Mencius (book)

Mencius' core ideas on education and human nature were largely shaped during the Warring States period (c. 770–221 B.C.).[4]  The period marks the transition of China's system of slavery to that of feudalism, one that expanded the accessibility of culture and education to various sectors of society.[4]  It was during this time, that Mencius was able to access, and further developed the philosophical doctrines of Confucius. The creation of the Mencius, serves as a further elaboration on the Confucian school of thought called 'subjective idealism'.[5][4] Through this work, Mencius developed the theory of natural goodness (xingshan), that confers that all people have an intrinsic cardinal virtues, and that these virtues are developed in the same way that knowledge is cultivated.[6][5][4]

The Mencius came to be regarded as one of the most important texts that explores the philosophy of Confucianism.[2] Mainly, due to its philosophical dialogue with the Analects of Confucius.[1][2] Despite this noted importance, the Mencius was not canonized as one of the Chinese Classics until over 1,000 years later during the Song-dynasty.[3][2]

There are seven chapters within the Mencius, each divided into two halves.[6] The book's narrative depicts its characters' extensive dialogues on specific philosophical arguments, alongside Mencius's own reflections upon them in the form of short sentences. Most of the chapters that explores Mencius' moral philosophy, are structured in the form of a conversation between Mencius and other philosophical thinkers. While chapters that offer Mencius' political advice and counsel are depicted as conversations with various rulers and himself.[6]

The book explores Mencius' most famous idea, in that there exists an intrinsic human nature that is good.[6] His argument that each person possessed an inborn potential of virtue, contrasts with the position of contemporary figure Yang Zhu, who argued that that human nature is motivated by self-interest.[2] Alongside this, the Mencius largely expands on Confucian ideas of political ruling, and benevolent politics.[4][6][5]

Asides from its influences on Neo-Confucianism. The Mencius has also had an effect on the field of literary discourse in China.[10][11] Mainly, in the advancement of Chinese literary criticism into a direction that resembles the methods of Western intentionalist hermeneutics.[11][10] These intentionalist concepts of interpretation (termed Mencian literary criticism), are seen as having dominated the methodology of literary criticism and interpretation in China ever since.[11]

The Western intentionalist position traditionally judges the meaning of a literary work by the intentions of the author at the moment of its conception.[11] Jane Gearney notes, that there exists various passages within The Mencius that proposes a theory of literary interpretation that resembles this tradition.[11] An example being:

". . . one who explains poetry should not let the form obstruct the phrases or let the phrases obstruct the drift. One should meet the drift with one's own thoughts—that's how to obtain it." (Mencius 5A:4)[8][11]

In her evaluation of this passage, Gearney notes that the "drift" being referred to here can be understood as the author's intention.[11] In this passage, Mencius poses that when it comes to evaluating a text, its form or structure should not come before the individual phrases. While the individual phrases should not obstruct the authorial intention (the drift) of the work, where the intention is met with the reader's own thoughts to form meaning.[11] Mencius also encourages a friendship-based approach to literary criticism:

"The good scholars of a village befriend other good scholars of the village. The good scholars of the world befriend other good scholars of the world. If befriending the good scholars in the world isn't enough, they also proceed to consider the ancients. But how can they recite their poetry and read their books without knowing what kind of people they are? Therefore, they consider their age. This is "proceeding to befriend" [the ancients]." (Mencius 5B:8)[8][11]

The idea of knowing authors as people, is seen by Gearney as Mencius' suggestion for the reader to attempt to learn, as best they can, the author's intention when they were creating the text.[11]  Mencius emphasises knowing the author as a person, to suggest the importance of the setting and temporal context of a literary work in one's evaluation of it.[11]  

Though Mencian literary criticism is seen as having fostered intentionalist hermeneutics in China.[11][12] Gearney notes that the form of intentionalism within the book differs from the style of traditional Western intentionalist modes of criticism.[11] This difference is mainly to do with Mencius' emphasis on learning the author's contextual settings during the conception of the work, instead of the author's own feelings during its conception.[11] Hence, the standard by which a work should be analysed does not involve the sentiments of the author at the exact moment of conception (as characterised by E.D Hirsh).[11] But rather, Mencius' standards posits that one should become acquainted with the author's personal, cultural, and political context, before evaluating the literary work.[11]

• Legge, James (1895). The Works of Mencius. The Chinese Classics. Vol. 2. Oxford: Clarendon Press.
• Lyall, Leonard A. (1932). Mencius. London: Longmans, Green and Co.
• Ware, James R. (1960). The Sayings of Mencius. New York: Mentor Books.
• Dobson, W. A. C. H. (1963). Mencius, A New Translation Arranged and Annotated for the General Reader. London: Oxford University Press.
• Lau, D. C. (1970). Mencius. London: Penguin Books.
• Van Norden, Bryan (2008). Mencius: With Selections from Traditional Commentaries. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Company.
• Bloom, Irene (2009). Mencius. New York: Columbia University Press.

• Works related to Mencius at Wikisource
• The Works of Mencius: Legge's English translation
• Mengzi Chinese text with Legge's English translation
• Mencius (Selections), translated by A. Charles Muller
• Mencius 《孟子》 Chinese and English text with matching English vocabulary at Chinese Notes