"Why"and"How"——A Reflection on Xunzi's Philosophy of Order
One of the common issues that Xunzi and other Pre-Qin philosophers tried to find an answer to is the approach to rebuilding the ideal order in that chaotic world.To Xunzi,this issue was his reflection on"why"and"how":"why"looked at the"root cause"of chaos,while"how"was the approach to dealing with the chaos.Xunzi's understanding of the two issues constituted fundamental clues to his political philosophy.Xunzi held that chaos was caused by contradiction between"plenty of desires"against"insufficient material supplies",and that only by establishing a political state centered on the sage king and propriety and righteousness can conflicts and chaos be eliminated.Theoretically,the realization and stability of the political order concerning the issue of"how"have always been the subject of"legitimacy"evaluation.In other words,to both rulers and the ruled,there should be a moral foundation for the establishment of any political order.Xunzi's philosophy to address the"how"issue,therefore,should not have merely been a set of state systems and legal norms,but should also have provided moral justification for these,and it is this justification that Xunzi failed to offer.
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