The Study Of XunZi’s Governance Theory

XunZi is the last master of pre-Qin Confucianism, he played an important role in the history of Chinese Confucianism and Chinese thought. XunZi’thoughts on social governance is the most important and distinctive part of his philosophy. This dissertation choosesXunZi’s thoughts of social governance as the research content, trying to explore his thoughts of social governance systematically. What kind of social background was there? What’s the basis of his theory? What kind of governance idea and concrete measures were put forward? What significance does the thoughts of social governance of XunZi have to modern society? This dissertation is written by answering the above problems, trying to excavate more cultural value from XunZi’s philosophy.XunZi lived in the Warring States era which was unrest. The theories about war and peace became the main subject of thinkers. Turbulence of the society had given rise to many theories of social governance, promoting the development of academy. XunZi, insisting on the premise of Confucian position, inherited the social governance ideas of Confucius, adopted the good points and avoided the shortcomings of other thinkers, integrated various thoughts, and finally formed his own compatible and unique social governance idea. Theory of the relationship between heaven and human and the theory of human nature are the starting point and philosophical foundation of XunZi’s enormous ideological system. XunZi’s theory of the relationship between heaven and the human and theory of human nature are the logical support to his social ideal. Therefore, XunZi’s theory of the relationship between heaven and the human and theory of human nature will be explored before the discussion of his social governance.XunZi’s entire governance system was mainly divided into three aspects:the governance structure, governance method and the governance goal. Firstly, XunZi’s governance structure of "Fen" and "Qun". XunZi put forward the idea of "Delimiting the benefit boundary to cause the human to form the community to live together", holding the view that human beings are social animals, which is gregarious. And XunZi stressed that "The king had the ability of gathering and good at doing", on the basis of "Delimiting the benefit boundary", following the effective leadership of the monarchy and pursuing a common purpose, people gather together in order and thus achieve the ideal goal of "living together in harmony and unity". Secondly, XunZi’s governance methods of "Honoring rites and paying attention to laws". Honoring rites is the core of XunZi’s ideology. Not only inthe whole ideological system of XunZi but also for any one of the specific aspects such as ethics, political thought, the ritual is the end. Due to the realistic environment, XunZi absorbed the thoughts of legalists into the rites, emphasized that governance society should have the characteristics of mandatory, and thus the method of "Honoring rites and paying attention to laws" was put forward by XunZi. Rite is the foundation of the law and would be realized by the law. As two important means of social governance, the rite is more important than law but can’t replace it. Rites and laws are interrelated and mutually reinforced, working together to establish a better social order and promoting social development. The third is the governance goal "to make people live prosperously and harmoniously". XunZi affirmed the profit-seeking behavior of the group on one hand and held that benefits provide and establish the material base of human existence, there is no doubt that benefits are reasonable. On the other hand, XunZi emphasized the importance of righteousness for the social development and national stability. He pointed out that the righteousness plays an important role in coordination, social control also can help to guide the human desire. Combining the two aspects, XunZi set "to make people live prosperously and harmoniously" as the governance goal.XunZi’s thought of social governance has played a very important role not only in history, but also made an indelible contribution to the generation and development of Chinese traditional ruling concepts. It also has great reference value to modern society and helps to establish a harmonious and stable society. Therefore, transforming XunZi’s thought of social governance has great significance for us to strengthen the construction of socialist moral and legal system under the condition of socialist market economy.