The essence of Yan Shi'an's "sexual evil" theory and its position in the human nature of the sons

Published in History of Chinese Philosophy, No. 1, 2018.

Abstract: The "Xunzi Sexual Evil" section is a work of the Xun School, not necessarily a work of Xunzi. The article puts forward the theory of "sexual evil", but in the discourse on political and religious issues, it is believed that people are easy to indoctrinate and willing to be good, which is consistent with the mainstream Confucian concept of human nature. "Sexual evil" is actually just a standing statement, not a thought. The sources of the "Sexual Evil" chapter include the Mojia "Shangtong" chapter to the initial human nature judgment of the Qin Fajia, the Confucian tradition of indoctrination optimism, and the Theory of Xunzi nature, the theory of separation, and the definition of human nature for lust, and the characteristics of the "sexual evil" theory can be seen in the flow of the thought of human nature of the sons. The "Sexual Evil" section is the only ancient theory of "sexual evil", but it is not a theory that recognizes the truth of human nature evil. The Mo, Fa, Tao, and Confucian schools each have insights into the inner problems and dangers of human nature.

Keywords: sexual evil; Xunzi; Mozi; Dharma; Zhuangzi; Dark Consciousness;

"Xunzi Sexual Evil" (hereinafter referred to as "Sexual Evil") belongs to the Xunzi school of works, but it is not necessarily Xunzi works. "Xunzi sexual evil theory" has always been named Xunzi, and if it is understood as a view put forward by the Xun school, it is not impossible. But the fact is that "sexual evil" has always been understood as Xunzi's basic human nature proposition, and it is the basis of Xunxue's political thought, which is very problematic. In recent years, there have been academic treatises questioning the theory of "sexual evil", and the main problems discussed are that there is no "sexual evil" in other articles of "Xunzi", and the concept of human nature is inconsistent with the idea of sexual evil, and the "sexual evil" chapter may be written by Xunzi Houxue. This article raises a new question, the "Sexual Evil" chapter itself, in fact, may not really have the idea of sexual evil. This article only makes a "sexual evil" theory, the true view of human nature, but people are easy to educate and willing to be good. But the theory of "sexual evil" has always been mistaken for a thought. Such misunderstandings have long obscured the truth of some important issues in the history of pre-Qin thought.

One

There is no "sexual evil" in each article of "Xunzi", and to understand the characteristics of "sexual evil", it is only necessary to discuss the "sexual evil" section. The first chapter of "Sexual Evil" puts forward the main rationale for "sexual evil", and the discussion in the following chapters is all carried out from this. Scholars who discuss the idea of Xunzi sexual evil are also based on the discussion in this chapter, and we will see what this chapter says:

Human nature is evil, and its good is also false. The nature of today's human beings is born with good interests, and shun is, so it is born to fight for birth and resign; it is born with disease and evil, and it is obedient, so that the thief is born and loyal; born with the desire of eyes and ears, there is a good voice, and shun is, so fornication is born and righteousness is born and righteousness is dead. However, from the nature of man, from the feelings of others, he will return to violence out of contention, and will be in accordance with the division of chaos. Therefore, there will be the transformation of the teacher's law, the way of etiquette and righteousness, and then out of resignation, in accordance with the literary reason, and return to the rule. From this point of view, however, human nature is evil, and its good is false.

The definition of sexual evil in this chapter means that people are born with the nature of "good profit", "evil", and "good voice", and following such a nature will inevitably lead to chaos and violence. Therefore, there must be a teacher of etiquette and righteousness, so that people can be good. The main meaning is that goodness does not come from nature, but from acquired enlightenment, and that human nature is evil. With this as the central argument, it runs through the whole text, refuting Mencius's theory of sexual goodness.

At the same time, this chapter also contains another meaning, although people are evil in nature, as long as they have the teaching of the teachings of the teachings of the Dharma, they will certainly be able to be good. This contains the premise that people are easy to teach. This presupposition is not explicitly stated, as can be seen from its narrative. "Therefore, there will be the transformation of the teacher's law, the way of etiquette and righteousness, and then out of resignation, in accordance with the literary reason, and return to the rule." That is to say, because of evil nature, it is necessary to have a teacher to be good, and at the same time, as long as there is a teacher, people must be able to be good. One of the keys here is that in indoctrination, the elements of sexual evil automatically disappear, and the teachings of the Liyi Teachers do not have to face the troubles and problems that come from sexual evil. Therefore, the author of "Sexual Evil" actually has optimistic expectations for the actual tendency of human nature. Some people may say that the author also said that the danger of sexual evil, "from the nature of man, to the love of man", will lead to chaos and violence. But what is being said here is an imaginary state of nature, not reality, and when it comes to the actual theocratic society, this danger automatically disappears. Therefore, although the author calls it "sexual evil," he does not really think that "sexual evil" is a problem that political indoctrination must face.

In the following chapters of "Sexual Evil", it is repeatedly said that human nature is evil, and good comes from enlightenment, and there is no mention of sexual evil as an obstacle to indoctrination and a problem that politics has to face. Not only that, but a later chapter also clearly states that man is willing to be good, and it is precisely because of sexual evil that he yearns for good: "The desire of mortals is good, and it is also evil for sex." The husband wishes for thickness, the evil wishes for beauty, the narrow wishes for the wide, the poor wish for the rich, the lowly wish for the noble, and the one who has nothing to do with it, must seek from the outside. Some people think that this passage makes sense, and it is an insight into the characteristics of human nature. Man always looks to what he does not have: the poor want to be rich, the ugly wants beauty, so evil wants good. In fact, this is basically a wrong analogy, ugly wishes for beauty, poor wish for rich, is the common sentiment of human beings, evil wishes for good but not. Has anyone ever seen a man of evil nature yearn for good in particular? Whether this erroneous analogy is deliberately confused or perfunctory, it is impossible to judge here, but one thing is certain: the author wants to reconcile the two originally conflicting things of "sexual evil" and "desire for good", on the one hand, to define sexual evil, on the other hand, to believe that people are easy to educate, because people have a desire for good in their hearts.

This is the key to the "Sexual Evil" chapter, why reconcile "sexual evil" and "desire for good"? Logically speaking, defining "sexual evil" means believing that people have an inherent tendency to be evil, which must become a problem that needs to be faced in political indoctrination. However, the author of "Sexual Evil" believes that the actual tendency of human nature is good, although people have "good interests", "envy", "eyes and ears desire", and will develop evil according to their development, but in fact, as long as there is "the transformation of the teacher's law and the way of etiquette and righteousness", it will be "out of resignation and conformity to the literary reason", and the heart is basically "desire for good". It can be determined that in the understanding of actual social life and political issues, the author of "Sexual Evil" actually holds a view of sexual goodness, that is, believes that human nature is easy to be good and wishes to be good. This is why the author reconciles "sexual evil" and "desire for good." For the author must declare "sexual evil", which is the "saying" he wants to establish, which is used to compete with Mencius's theory of sexual goodness. However, the author's actual opinion does not think that the evil of human nature is a serious problem, or a problem at all, and the actual tendency of human nature is to be easy to be good and willing to be good. This is the origin of the strange saying that "man's desire is good, and his sexual evil is also evil". Comparing such absurd inferences as "evil wishes for good" with the common sentiments of people who "wish for thin wishes, evil (ugly) wishes for beauty, narrow wishes for breadth, poor wishes for riches, and lowly wishes for wealth", the perfunctory thinking is obvious. But the important question is not to reveal the absurdity of this argument, but to understand why the author has such absurd inferences. That is, the author actually does not think that human nature is evil, or that human nature is evil in social life, but it is necessary to establish a "saying" with "sexual evil" and compete with Mencius.

The author of "Sexual Evil" actually believes that people are easy to educate and willing to be good, which is the key to understanding the "Sexual Evil" chapter. There are other statements in the later chapters of Sexual Evil that express the same view. For example, "Those who paint also have the qualities that can know the righteousness and righteousness of the Law, and all have the tools that can be benevolent and righteous." Everyone has the natural ability to know benevolence, righteousness, and righteousness, just as Mencius said, "The heart of right and wrong is what everyone has," and everyone has the seed of goodness in their hearts. Therefore, Dai Zhen's "Mencius Character Meaning Neglect Evidence" says that xunzi's statement "is not inconsistent with the theory of sexual goodness, but also invented." Another example: "Although the lady is beautiful in nature and knows in her heart, she will seek a wise teacher and do things, and choose a good friend and a friend." The opening paragraph starts with "sexual evil", and later says that people have "nature beauty", which at first glance looks like a mistake, but from the top and bottom, the credible original text is like this. In the same way as the previous chapter said that people "want to be good," on the one hand, we must establish the theory of "sexual evil", and on the other hand, we must believe that human nature is actually good.

The author of "Sexual Evil" is not necessarily Xunzi himself, so when this article mentions the author of "Sexual Evil", he only says "author", not "Xunzi".

Dai Zhenji, Tang Zhijun Dian School, Shanghai Ancient Books Publishing House, 2009, p. 299.

The important Commentaries on Xunzi in the Qing Dynasty and the modern commentaries on Xunzi are also not discussed as possible errors.

The "Sexual Evil" section actually believes that people are easy to be good, and some scholars have proposed some explanations. For example, it is said that the Xunzi sexual evil theory is actually "sexual evil and the heart is good", and it is also said that the Xunzi sexual evil theory does not mean that people are inherently evil, but that "shun is" will be evil, and so on. These claims are all true, but they are all a bit of a detour. These explanations have the assumption that the "theory of sexual evil" is a kind of thought and must have an internal logic, so although the discussion of "sexual evil" lacks consistency, modern Xunxue research must interpret it as consistent. The fact may be that the definition of "sexual evil" in the "Sexual Evil" section is only to compete with Mencius and establish a "saying". This "saying" does not represent the author's true view of human nature, so it is not actually a thought.

Su Shi of the Song Dynasty once wrote "On Xun Qing", criticizing Xun Zi as: "Those who like to be different and do not give in, and those who dare to disregard high theories are also." His words are astonished by the fools, and the delight of the villains. Such criticism is unfair to most of the chapters of Xunzi, but Su Shi is aimed at Fei Si and Meng Zhang in "Sexual Evil" and "Non-Twelve Sons", which is to the point. "Non-Twelve Sons" Non-Si, Mengzhang ancient scholars have suspected that it is not the original text, which is added by later generations, because it is not related to the theme of this article, and it is not expanded here. The chapter of "Sexual Evil" is really "happy for different theories and not to give in, and dare to ignore the high theory." "Not letting go" means stealing the limelight, and "ignoring" means not thinking about reasonableness. Some modern scholars have also noticed this feature of the "Sexual Evil" section, and Guo Moruo once said: "The master Xunzi, like Mencius, is quite domineering. He was anxious to set up a family, so he always made a difference, and in some places he was reluctant. His theory of sexual evil is deliberately opposed to Mencius's theory of sexual goodness. This person who was "eager to become a family" and was innovative, Guo thought it was Xunzi himself, which was not necessarily true. However, "sexual evil" is said to be deliberately innovative, "eager to become a family", for Xun Xue Zhang portal, which makes sense. Guo Moruo said this, did not discuss it, and there was no echo in the study of Xun Xue in the future. Now it seems that "the joy of being a hereticalist and not giving in, daring to disregard the high theory" and "rushing to become a family", although the discussion is simple, may hit the essence of the problem.

Two

The discussion of Sexual Evil has no real thoughts, and it can be seen from the narrative of this part. The "Sexual Evil" chapter has its source in the history of thought, and if we examine its source, then "Sexual Evil" is a feature of standing theory rather than a real thought, and it can be seen more clearly.

The "Sexual Evil" article first mentions "sexual evil", which has never been seen in the literature before, and is often understood as the first creation. In fact, before that, there were already literature saying that the original human nature was evil, but the word "sexual evil" was not explicitly said. Liu Jiahe once wrote an article entitled "On Sexual Evil theory in the Warring States Period", pointing out that before Xunzi, there had been "sexual evil theory or ideas similar to sexual evil". He mentions the Mozi and the Book of Shangjun, neither of which explicitly mentions "sexual evil", but their views on the initial human nature are similar to those of "Sexual Evil". Moreover, the original view of human nature in "Sexual Evil" is likely to originate from "Mozi" and "Book of Shangjun":

"Mozi Shang Ibid.": Zi Mozi said: "The ancient people were born, and when there was no criminal government, gaiqi people had different meanings. One is one righteous, two are righteous, ten are ten righteous, and the so-called righteous are many, and so are the so-called righteous. It is the righteousness of man, and the righteousness of man who is not human, so he is not the same. It is the father and son brothers who are in the inner ones who complain and hate, and the separation cannot be reconciled. The people of the world are all harmed by water, fire, poison, and poison, and even if they have spare strength, they cannot work together, the rotten remnants of wealth are not divided, the hidden good ways are not taught, and the chaos under the world is like a beast. ”

Book of Shangjun Kaisai: Heaven and earth are set, and the people's livelihood is. At this time, the people know their mother but not their father, and their ways are dear and selfish. If you love your relatives, you will be at risk, and if you love your own interests, the people will be in turmoil. At this time also, the civil service wins and strives. If you win, you will fight, and if you are not right, you will not be able to live.

"Mozi Shangtong" says that people are born to know only their own intentions, conflict with each other, and develop into hostility and hatred, and even "harm each other with water, fire, poison", "like animals". The Book of Shangjun Kaisai says that people initially only knew their mothers and rejected all calculations (don't take risks for others), but the specific statements are different, but the basic views are similar, and they all believe that the initial human nature is selfish and hates each other. Liu Jiahe therefore believes that there is a mutual influence between several theories, and he specifically points out that "Xunzi's sexual evil theory is obviously influenced by Mozi.". Both Shang Tong and Kai Sai predate Sexual Evil and have the same basic views, which is no problem. It is very likely that several documents have a mutual influence between the front and back, at least the basic human views are the same, and when compared together, the characteristics of each can be seen.

The Complete Works of Su Dongpo, Vol. II, edited by Deng Lixun, Hefei: Huangshan Book Club, 1997, p. 21.

Wang Xianqian's "Xunzi Collection" "Examination On the Examination" quotes Wang Yinglin's "Chronicle of Sleepy Learning" as saying: "Xun Qing Fei Twelve Sons" and "Han Shi Wai Biography" four quotes, Stop Yun Ten Sons, and

Childless Thought, Mencius. Foolishly, Xun Qing is not a son of Mencius, and his disciples such as Han Fei and Li Si entrust their teachers to say that to destroy the sages, they should take Han shi as the right thing. ”

Guo Moruo: The Ten Critiques of The Book of Xunzi, Beijing: Science Press, 1956, p. 194.

Institute of History, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, ed., Chinese Civilization and The Collection of Books Passed down through the Ages: Proceedings of the China International Symposium on Sinology, Beijing: China Social Sciences Press, 1996, p. 391.

The Mozi may have been compiled later, but the main ideas in it should have been circulated as scattered articles, otherwise Mencius would not have said that "the words of Yang and Mo are in the world". Mencius criticized ink science, mainly "both love". The "simultaneous love" theory has long been popular, and the "Shang Tong" theory with it should have also been popular for a long time.

Comparing "Shang Tong", "Kaiser" and "Sexual Evil" together, we can see two points: First, the first two articles do not explicitly state "sexual evil", nor do they take sexual evil as the center of discourse, and in the ideological history of sexual evil cognition, the reputation is far less than that of "Sexual Evil". In fact, only a few scholars have paid attention to the intellectual-historical significance of these two texts for the cognition of sexual evil. Second, the sexual evil view of the first two documents, human nature selfishness and hatred, although not the center of the discourse, is the real idea, throughout, the problem caused by sexual evil is the real problem that political thinking has to face.

The "Sexual Evil" section clearly puts forward the theory of "sexual evil", taking this as the center of the discourse, but in the discourse of indoctrination politics, sexual evil disappears into invisibility, and sexual evil is not a real problem that political thinking has to face. The latter is particularly important in comparison between the two points. Let's examine, respectively, how the perception of sexual evil runs through political discourse in Shang Tong and Kaisai respectively. "Shang Tong" believes that the initial human nature is that everyone is self-centered, leading to conflict and hostility, and does not specifically mention the characteristics of desire, greed, jealousy, etc. The description of sexual evil characteristics is not as thoughtful as the "Sexual Evil" article. But what is important is that the evil of human nature seen in "Shang Tong" is an opinion that has been implemented consistently and determines the basic premise of the political system. People are selfish and enmous, "harming each other with water, fire, poison," and cannot form groups, and only by centralized political management can they form a group order. This is true whether it is a small group (township) or a large group (country, world). Shang Tong also has an optimistic assumption that the organization of people at all levels can be the same as that of "sages", and that the politics of "sages" makes people mutually beneficial and cooperative. But the basic political idea of Shang Tong is not to indoctrinate, but to prohibit. Therefore, the fundamental reason why the sages can unify their will is not that the people are easy to be good, but that they are autocratic and strictly prohibited, and then the people "dare not":

"Shang Tong Zhong": All the people in the countryside are the same as the monarch, but they dare not compare.

"Shang TongZhong": There are those who are not good... The Son of Heaven punishes him. It is the people of the whole world who are afraid of vibrating and trembling, and do not dare to commit adultery.

"Shang TongZhong": The government adds, do not dare to be guests. At this time, there is no one who dares to disagree with the Sect of Heaven.

Repeatedly saying "dare not" and "do not dare" is by no means accidental, but there is a sense of human nature that runs through, that is, han Fei later concluded that politics does not expect indoctrination to make people better, but relies on severe punishment to make people dare not act wrongly. "Sexual Evil" also has a place that says "dare not", "today's people see the strengths and do not dare to eat first", from the context, the "dare not" mentioned here is not fear, but respect for the elders. From front to back, there is no mention of the basis of politics and religion being feared and "dare not", because the author actually has an optimistic understanding of human nature.

The perception of sexual evil runs through the mojia political science, and it is also found in the "Simultaneous Love" chapter. "Simultaneous Love" is idealized than "Shang Tong" and goes further on the basis of totalitarian politics, hoping to make the people "love and benefit each other at the same time" and turn the relationship of strife, hatred, and poison between people into a relationship of mutual love and mutual benefit. But how can selfish people "love" each other? In "Simultaneous Love" and the next part, it is repeatedly debated, imagining that the "gentleman of the world" will question this, thinking that the difficulty of "simultaneous love" is difficult, "Judah Taishan to surpass the rivers and rivers", and then argue how it is possible. The general meaning is: First, the power of the monarchy's political mobilization is enormous, as long as the monarch advocates both love, the people will certainly be able to do it. Second, love can be mutually beneficial, and people will be willing to implement it when they see that love is ultimately beneficial to them. Third, the ancient Saint Kings once practiced the politics of love, which proved to be possible. Whether these arguments are justified is another matter, and realizing that "love at the same time" is very difficult and how it is necessary to explain how it is possible, which in itself shows that MoXue's political discourse has always faced the real problem of sexual evil. In contrast, the "Sexual Evil" section takes "sexual evil" as the center of the discussion, but does not say anything about how sexually evil people can be good, which can be seen that it is not actually a true human nature view.

Looking at the "Book of Shangjun Kaisai", this topic is the change of the world, and it is not possible to adhere to the ancient law. The article says that people's character has changed in various eras, but the basic view is based on sexual evil as the basis of politics. The initial state of man is selfish and hateful ("love selfishness is dangerous, the people take other risks as a business"), and the formation of groups is prone to chaos, so it must be "superior" and "establish a king". "The way to establish a monarch is not to prevail over the law; the business of winning the law, do not rush to rape, do not go to the root of adultery, do not go deeper than severe punishment." The fundamental of politics is to "go to adultery" with severe punishment, and "to rape" is not to correct human nature and make selfish people better, but to make people afraid of severe punishment and dare not do things that are not allowed by group society. "Kaisai" is a document of the Qin Shang martingale school of lawyers, and its understanding of sexual evil, like "Shang Tong", is a true insight that runs through political thought.

Whether Kaysai was directly influenced by Shang Tong is not certain. However, the ideas of the Qin Fajia can be traced back to the Shang Tong, which has long been said by scholars in the past.

Liang Qichao's History of Pre-Qin Political Thought: "What did the Legalists suffer from the Mo family? The Mo family teaches Shang Tong. Tianjin Ancient Books Publishing House, 2003, p. 162.

He Bingdi has studied the history of pre-Qin thought in recent years, and has a new theory, believing that the influence of Shang Tong in history is not only in the thinking of the legalists, but also in the politics of the legalists in the Qin state. The autocratic and highly organized politics formed by the Qin State since the dedication of the Duke was influenced by the Mojia Doctrine and was built with the help of the people of the Mojia School. The Mo family's proposition of "going up and not down" became the practice of Qin Zheng. According to He Bingdi's explanation, "no less than" means that the people are not allowed to collude with Zhou and hide things from the government, and furthermore, let the people be the eyes and ears of the government, and supervise and report each other. "Tens of millions of miles away, there are those who are not good, their roommates are not known, the townspeople are not heard of, and the Son of Heaven is punished." It is that everyone in the world is afraid of vibrating and trembling, and does not dare to be obscene, and the son of heaven is also a god. He Bingdi said that this method has been "not without a modern dictatorship and secret service rule." It can be seen that the "shangtong" doctrine of ink studies has a grim political conception in order to make the people "dare not.") This idea actually influenced the practice of Qin government, which was the system of "making the people shiwu and the priests sit together" ("History of the Shang Jun lie biography") implemented by the Qin State later. In the documents unearthed in recent years, the Sleeping Tiger Di Qin Jian has a "Book of Words", which is a document of the Qin local government in the late Warring States period, which begins by claiming that folklore is evil and cannot be indulged, and should be strictly disciplined. This should be an expression of the political concept of the Qin government. It is generally believed that this concept has the background of legalist thought, but now it can be confirmed that it is the Mojia's "Shang Tong" theory that first put forward the idea of totalitarian despotism based on the view of sexual evil.

"Sexual Evil" may have been influenced by the Mo family and the Qin Fajia, which clearly put forward the theory of "sexual evil" and summarized the characteristics of sexual evil with "good profit", "disease and evil", and "good voice and color", which is more thoughtful than that of "Shang Tong" and "Kaisai", which is a contribution in the history of thought. But the problem is that the "sexual evil" section proposes "sexual evil", not as a real problem in politics, but only as a contend with Mencius's doctrine. The true view of human nature in the "Sexual Evil" section is that people are easy to teach and willing to be good, which is actually a concept from the Confucian tradition. Since the beginning of Confucius, Confucianism has had an optimistic confidence in the politics of indoctrination, believing that as long as it is "guided by virtue", the people can be "ashamed and qualified". This optimistic confidence contains human estimation, believing that human nature is good, and as long as the ruler stands upright and subdues people with virtue, the people must be good. So Confucius said to Ji Kangzi, "The son desires goodness, but the people are good." The virtue of a gentleman, the virtue of a villain. The wind on the grass will blow. (Analects of Yan Yuan) This estimation that human nature is easy to be good is not expressed as the theory of human nature, but can be called "sexual good consciousness.") Importantly, this sense of sexual goodness, which was contained in the belief of indoctrination optimism, later became the consensus of pre-Qin Confucians. The vast majority of Confucian literature agrees on this issue, believing that as long as there is a virtuous government, the people must be easy to indoctrinate and be good. The "desire for good" on political and social issues in "Sexual Evil" is a continuation of this common Confucian view.

In the pre-Qin Confucian literature, there are doubts about the optimism of enlightenment, not "Sexual Evil", but "Fang Ji" in the "Book of Rites". The chapter says that a gentleman shows the people with virtue and teaches the people with courtesy, and the people may still be evil, "the people still forget their relatives", "the people still strive for profit and forget righteousness", and "the people are thicker than virtue". Unlike most pre-Qin Confucian texts, this document shows particular skepticism about the people's ease of indoctrination. This is a special branch of the Warring States Confucian school of etiquette, and its position in the development of Confucianism from the pre-Qin to the Western Han Dynasty needs to be studied separately. Although the "Sexual Evil" section puts forward the theory of "sexual evil", the actual view is to continue the mainstream Confucian opinion, to be easy to educate people, willing to be good, with optimistic expectations, without the slightest doubt and reflection on the traditional Confucian optimism based on the concept of sexual goodness.

Because the "Sexual Evil" article established the "sexual evil" theory to refute Mencius's "sexual goodness", there was a famous Confucian dispute between "sexual goodness" and "sexual evil", and it is considered to be the only dispute between "sexual goodness" and "sexual evil" in the history of ancient Chinese thought. In fact, the "Sexual Evil" section is only for the sake of argument, and there is no true view of sexual evil, so the controversy between "sexual good" and "sexual evil" introduced by the article has no important ideological connotation. In the history of pre-Qin political thought, there is another important distinction between sexual good and evil thoughts. One is the Confucian mastery of goodness, believing that indoctrination is easy to do; the other is that the Mo family is evil in nature and believes in despotic punishment. But the Mo family is not complete, and there is an ideal of "simultaneous love". In the late Warring States period, Han Fei criticized Confucian political theory, along with the Mo family and the love theory, and pointed out that the mistakes in the ideas of loving the people and ruling by virtue were rooted in the wrong assumption of human nature. The "Han Feizi Wuyin" section says: "Confucianism and Mo both claim that the first king and love the world" advocate that politics is based on loving the people, if this is true, there will be no unruly father and son in the world, because the love of parents is the most sincere love, still can not impress the "son of incompetence", must be severely punished by the official government, in order to make them change their evil deeds. The chapter also criticizes the Confucian concept of morality, saying that saints like Confucius and people in the sea are "pleasing to their benevolence and beautiful righteousness", but there are only seventy followers; and inferior monarchs like lu aigong, "the people in the territory dare not be subjected", because "the people of the people are stubbornly subordinate, and the widow can be righteous." This is a clash of human views, sexual good and evil. Regardless of whether Han Fei's statement is reasonable or not, there is no doubt that he criticized the political ideas of Confucianism and Mo, but traced back to different presets of human nature. The conflict between the political ideologies and concepts of the pre-Qin Dynasties, and the distinction between sexual goodness and sexual evil consciousness behind it, are not only clues that can be sorted out by our current research, but also by thinkers in the late Warring States period.

He Bingdi: "Solving the Mystery of the "Causes and Conditions of Major Events" in the History of the Country: Starting from reconstructing the Historical Facts of Qin Mo", He Bingdi's Theory of the History of Ideology and System, Taipei, Lianjing Publishing Co., Ltd., 2013, p. 331.

Sleeping Tiger Di Qin Jian "Book of Languages": "The ancients, the people have their own local customs, their interests and likes and dislikes are different, or it is not convenient for the people, and it harms the state. It is to take the Holy King as the Dharma, to correct the people's hearts, to remove their evils, and to get rid of their evil customs. Hubei Provincial Museum, Chen Wei, Editor-in-Chief: The Collected Works of Qin Jianmu (I), Wuhan: Wuhan University Press, 2014, p. 30.

In this division of sexual good and sexual evil consciousness, the sexual evil chapter is in a somewhat strange position. On the one hand, the theory of "sexual evil" elevates the view of human nature since "Shang Tong" and "Kaiser" to a clear doctrine, which should be a representative theory of sexual evil. On the other hand, in political thought, it inherits the Confucian tradition of indoctrination and optimism, and recognizes the human understanding that people are easy to be good. How to understand this strange position of both the "evil" of the master and the belief that man "wants to be good"? The view in this article is not out of serious thinking that takes into account both sides of human nature, but from the establishment of a "rush to become a family" without thought.

Three

The above discusses the characteristics of the "Sexual Evil" chapter, its position in the flow of ink, legal evil and Confucian sexual goodness, and now discusses the relationship between this part and Xunzi Thought. The mainstream view in the academic circles takes "sexual evil" as the basis of Xunzi's main view of human nature and political thought, but in fact, "sexual evil" is a branch of Xunzi's later branch, which is derived from Xunzi's original view of human nature. The sources of thought in the "Sexual Evil" section include the mo and fa views of sexual evil, the confucian concept of sexual goodness that is easy to teach, and the concepts from the Xunxue system, such as the separation of sexual hypocrisy and the definition of human nature by lust.

There is a simple basis for judging that "Sexual Evil" is a late branch of Xunxue, that is, the other articles in "Xunzi" talk about human nature, but do not mention "sexual evil." It can be concluded from this that Xun Zi did not have the idea of "sexual evil" when he wrote these articles; otherwise, he would have put forward such a clear-meaning thesis as "sexual evil", and later did not mention it, especially when talking about the issue of human nature, which is completely unreasonable. But there is a question here, the xunzi articles do not mention "sexual evil", but do they already have similar concepts, but they have not yet been clarified? If so, Sexual Evil can be understood as a later generalization of early thought. Therefore, although the theory of "sexual evil" came out late, there are two possibilities for its relationship with Xunzi thought, first, the further development and summary of Xunzi thought, and second, a new theory that has been divergent from Xunzi thought. If it is the former, although "sexual evil" comes out late, it can still be understood as the basic concept of Xunxue. Academic circles still adhere to the central position of "sexual evil" in Xunxue, which is basically the belief that the concept of human nature and political theory in various articles can be understood by the idea of "sexual evil". What is the relationship between the theory of "sexual evil" and the concept of human nature and political thought in other important chapters of Xunzi is a key issue in the study of Xun zi now.

The various articles of the Xunzi treatise on human nature, a basic point of view, are sexuality, hypocrisy (that is, "for", the following words appear, are all "for"). The discussion of "Sexual Evil" also starts from the separation of sex and for each other, so posterity often believes that sex and separation are to say that sex is evil. This is not the case. The basic meaning of the "Xunzi" is to separate natural things from personnel efforts, and this view is consistent with the view that Xunzi tian and people are separated, and the focus is on despising nature and attaching importance to man-made; despising the ready-made and attaching importance to effort. In the relationship between heaven and man, it is believed that the truth of heaven and earth is not important, and the rule of chaos in the world does not depend on the heavenly path, but on personnel affairs. Although the Heavenly Dao is deep, there is no need to deeply understand it, which is called "not seeking to know the heavens." In terms of sex and relationship, it is believed that talent and disposition are not important, and the formation of human character depends on the acquired "for" (learning, indoctrination). This is not a line of thought at all with "sexual evil". Not only that, but sex and division have another meaning. The key to the formation of human character lies in the efforts of the day after tomorrow, but the efforts of the day after tomorrow are not to deny nature, but to cooperate with each other based on nature. The Treatise on Etiquette is very clear: "The sexual one, the original material is simple; the hypocrite, the literary longsheng also." Asexuality is false and nothing, and no hypocrisy is that sex cannot be self-beautiful... Sexual hypocrisy is ruled by the world. This view is consistent with heaven and man, the heavenly way is not important, personnel is important, but the human effort is not to oppose the heavenly way, but "the heavens have their time, the earth has its wealth, the people have their rule, and the husband is said to be able to participate." "Xunzi's View of Heaven and Heaven is that heaven and man are separated and then cooperate with each other; the concept of human nature is also sexuality, which is divided, and then cooperates with each other. Such a concept cannot be further developed into "sexual evil". According to the "Sexual Evil" section, human nature is not only natural, but also evil, and personnel efforts must correct human nature, just like craftsmen correct "wolfwood", the two are confrontational, and it is not the meaning of cooperation at all. Of course, as mentioned earlier, when "Sexual Evil" discusses political and religious issues, the idea of correcting "goji wood" disappears invisibly and becomes a person willing to be good. This is because "sexual evil" is not a coherent idea at all, but it is intended to be established, but as far as the meaning of the argument is concerned, it cannot be derived from the separation of sex and for the sake of the difference, and it is obvious that it is borrowed from the concept of sex and division, and a statement is created to compete with Mencius's theory of sexual goodness.

Xun Xue thought of human nature in another way, defining human nature with lust. This is also a source of the "sexual evil" theory. Man has lust, and allowing it to develop is evil, and "sexual evil" seems to be a generalization of human nature in each article on lust. But the truth is that the Xunzi passages never say that lust is evil, not only does it not mention the word "evil", but also does not have a similar meaning. When each article mentions lust, it is basically an affirmative tone, saying that lust is the legitimate basis of human society, and the goal of etiquette is to coordinate lust. The above mention of Xunzi nature and the idea of dividing is not to correct "sex" with "for", but to cooperate with each other, which is related to the concept of affirming lust. In particular, XunZi affirmed that lust is the legitimate basis of politics, so he repeatedly criticized the idea of guarding against lust and "forbearing" lust. This criticism has important significance in the history of Confucianism. Guarding against lust and using "forbearance" to control desire is essentially to believe that lust is the source of evil; while Xunxue's criticism of abstinence, "forbearance" desire, is to disagree with lust as the source of evil, believing that lust is the legitimate basis of etiquette. From this point, it can be confirmed that Xunzi defines human nature by lust, and there is no meaning of lust as evil at all, not only does it not, but it is just the opposite. The late "Sexual Evil" chapter follows the saying that lust defines human nature, but describes lust as the source of evil, which is certainly not a further development of Xunzi thought.

Xun Xue's view of human nature is a synthesis of many articles of human nature outside of "Sexual Evil", which is mainly found in "Persuasion", "Honor and Disgrace", "Self-Cultivation", "Confucianism", "Correct Name", "Wang Ba", "Etiquette Theory", "Heavenly Theory" and other articles, this concept of human nature has a unique ideological system, which is intrinsically consistent with The Xunzi ideological system, as mentioned in the above simple analysis, sex and for the separation are intrinsically consistent with heaven and man, and the definition of human nature with lust is consistent with the political ideology of "sexual hypocrisy and rule of the world". What is the ideological system of Xun Xue's concept of human nature, how to understand the internal structure, and what is its position in the history of Confucian human nature thought and the history of political thought, these issues have long been unknown to the academic circles because of the obscuration of the "sexual evil" theory. Removing the obscuration of the "sexual evil" theory and understanding the original view of human nature in Xunxue is a problem to be studied from the beginning in the future study of Xunxue.

The position of the "sexual evil" theory in Xunxue is a branch of the divergence of the concepts of sex and pseudo-theory. For example, the Xunzi doctrine is like a tree, the separation of heaven and man, the separation of sexual hypocrisy is said to be the backbone, and sexual evil is said to be a branch out of the branches. This branch is very eye-catching because of "daring to be high", and it borrows the concept of sex and pseudo-division, and it is mistaken for the trunk. In fact, the theory of sexual evil is not only a branch that comes out of the tree, but also does not grow naturally, it is artificially hard-wired, and it is created for the sake of establishing the theory. It is not certain who the author of "Sexual Evil" is now uncertain, but regarding "Sexual Evil" may have been written in the Han Dynasty, contemporary scholar Zhou Chicheng has published a series of papers in recent years, and some research progress deserves attention.

Four

For a long time, the academic circles have taken "Xunzi said that sexual evil" as the representative theory of the pre-Qin zhuzi thought of sexual evil, which is also a problematic view.

The "Sexual Evil" section puts forward the only "sexual evil" in the history of ancient thought, but it is not the only document that has an introspective examination of human nature evil, and in fact there is no serious examination of human evil, but only in the form of "born with good interests... Evil... Empirical facts such as "desire for eyes and ears" are called "sexual evil". In the discussion of political and social issues, in addition to being a reason for human beings to need politics and religion, the actual connotation has disappeared without a trace, and people have become willing to be good because of "sexual evil". Therefore, the real meaning of human nature evil is examined, and the "Sexual Evil" chapter cannot be talked about. In contrast, although "sexual evil" is not explicitly stated in the literature of the Sons, there are often observations about the evil of human nature, or the inherent problems and dangers of human nature. These observations are manifested in the discussion of political and social issues, and are not expressed as the theory of human nature, and have received less attention in the academic circles in the past. However, when we explore the ancient idea of sexual evil now, we should pay attention not only to the theory of human nature, but also to various ideological materials. The Christian thinker Niebull discussed the ancient Greek thought's understanding of the evil of human nature, combed through the teachings of Socrates, Plato and other great philosophers, and finally believed that the deepest insight into the evil of human nature was in greek tragedy. It can be seen that although the theoretical form is important, the problem insight is even more important. What noteworthy insights the pre-Qin zhuzi had on the evils of human nature or the inherent problems of human nature are a big topic, because there was little research in the past, and now there is no basis for general explanation. The following is a preliminary view of what I have seen, and I feel that there are several ideological clues that are worth noting first.

The first is the sexual evil ideology from the Mo family's "Shang Tong" to the position of the Fa family and the Qin official government. This is an observation of human nature in the history of political thought, which holds that the essence of human nature is selfishness, mutual hostility, and inability to cooperate, and human organization and political management must be based on this understanding, and the selfishness and destructive power of man are constrained by power and strict law. There can be no optimistic assessment of human nature, and the principle of politics is not to reverse and change sexual evil, but to make people "dare not", "fear", obey the rules and regulations. This view of human nature from the Mo family to the Fa family has obviously constituted a kind of ideological history, and Han Fei is a collection of masterpieces. There are also some Confucian lily school documents that have similar concepts, such as the above-mentioned Fang Ji, and whether there is a mutual influence between them and the ideas of the Dharma is still uncertain. The production of "Sexual Evil" should be related to this ideological clue, but it is intended to be based on the perception of sexual evil as the basis of political science, so the ideological essence is different from this tradition and belongs to the vein of indoctrination optimism. This article discusses this thread of thought, but only raises the basic questions. There are some studies in the academic circles on this, especially the Han-African view of sexual evil, which has been covered in many treatises. But in general, the development, contextuality, and influence of this ideological thread is still not well known. There is also not enough research on its connotations, such as the understanding of sexual evil between the Mo family and the legalists, how much is out of the need to defend totalitarian politics, how much is out of the observation of human nature, and how the two are related to each other is a problem that the understanding is still unclear.

For the latest developments, see Zhou Chicheng: "'Sexual Evil' Comes from the Xunzi Post-Study Examination", Journal of Sun Yat-sen University, No. 6, 2015.

R. Niebull: The Nature and Destiny of Man, translated by Cheng Qian, Guiyang: Guizhou People's Publishing House, 2006, 11 pp.

There is also the Taoist insight into the malignant forces in personal selfishness. This consciousness began with Lao Tzu and was further extended in the Taoist thought of the Warring States, with Zhuangzi expressing it most profoundly. Academic circles have discussed the Taoist Lao Zhuang view of human nature, and so far they have not come out of the scope of "natural human nature". "Natural human nature" is said to come from the outer part of Zhuangzi, but from the inner part. The "Theory of Qi Things" says that the ancient people "thought that there was nothing without a beginning", and the "Ying Emperor" said that the emperor of the central government was "chaotic", all of which implied the simplicity of the original human being. But the inner part has a layer of meaning, pure human nature only existed in ancient times, and then gradually decayed. People in reality have long been dominated by selfish ingenuity, there is no simplicity to speak of, and a running idea of "The Theory of Qi Things" is to reveal the sinister and meaningless ingenuity of selfishness. The natural simplicity of "thinking that there is nothing without a beginning" is used to contrast the depravity and anti-nature of real human nature, for example, if the evolutionary history of man is like a long river, then the "natural humanity" in Zhuangzi's thought is the imagination of the source of the Yangtze River, which is largely to explain the turbidity of the Yangtze River later, and has long lost the original Qingming, rather than to explain the flow of the Yangtze River, which always has a Clear background. Zhuangzi has a profound insight into the darkness of human nature, which is far from being summarized by the "natural human nature" theory. The author has made a special discussion, but it is only a preliminary discussion. Zhuangzi's insight into the strange dangers of real human nature has rich and profound connotations. This insight into human nature stems in part from Lao Tzu, and it should be noted that Lao Tzu's vigilance against the problems and dangers contained in the meaning of "selfishness" has influenced Zhuangzi on the one hand, and on the other hand, it has affected the thinkers of the Warring States Political Taoist School, such as Han Fei, who have become the source of the "Junren Southern Technique". The flow of thought in this area also constitutes an ideological historical context of sexual evil cognition.

The Confucian view of human nature is dominated by optimism about sexual goodness, but it also has a unique understanding of the inherent problems of human nature. The famous Chinese-American scholar Zhang Hao proposed that Confucianism has a "dark consciousness", which is related to this. Dark consciousness is a concern about man's own problems, believing that the seeds of political chaos and social decay do not stem from external forces, but from the darkness within man himself. Dark consciousness began with Confucius and extended to later Confucian thought, and became especially profoundly recognized in Song Ming Theory. Zhang Hao raised the question of "dark consciousness" from the ideological roots of modern democratic politics, believing that the "dark consciousness" in the Christian tradition is a spiritual root of modern democratic politics. Perhaps because of this, the academic community responded to Zhang Hao's point of view, mainly to discuss whether Confucianism can open up democratic politics, and basically did not respond to the dark consciousness of Confucian thought itself, especially the dark consciousness of Confucius and pre-Qin Confucianism. But Confucianism's dark consciousness is certainly an important issue. The author's personal understanding is that Confucian concerns about the dim power of human nature are not aimed at the people, but at the gentlemen. Confucius did not worry that the people were not good, but believed that human society must have gentlemen to lead the masses. Gentlemen are not born, and they must have a long moral effort, but all kinds of dark forces in human nature make it difficult for gentlemen with pure character to cultivate. The growth of virtue, every step must be wrestled with the inner darkness, desire, slackness, selfishness, always threatening the gentleman's efforts to cultivate morality, so that the governance of human society is in danger of failure from the root. This kind of fear and uneasiness began with Confucius and ran through the later development of Confucianism, such as the "caution" and "fear" theory from the "Zhongyong", which is an important concept in this ideological vein, which was repeatedly discussed by the later Song Ming Li scholars. The Confucian "dark consciousness" is different from the general evil perception and is the understanding of the inherent resistance of virtue, but this concern about the negative forces of human nature has become a tradition of thought, that is, to go deep into the examination of the problems of human nature. It should be noted that in this system of consciousness, the Sexual Evil chapter has no place. Zhang Hao's paper only mentions "Xunzi sexual evil theory" and does not cite it. The reason should be that although the article is based on "sexual evil", it does not care about the darkness and danger in human nature, so it cannot be quoted.

The above kinds of thought certainly cannot include the full understanding of ancient thought on the issue of sexual evil. But at least we can see that ancient thought has various insights and examinations into the inherent problems and dangers of human nature, although it is not expressed as the theory of human nature, but it is all a recognition of the evil of human nature. Among them, Zhuangzi is the most profound, and his fear of the sinister heart actually affects the "dark consciousness" of Song Ming's science. These are still only personal opinions and have yet to be studied and discussed by the academic community. However, one thing is certain, the "Sexual Evil" section uses "sexual evil" as the argument, but the understanding of human nature evil is very shallow, in fact, it is not a true opinion at all, and it is not enough to be used as a representative theory of ancient sexual evil thought.

Yan Shi'an: "Discussion on Zhuangzi's Evil Thought", History of Chinese Philosophy, No. 4, 2009.

Zhang Hao: Dark Consciousness and Democratic Tradition, Taipei: Lianjing Publishing Co., Ltd., 1989.