On the issue of human nature, Mencius and Xunzi's views are relative. Mencius believes that human nature is good, and benevolence, righteousness, courtesy and wisdom do not come from the outside. I am intrinsic and advocate "the theory of good nature". Xunzi believed that human nature was evil and advocated the theory of evil nature.
Because of the different theories of human nature, Mencius and Xunzi have different views on the function of education. Mencius believes that human nature is good and does not need to be changed through education, so the function of education is to expand goodness.
Xunzi believes that human nature is evil, and the result of its development is constant plunder and social unrest, which needs to be changed through education, that is, "turning nature into falsehood", and changing human nature from evil to good through human actions the day after tomorrow, and the final result is "the good is false".
Mencius and Xunzi also have significant differences in their views on the source of strength that affects human development. Mencius believes that "conscience and kindness" are the source of power for personal development.
That is, the motive force of human development comes from inner goodness, which belongs to the view of endogenous theory; Xunzi, on the other hand, thinks that the acquired human action is the source of motivation for individual development, that is, the motivation for human development comes from external education, which belongs to the viewpoint of foreign theory.
On the etymological issue, Mencius and Xunzi put forward the words "education" and "morality" respectively. Mencius put forward the three pleasures of a gentleman in his book Mencius with all his heart.
Among them, the third happiness is "being educated by talents in the world", which is the first time to put forward the word "education"; Xunzi put forward in "Encouraging Learning" that "learning ends with courtesy, and the husband calls it the ultimate virtue", which is the first time to put forward the word "virtue".