Library of Chinese Classics: Xunzi

Xunzi
Translated into English by John Knoblock
Translated into Modern Chinese by Zhang Jue

Hunan People's Publishing House and Foreign Languages Press, 1999

Hardcover, 2 volumes, dimensions 960 x 640, 1/16

ISBN: 7543820862

Xunzi is a collection of political writings by the late Warring States period educator and philosopher Xunzi or Xun Kuang, who was one of the three great Confucians; the other two were Confucius and Mencius. The book is composed of 32 "books" or chapters covering philosophy, ethics, politics, military affairs, education, etc.
Many who have studied Xunzi are convinced that he was one of the greatest thinkers who ever lived. Unlike the work of his two predecessors, he wrote complete essays in which he defends his own interpretation of the Confucian position and attacks the positions of others. Xunzi critically summarized the academic thinking of the naive materialism of ancient China and was against the belief of the mandate of heaven and blind worship of the supernatural. Opposing Mencius' belief that human nature is good, Xunzi held that human nature is evil, and was therefore for combining ritual principles and law and attaching equal importance to moral enlightenment and rule by law with its punishments and rewards. Besides praising the Earlier Kings, Xunzi initiated the idea of being modeled on the Later Kings, which was different from Confucius and Mencius. Within the early Chinese tradition, Xunzi's writings are arguably the most sophisticated and philosophically developed. This richness of philosophical content has led to a lively discussion of his philosophy among contemporary scholars.
Although Xunzi is one of the greatest philosophers in the Chinese tradition, it is not well known in the West. Knoblock's English translation in this edition is the first complete English translation of Xunzi.