What counts as human nature?
These passages state sharply different judgments about 性. Compare the role assigned to deliberate cultivation and the water analogy before deciding whether the same boundaries of nature are being assumed. This is a comparison of claims, not a complete resolution of their disagreement.
人之性惡，其善者偽也Nature is contrasted with the source of achieved goodness.
tls · CC BY-SA 4.0 · KR3a0002_023.txt, lines 14–15人性之善也，猶水之就下也The goodness of nature is presented through a downward-water analogy.
tls · CC BY-SA 4.0 · KR1h0001_011.txt, lines 44–50Make the comparison explicit
These passages state sharply different judgments about 性. Compare the role assigned to deliberate cultivation and the water analogy before deciding whether the same boundaries of nature are being assumed. This is a comparison of claims, not a complete resolution of their disagreement.
荀子: Nature is contrasted with the source of achieved goodness.
孟子: The goodness of nature is presented through a downward-water analogy.
Which term in Xunzi prevents its opening judgment from being a claim that improvement is impossible?
偽 in the second clause credits deliberate human activity with goodness.
Shared words, images, or constructions do not by themselves establish common meaning, authorship, or origin. An explicit citation is identified only where the wording itself supports it.
zimai · AI-assisted editorial notes · Editorial pilot · not independently reviewed. Original learning material: CC BY-SA 4.0. Source text, scholarly reference, and editorial interpretation remain separately attributed.