Xunzi

~310–235 BCE · Chinese (Zhao state) · Warring States Period, Ancient China

Known for: The Confucian who said human nature is evil — the pessimist who made Confucianism realistic

Xunzi was the third great Confucian philosopher and Mencius's direct philosophical opposite. Where Mencius believed human nature is inherently good, Xunzi argued it is inherently selfish and chaotic — goodness only comes through education, ritual, and discipline. This made him unpopular with later Confucians but arguably more realistic.

Ironically, his two most famous students — Han Feizi and Li Si — became the architects of Legalism, the authoritarian philosophy that the Qin dynasty used to unify China through brutality. Xunzi's emphasis on discipline and institutions, divorced from his Confucian ethics, became the foundation of one of history's most ruthless political systems.

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