e is freedom on the west, it will flow west; and so with human
nature, which will move similarly in the direction of either good or
evil. In reply, Mencius freely admitted that water would flow either
east or west; but he asked if it would flow indifferently up or down.
He then declared that the bent of human nature towards good is precisely
like the tendency of water to flow down and not up. You can force water
to jump up, he said, by striking it, and by mechanical appliances you
can make it flow to the top of a hill; but what you do in such cases is
entirely contrary to the nature of water, and is merely the result of
violence, such violence, in fact, as is brought into play when man's
nature is bent towards evil.

"That which men get at birth," said Kao, "is their nature," implying
that all natures were the same, just as the whiteness of a white feather
is the same as the whiteness of white snow; whereupon Mencius showed
that on this principle the nature of a dog would be the same as that
of a an ox, or the nature of an ox the same as that of a man. Finally,
Mencius declared that for whatever evil men may commit, their natures
can in nowise be blamed. In prosperous times, he argued, men are mostly
good, whereas in times of scarcity the opposite is the case; these two
conditions, however, are not to be charged against the natures with
which God sent them into the world, but against the circumstances in
which the individuals in question have been situated.

The question, however, of man's original nature was not set permanently
at rest by the arguments of Mencius. A philosopher, named Hsun Tzu
(_Sheundza_), who flourished not very much later than Mencius, came
forward with the theory that so far from being good according to
Confucius, or even neutral according to Kao, the nature of man at birth
is positively evil. He supports this view by the following arguments.
From his earliest years, man is actuated by a love of gain for his own
personal enjoyment. His conduct is distinguished by selfishness and
combativeness. He becomes a slave to envy, hatred, and other passions.
The restraint of law, and the influence and guidance of teachers, are
absolutely necessary to good government and the well-being of social
life. Just as wood must be subjected to pressure in order to make it
straight, and metal must be subjected to the grindstone in order to
make it sharp, so must the nature of man be subjected to training
and education