofreflection.ence t is said: Seekandyouwillfind hem.Neglect ndyouwilllosethem -men ifferrom neanothernregardo them;-some s much gainas others,omefive imes s much,nd some o an incalculablemount:-itis be-causetheyannot arryutfullyheirnatural]owers.'3These quotations learly how thatMencius does notstudyman as a biolog-ical or sociologicalbeing,butas a moralbeing.

UIbid., k. II, Pt. I, Chap.VI.3-5, pp. 549-5$52. Ulbid., k.VT,Pr. I, Chap.VT.7, p. 861-862.



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48 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF MENCIUSThe question s to whether ntuitionlone is sufficientr whetherknowl-edge and experience re necessaryn order to distinguish ight nd wrong s

controversialn Chinesephilosophy s in Westernphilosophy. Philosopherssuchas Chu Hsi and othershold that hedictates f conscience lone are notsufficientnd experienceand learningmust supplementit. Wang Yang-ming,n the ther and, elieveshat ntuitivenowledgerovidescri-terion frightndwrong.Wangsays:Liang-chihswhat s intelligent,ear, nddistinctn the ense fHeavenlyeason.Limng-chih,hetherf anordinary an r of a sage, s the ame.IsLiang-chihs as brights a mirror. othinghat s reflectedn it canescape t. '

Wang aysna letteroLuYiian-ching:Liang-chihxists lways. f youdo nottake areto preservet,youwill ose it. Initself t is brightnd clear,despite gnorancend blindness.f youdo not knowenoughokeep tclean,twillbecome eciouded,utthoughtmay hus e cloudedfor long ime,tnonethelesss essentiallyrilliant,impid,nddistinct.20WhetherenciusndWang re nagreementhenheypeak f iang-chihsa problem. ang's heoryhathemind sreasoniffersomewhatinnuancefmeaningrom encius'heoryf ntuitivenowledge,hichispossessedymenwithouthe xercisef hought.fMencius'heorystomean hatudgmentnrightrwrongsa priorind mmediateithoutdependingponoutsidenowledge,t is differentromWang's tressnreason.Nevertheless,ntuitionisms a commonackgroundorMencius,uChiu-yiian,ndWangYang-ming.heyllupholdhentuitiveacultyndmaintainhat osupplementarynowledges necessarynorderoknowwhat ughtobe, rwhatsrightrwrong.Thisdiscussionetweenhe ntuitionistsndtheempiricistsr utili-tarianss notfoundnlynancienthina. t continuesow nEnglandwherehe raditionfempiricismsdeeplyooted. uch s the ontroversybetweenrichardndA. C. Ewing,hentuitionists,nthe nehand,ndMoore,he tilitarian,nthe ther. his llustrateshe act hatuch rob-lems re ndeederennialndcommonothephilosophyftheEast ndthe West. A re-examinationfMencius' heorymaybe a contributionothebetter nderstandingf ethical rinciplesoth n the East and in theWest.

'Wang Yang-ming,h'uanHsi-lu ( CollectedWorks ), Ssu-pupei-yao d. (Chung-hua:Chung-huaBookCo.,n.d.),Bk.II. p. 24.A Ibid.,k. II, p. i, Letter o Lu Yuan-ching.Ibid.,Bk. I, p. 26.Ibid.,Bk. I, p. 17.

The Significance of Mencius

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