How is Benevolence Possible?--On Mencius and Zhu Zi's View of Benevolence
Benevolence is always a concern of Confucian philosophy.Confucianism regards benevolence as the only correct way for people to live.Around the problem of how to realize benevolence,Mencius and Zhu Zi gave their own solutions.Mencius"interprets benevolence with nature"to defend Confucius'be-nevolence in the sense of originalism.The key to benevolence is to culti-vate their own good nature,enrich and expand,human nature is mature,the result of nature is"spontaneous and benevolence".Zhu Xi solved the problem of benevolence with the theory of body use,and found the proof in the sense of existence with the theory of essence for benevolence.The principle of heaven in human being is the nature,the nature is the pure nature without gas,the nature is the ultimate basis of benevolence,and the behavior led by the nature is the benevolence,that is,the enlightenment of nature and benevolence.Although both Mencius and Zhu Xi advocated benevo-lence,human existence should be benevolence.However,there are still obvi-ous differences in their views on benevolence.
benevolencenatureMenciusZhu Xiorigin theorybody and ap-plication theory