Xunzi thought model
China · c. 313–238 BCE
A Confucian thinker who held that human nature is bad and stressed ritual and learning as the means to correct it.
Perspective
Left unchecked, human desire runs to disorder; ritual and study are what build ordered judgment.
Value model
Individual agency22
Rational inquiry75
Risk awareness62
Social conformity85
Self-overcoming40
Practicality62
Language skepticism28
Decision principles
- Can the desire be ordered by an institution?
- Can it be improved through learning and ritual?
- Is there a mechanism to restrain the short-term impulse?