| Abstract |
Liu Shipei’s discourse on human nature not only inherits traditional sources but also absorbs modern ideas, such as “mutual aid”, revealing the complexity of Chinese thoughts in time of transformation. This article argues that Liu understood Wang Yangming’s discourse of human nature through the thoughts of Dai Dongyuan, resulting in his misunderstanding of Yangming’s idea that human nature is purely good, and ultimately sublimed into conscience with neither good nor evil. In contrast to this, Liu considered human nature to be something physical and corporeal. Furthermore, Liu took environment, external condition, as the decisive factor that determined the performance of human nature. Inclined to environmental-determinism, this mode of thinking is paradoxical to the mode of thinking of The Great Learning in which selfcultivation maintained the first priority. For Liu, improving social circumstances is the most momentous way to reach the “complete society” where everything goes in order. After embracing the anarchism, Liu never claimed human nature to be neither good nor evil, but to consist of jealousy, egoism, and virtue. Different from traditional language, these words referring to human nature embody the modernity of Liu’s thoughts. In addition, Liu’s adoption of environmental-determinism might be contributed to his turning for anarchism later. Generally speaking, anarchists support the optimistic discourse on human nature rather than the pessimistic one; however, Liu’s attitude toward human nature was much more complicated. In Liu’s point of view, human nature is now filled with good and evil, but will be ultimately purely good through evolution. This opinion, inspired by the intellectual current of evolution, and the Confucian preference for Benevolence (Jen) both provided stimulus for Liu’s acceptance of “mutual aid,” the critical premise of anarchism. In other words, not only traditional but contemporary intellectual sources participated in the modern transformation of Liu’s discourse on human nature. |
