Ideology of Human Nature

 Gabriella Oliveri, Verrazzano Class of 2023, completing major in SLS (1-6) 

What is human nature? What are the understandings of individuals and their actions? Why are some people considered good and others bad? Do good and bad individuals exist and are they automatically labeled as such? Why are we judged based upon our entrance into the world? Is being different a good thing, or is this a means to a bad end? With all these questions I don’t think there will ever be a definitive answer, but a choice for one to decide what they believe human nature to be.

My questions upon human nature surfaced after learning about the theories of Mencius’, Xunzi, and Goazi. Each ideologist preached a different form of what human nature consisted of, and it gave me the opportunity to create my own opinion on this topic. Mencius’ and Xunzi had opposing views toward each other’s ideals.

Mencius’ idealized that all individuals were inherently good at birth, being born with the “4 Sprouts of Morality.” These sprouts contained the heart of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom. Within these four sprouts, Mencius’ believed that all humans’ hearts were created to be compassionate towards others out of their own goodness, without needing a cause behind it. A person’s natural intuition is to want to help an individual because that is how a human’s heart is formed and shaped to be; a kind person who is good from the inside and out.

On the other hand, Xunzi did not feel the same way. He believed that a human’s nature was bad from birth because their instinctual acts would always be out of a desire to benefit and profit for themselves. To become a good individual in the eyes of Xunzi, one needed to put forth the effort in the ritual and standards of righteousness that is produced by their effort towards the ideal to become good. He theorized that an individual’s nature had to consist of their capability to learn through and achieve their goodness because they did not have it within.

Gaozis ideology argued that human nature was based upon circumstance which contributes to life experiences. He theorized that human nature was like a constant flow of swirling water and if it was to be disturbed then it would cause a disrupt to the natural flow. So, isn’t every person’s human nature differentiated because every person’s “flow of life” is to be different? Universally all humans share human nature, but their experiences are what make their differences.

Learning about all of these ideologies of human nature is a lot to understand, and forming your own opinion is a lot to process. However, that is the beauty of it.

Our cultural and moral experiences help to depict and guide the formation of our being. Xunzi believed that people needed the use of ritual and effort to become good since they were born bad at birth. Mencius’ viewed all humans as positive individuals and worked through life experiences as wanting to do good for others out of the goodness of their hearts. Goazi was a theorist who believed in the formation of individual human nature through experiences and circumstance. The entire idea of human nature can be interpreted, assumed, and pointed in various directions. My interpretation of what human nature is was formed upon understanding who these individuals were.

I think one of the purest things in life is the birth of a child because that is when time just stops, and your life and path are just beginning to form into who you will soon be. There is no judgement or knowing of past discrepancies; your slate is clear of all that is deemed as being good or bad. You are yourself in this moment without the actions of any force whether it be nature or humankind. You are not misrepresented. You are pure; you are you.