Gaozi

EN Texte en anglais Pas encore d'article dans ta langue : extrait en anglais.

Gaozi (Chinese: 告子; pinyin: Gàozǐ; Wade–Giles: Kao-tzu; lit. 'Master Gao'; ca. 420-350 BCE), or Gao Buhai (告不害), was a Chinese philosopher during the Warring States period. Gaozi's teachings are no longer extant, but he was a contemporary of Mencius (ca. 372-289 BCE), and most of our knowledge about him comes from the Mencius book (6) titled "Gaozi". Warring States philosophers disputed whether human nature is originally good (Mencius) or evil (Xunzi). The "Gaozi" chapter begins with a famous metaphor about a type of willow tree (杞柳 (qǐliǔ)). (Qi was also an ancient place name, best known through the four-character idiom '杞人憂天' [qǐrényōutiān, "person from Qi who worried heaven might fall"] "groundless fears; superfluous worry".) The philosopher [Gao] said, 'Man's nature is like the [qi]-willow, and righteousness is like a cup or a bowl. The fashioning benevolence and righteousness out of man's nature is like the making cups and bowls from the [qi]-willow.' Mencius replied, 'Can you, leaving untouched the nature of the willow, make with it cups and bowls? You must do violence and injury to the willow, before you can make cups and bowls with it. If you must do violence and injury to the willow in order to make cups and bowls with it, on your principles you must in the same way do violence and injury to humanity in order to fashion from it benevolence and righteousness! Your words, alas! would certainly lead all men on to reckon benevolence and righteousness to be calamities.' The philosopher [Gao] said, 'Man's nature is like water whirling round in a corner. Open a passage for it to the east, and it will flow to the east; open a passage for it to the west, and it will flow to the west. Man's nature is indifferent to good and evil, just...