My Choice-Good and Evil-Melissa Faller

In Human Nature is Good, Mencius says that “No man is devoid of a heart sensitive to the suffering of others…Suppose a man were, all of a sudden, to see a young child on the verge of falling into a well. He would certainly be moved to compassion, not because he wanted to get in the good graces of the parents, nor because he wished to win the praise of his fellow villagers or friends, nor yet because he disliked the cry of the child” (221). I believe that Mencius is correct when he says that all men are born with some sort of compassion. However, I believe that not all men have equal amounts of compassion. Isn’t it possible that some men are born with more compassion, or good than other men? If so it would explain how both men seem to be born with both good and evil. On the other side of the argument Hsun Tzu essay Human Nature is Evil, Tzu mentions that humans are born being evil. “Now, man’s inborn nature is to seek for gain. If this tendency is followed, strife and rapacity result and deference and compliance disappear. By inborn nature one is envious and hates others. If these tendencies are followed, injury and destruction result and loyalty and faithfulness disappear…Therefore there must be the civilizing influence of teachers and laws and the guidance of propriety and righteousness, and then it will result in deference and compliance, combine with pattern and order, and end in discipline” (221). If man is born evil, and that good that comes from man is only learned from discipline than where does the natural instinct of comforting a person come from? For if the entire world were born evil how could any good exist?