Mencius

The Heart of Confucian Humanism

Mencius (孟轲, Meng Ke) was born in the state of Zou (near modern Shandong), close to the birthplace of Confucius. His father died when he was young and he was raised by a devoted mother — the subject of the famous story of how she moved house three times to ensure her son lived in a morally improving environment, and of her cutting the weaving on her loom to illustrate that abandoning one's studies is equally wasteful. He studied under a student of Confucius's grandson Zisi.

Mencius is best known for his doctrine of the innate goodness of human nature (人之性善, rén zhī xìng shàn). He argued that all human beings are born with four moral seeds: ren (仁, benevolence), yi (义, righteousness), li (礼, ritual propriety), and zhi (智, moral wisdom). These seeds, if cultivated by a proper environment and moral effort, grow into full virtue. If suppressed by harmful circumstances, they wither — but they never entirely disappear. This is the optimistic core of Confucian humanism: no one is beyond redemption.

In political philosophy, Mencius developed the radical idea that the people are more important than the ruler, and that a ruler who fails in his duties to the people forfeits the Mandate of Heaven (天命, tiānmìng) and may be legitimately removed. His concept of benevolent governance (仁政, rénzhèng) — in which the welfare of the common people is the ultimate measure of political legitimacy — was extraordinarily influential. He was posthumously elevated to the title "Second Sage" (亚圣) and his writings were included in the Four Books that formed the core of the Confucian educational curriculum for 700 years.