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4th century BCE

Mencius and the Mengzi — Extending incipient moral responses

Does having a capacity for goodness mean one is already good, or that small and incomplete responses still need cultivation?

MenciusMengzi

Evidence-backed account

Mencius was active roughly a century after Confucius and presented himself as a follower, but the two cannot be placed in a direct teacher-disciple relationship.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Mencius

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Sections 1–2

    Open source

The responses of compassion, shame or disdain, deference, and right or wrong in 2A6 are presented as incipient sprouts to cultivate, not completed virtues.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Mengzi

    Transmitted Mencian tradition; Chinese Text Project · Classical Chinese text with James Legge historical English translation

    Locator: 2A6

    Open source

  • Mencius

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 2

    Open source

Mengzi 1A7 explores extension by asking how a king’s compassion for an ox might reach people suffering from war and taxation.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Mengzi

    Transmitted Mencian tradition; Chinese Text Project · Classical Chinese text with James Legge historical English translation

    Locator: 1A7

    Open source

  • Mencius

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 2

    Open source

Mengzi 7B31 links extending one’s responses beyond what one currently bears or does with the growth of ren and yi.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Mengzi

    Transmitted Mencian tradition; Chinese Text Project · Classical Chinese text with James Legge historical English translation

    Locator: 7B31

    Open source

  • Mencius

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Section 2

    Open source

The fish and bear’s-paw analogy in 6A10 presents a value judgment that does not make preservation overriding when life and yi conflict.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Mengzi

    Transmitted Mencian tradition; Chinese Text Project · Classical Chinese text with James Legge historical English translation

    Locator: 6A10

    Open source

Zoucheng provides current institutional evidence for the reception and commemoration of Mencius, not an exact composition place for the Mengzi.

Open evidence

This is an evidence-linked editorial paraphrase, not a direct quotation.

  • Zoucheng Museum / Zoucheng City Cultural Relics Protection Center

    Zoucheng Museum · 2025 · Government cultural institution listing

    Locator: Zoucheng association and Mencius reception exhibit

    Open source

  • Mencius

    Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

    Locator: Life and historical context

    Open source
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