EVIL VS. EVIL = GREATER EVIL
Xunzi said that man is naturally evil. He argues that if our xing were truly good, then there would be no need for the institutions that the sages founded in order to bring order to human societies. That we require these institutions to interfere with people's natural tendencies is supposed to show that these tendencies are originally bad.
The government is one of the institutions that I know which is founded solely to bring order to the society. Legal authorities are vested with power mainly to promote the common good of their citizens; and this includes the safeguarding of her citizen’s rights from any factor that could be detrimental to one’s rights.
Relating it to the Western philosophy, Thomas Hobbes also said that man by nature is evil. He believed that a man is a wolf to another man. That he will do everything to outdone his fellows just to satisfy his desires, that is why there is a necessity to create a Great Leviathan (a government) that would protect the people from one another.
If Xunzi and Hobbes were correct in their philosophy that man is basically evil, we really need institutions (especially a government) that would interfere to our evil tendencies. This government would be very vital factor in creating a better society. The main task therefore of this government is the creation of a more humane society where each men, even by nature evil, can live in harmony and peace. This only means that the government must diminish or even suppress the evil that is in men. Government, therefore, must be contra evil.
As we look our political arena, we see the opposite of what we expect our government must do. If we said above that government must promote what is good, our government seems to promote what is evil. This institution must interfere to suppress the evil nature of men but instead of suppressing the evilness that is in men, the government adds to the evilness of men for what it contributes to our society is also evil. Our government is suppose to rule in the name of truth, justice, charity and liberty, but our political leaders seems to do what is contrary to this values. It is an indubitable reality that our present government is filled with lies, cheating, injustices, oppression, war, and deceit. It is not understatement for us to say that our government is already an illusive guarantee anymore in building a better place for us to live in.
Maybe this is also the loophole of Xunzi’s pronouncement that man is by nature evil because if men were by nature evil, even our institutions that interfere to our natural evil tendencies are also composed of men which are also basically evil. It follows then that there is no great assurance that these institutions that interfere to the natural evil tendencies of men would be suppress the evil that is in men. How can you suppress an evil with another evil? Evil can only be conquered by good. As they say, a fire cannot be put off by a fire.
Perhaps, Xunzi is wrong. Man, perhaps, must be basically good! Man by nature can love and I think this is an enough reason for me (and for all of us also) to believe that man is by nature good!
The government is one of the institutions that I know which is founded solely to bring order to the society. Legal authorities are vested with power mainly to promote the common good of their citizens; and this includes the safeguarding of her citizen’s rights from any factor that could be detrimental to one’s rights.
Relating it to the Western philosophy, Thomas Hobbes also said that man by nature is evil. He believed that a man is a wolf to another man. That he will do everything to outdone his fellows just to satisfy his desires, that is why there is a necessity to create a Great Leviathan (a government) that would protect the people from one another.
If Xunzi and Hobbes were correct in their philosophy that man is basically evil, we really need institutions (especially a government) that would interfere to our evil tendencies. This government would be very vital factor in creating a better society. The main task therefore of this government is the creation of a more humane society where each men, even by nature evil, can live in harmony and peace. This only means that the government must diminish or even suppress the evil that is in men. Government, therefore, must be contra evil.
As we look our political arena, we see the opposite of what we expect our government must do. If we said above that government must promote what is good, our government seems to promote what is evil. This institution must interfere to suppress the evil nature of men but instead of suppressing the evilness that is in men, the government adds to the evilness of men for what it contributes to our society is also evil. Our government is suppose to rule in the name of truth, justice, charity and liberty, but our political leaders seems to do what is contrary to this values. It is an indubitable reality that our present government is filled with lies, cheating, injustices, oppression, war, and deceit. It is not understatement for us to say that our government is already an illusive guarantee anymore in building a better place for us to live in.
Maybe this is also the loophole of Xunzi’s pronouncement that man is by nature evil because if men were by nature evil, even our institutions that interfere to our natural evil tendencies are also composed of men which are also basically evil. It follows then that there is no great assurance that these institutions that interfere to the natural evil tendencies of men would be suppress the evil that is in men. How can you suppress an evil with another evil? Evil can only be conquered by good. As they say, a fire cannot be put off by a fire.
Perhaps, Xunzi is wrong. Man, perhaps, must be basically good! Man by nature can love and I think this is an enough reason for me (and for all of us also) to believe that man is by nature good!
posted by Franklin at
11:48 AM
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