"Settle Chaos-Well Governing":On The Theoretical Approach Of Xunzi’s Political Philosophy

Different from the usual“Qiang-Ba-Wang”model as a theoretical approach for Xunzi’s political philosophy,this paper aims to defense that“Settle chaos-Well governing(quluan-pizhi去乱—被治)”can also be a reasonable approach for Xunzi’s political philosophy.However,seldom scholars have mentioned this view so far,and the key cause is that both ancient and present Chinese,as well as the western annotation and translation have not been able to reasonably and smoothly explain the paragraph in which this quote is located,namely“the gentleman can governs order,but cannot governs disorder”section in Nothing Improper,Xunzi.This paper points out that the misleading interpretations in many translations lead Xunzi’s“gentleman”falling into a“mission dilemma”,and meanwhile misread the original meaning of“settle the chaos so that well govern it”.After a detailed analysis of the logic and details of the text,this paper finally made a newly valid and coherent translation.In Xunzi’s many analyses of“chaos”,there are three levels:human nature,knowledge and politics.“Settle chaos by Law(fa法)”was just the solution came into being.It contains profound historical evolution.The concept features of“judgement based on system”and“penalty for violation”in the“unwritten law”period and“legal punishment for a crime”and“consistent compliance with law”in the“written law”period coexist and are mixed into one in Xunzi’s perspective.The internal goal of"Settle chaos by Law(fa法)"itself target the upper administrating stage goes"governing by Ritual and Justice(li yi礼义)".Both sequence and separation are existed between“Settle chaos”and"Well governing".It cannot be considered that“Law(fa法)”is a mean to make up the deficiencies of“Ritual(li礼)”,because Xunzi’s Ritual and Law(li fa礼法)are based on different principles respectively--Ritual“restoring ancient ways”while Law“adapting to changes”.Xunzi’s judgment on State Qin(秦国)can be regarded as an extension of the“Settle chaos-Well governing”theory.However,there are many totally different political ideals between Shangyang(商鞅)and Xunzi,which can rather support our re-interpretation of the section as mentioned.“Settle chaos-Well governing”is actually a theoretical approach established by Xunzi in the view of more emphasizing on the reality and the desired political achievements.