He is said to have studied with Confucius’ grandson, Zisi (Tzu-ssu), although most modern scholars doubt this. 145-90 BCE), which states that he was a native of Zou (Tsou), a small state near Confucius’ home state of Lu in the Shandong peninsula of northeastern China. Records of the Grand Historian) of Sima Qian (c. The other major source of information about Mencius’ life is the biography found in the The text records several encounters with various rulers during Mencius’ old age, which can be dated between 323 and 314 BCE, making Mencius an active figure no later than the late fourth century BCE.

Mencius was assembled by Mencius himself and his immediate disciples, perhaps shortly after his death. The philological controversy surrounding the date and composition of the text that bears his name is far less intense than that which surrounds the ConfucianĪnalects, however. Like the historical Confucius, the historical Mencius is available only through a text that, in its complete form at least, postdates his traditional lifetime (372-289 BCE).

Mencius remains a perennially attractive figure for those intrigued by moral psychology, of which he was the foremost practitioner in early China. Romanization systems for Chinese terms.) Today contemporary philosophical interest in evolutionary psychology and sociobiology has inspired fresh appraisals of Mencius, while recent philological studies question the coherence and authenticity of the text that bears his name. While it is not clear that Mencius’ views prevailed in early Chinese philosophical circles, they eventually won out after gaining the support of influential medieval commentators and thinkers such as Zhu Xi (Chu Hsi, 1130-1200 CE) and He is most famous for his theory of human nature, according to which all human beings share an innate goodness that either can be cultivated through education and self-discipline or squandered through neglect and negative influences, but never lost altogether. Paul to Confucius’ Jesus, interpreting the thought of the master for subsequent ages while simultaneously impressing Confucius’ ideas with his own philosophical stamp. Mengzi), Mencius was a fourth-century BCE Chinese thinker whose importance in the Confucian tradition is second only to that ofĬonfucius himself.

Mencius (Mengzi) | Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophyīetter known in China as “Master Meng” (Chinese:

Beasts of extraordinary circumstance