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Name: Xunzi： Rituals, Law, and Human desires
Uploaded: 2025-07-29T00:58:55+00:00
Duration: 7 min 45 s
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00:00The Warring States period was an era of moral decay and widespread conflict.

00:05The way of the king had fallen into disorder, and the way of the hegemons prevailed.

00:10The old clan-based system had collapsed, and a new order had yet to be established.

00:16While people longed for order, they also asked, why does society always descend into chaos?

00:22Why are people greedy, selfish, and constantly fighting?

00:25In this era of uncertainty and chaos, Shuanzi, the great achiever of the late Confucian school, stepped forward.

00:35He proposed a comprehensive realist political philosophy aimed at rebuilding the foundation of society.

00:41His core ideas revolved around three key terms, rituals, laws, and human desires.

00:47The tension, transformation, and integration among these three elements formed Shuanzi's unique approach to governance

00:54and profoundly influenced China's political and cultural traditions in subsequent generations.

01:00Unlike Confucius's moderate stance that, human nature is similar, but habits differ, Shuanzi declared with unwavering certainty,

01:08human nature is evil, what is good is artificial.

01:11In his view, human beings are born with basic physiological instincts and desires,

01:17seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, loving beauty and hating ugliness, desiring food and sex.

01:24Without guidance, these instincts will evolve into greed, competition, violence, and betrayal.

01:31Evil nature does not mean that humans are incapable of goodness, but rather that goodness is not innate,

01:36it needs to be taught, institutionalized, and shaped by ritual and law.

01:42Shuanzi's theory of innate evil is not pessimism but realism.

01:46He does not blindly believe in the inherent goodness of human nature nor deny the teachability of the human heart.

01:53The problem he seeks to address is not how to discover humanity's innate goodness,

01:58but how to transform an innately evil person into a governable one.

02:02Rituals, in Shuanzi's view, are the core institutions of human civilization and the most gentle yet profound response to,

02:10innate evil.

02:12He said, ritual is nurturing.

02:15It regulates human desires and enables people to live in groups with distinctions.

02:20The purpose of ritual is not to eliminate human desires but to find a reasonable place for them.

02:25By clarifying ranks, allocating status, and regulating behavior, people know what to seek,

02:32what not to compete for, what to respect, and what to be intimate with.

02:37Ritual defines the boundaries of behavior and shapes moral emotions, a sense of shame and reverence.

02:44Shuanzi stated, without ritual, people cannot survive, without ritual, affairs cannot be accomplished,

02:50without ritual, the state cannot be at peace.

02:53In his ideal vision, ritual is both an internal moral cultivation and an external behavioral code,

03:00serving as the, soft power, that sustains social order.

03:04Without ritual, human society would merely be a jungle of beasts cloaked in the trappings of civilization.

03:11Although Shuanzi belonged to the Confucian school,

03:14he did not indulge in idealistic fantasies about moral education.

03:18He deeply understood that while rituals are beautiful, without coercive enforcement mechanisms,

03:24relying solely on people's self-discipline is far from sufficient.

03:28Thus, he emphasized the necessity of, law.

03:32However, Shuanzi's, law, differs from that of the legalists.

03:36He opposed the ruthless rule of, law without mercy,

03:40and advocated that, law, must be guided by, ritual.

03:43He wrote, ritual is the overarching principle of law.

03:48Law is the instrument of ritual.

03:51That is, ritual is the goal, law is the means,

03:54ritual establishes hierarchy and division of labor, while law ensures its implementation.

04:00Shuanzi's political philosophy emphasizes,

04:03using ritual to govern law and using law to assist ritual.

04:06This is not a conflict between two forces but a complementary relationship,

04:12ritual provides the legitimate structure of society,

04:14while law provides the practical operational mechanisms.

04:19Governance cannot rely on emotions or illegal sanctions alone

04:22but must establish a comprehensive institutionalized order system

04:26that enables people to, know where to stop, and, know what not to violate.

04:31Though systems may be sound, they still require people to implement them.

04:35Shuanzi particularly emphasizes the role of that gentleman.

04:40He says, people can promote the way, the way does not promote people.

04:45No matter how sound the principles or how complete the systems,

04:48if they are not implemented by virtuous individuals, they remain mere empty talk.

04:53The gentleman is the backbone of Shuanzi's ideal society.

04:57He must not only understand ritual and law but also practice them consistently,

05:02leading by example and setting the standard for social customs.

05:06The governance of a sage king does not rely on authority but on setting an example and education.

05:12In Shuanzi's writings, governance is never a mechanical execution but a personalized leadership.

05:20Systems shape behavior, but behind behavior must be a personality to support it.

05:24This is also where he differs from Han Fei and Xiang Yang.

05:28Shuanzi always emphasizes that politics is not just a technique but also the practice of ethics.

05:35Shuanzi did not believe that human desires must be suppressed,

05:38but rather advocated nurturing and regulating them through education and institutions.

05:42Nurturing means fulfilling, through reasonable institutions,

05:47allowing everyone's basic desires to be realized through proper channels and methods,

05:52regulating means restricting, through the principle of hierarchy,

05:56informing people of their proper share and preventing them from overstepping boundaries.

06:01Shuanzi said, desires cannot be completely eliminated, and boundaries cannot be disrupted.

06:06The role of education is to enable people to recognize propriety and understand their proper place,

06:13so they do not overstep boundaries or engage in conflict.

06:17He combined education with law and ritual to propose a comprehensive social order mechanism.

06:23Education enables people to understand boundaries,

06:26ritual enables people to maintain order, and law prevents people from crossing the line.

06:32Though human nature is inherently evil,

06:34through this integrated, ritual law education, system,

06:37it can be transformed into stable and orderly collective behavior.

06:41Shuanzi was not an egalitarian.

06:44He believed, heaven does not share honor and disgrace with humanity,

06:48earth does not share benefits with humanity,

06:51and fate does not share positions with humanity.

06:54Social order stems from hierarchy, not equality.

06:58Ritual determines honor and disgrace,

07:01law determines rewards and punishments,

07:03and each occupies their proper place and fulfills their duties,

07:07this is the most sustainable and stable structure in Shuanzi's eyes.

07:11However, Shuanzi did not deny, fairness.

07:15Rather, the fairness, he understood was not about equal outcomes but about reasonable rules.

07:21As long as the rules are clear and the distribution is reasonable,

07:24even if there are distinctions, they can be accepted by people.

07:27In his envisioned political ideal,

07:31it is not about everyone being equally wealthy or free,

07:34but about everyone knowing what they should do and being content with their place.

07:38This, reasonable distinctions within order,

07:40became the deepest institutional in ancient Chinese political culture.

Xunzi： Rituals, Law, and Human desires

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