ABSTRACT
The political thought of the founders of the Confucian school is characterized by its uniformity. But during the two centuries after the death of Confucius changing environments caused diverse interpretations of the fundamental tenets of the school to arise. Mencius and Hsuntze manifest this tendency in a marked degree. Confucius held that human nature is debased by habits; therefore he merely stressed the importance of habit formation, and ignored any metaphysical consideration of human nature. Mencius held that human nature is essentially good, Hsuntze that it is essentially evil. Mencius was more concerned with motive; his attack was against the acquisitive desire. In the words of Mencius, the people of the West are constantly "struggling over gains, making gains the basis of all their relationships, unsatisfied till they have usurped all". Mencius is thoroughly opposed to the idea of gain both in national and in personal affairs.
