Xunzi is the work of Xun Kuang, a progressive thinker, educator and outstanding materialist philosopher at the end of the Warring States Period. Xun Kuang (about 365438 BC+03-238 BC), also known as Qing (ancient Xun and Sun were homophones). At the end of the Warring States Period, Zhao (now Anze County, Shanxi Province) was born. There are different opinions about the year of his birth and death, and it is still difficult to draw a conclusion. According to Records of the Historian and Biography of Xun Qing, Xunzi began to study in Qi at the age of 50. He also said that when the king was in power, his bachelor's degree flourished and attracted tens of thousands of famous scholars from all over the world. At the end of the King of Qi, Xunzi went to study, which coincided with the failure of Qi's foreign war and the scattered doctors. Xunzi immediately went south to Chu. When King Xiang of Qi was king, Ji was prosperous, and Xunzi returned to Qi, and he was the most teacher among doctors and respected as Qing. Soon Xunzi was slandered and cold to Chu. Chun Shen Jun appointed Xunzi as Lanling (Junan County, Shandong Province). Xunzi was slandered again, leaving Chu for Zhao, discussing soldiers before, but he was not reused and left Qin. Seeing Qin Zhao and Fan Sui, the Qin Dynasty, he failed to get to the point. He left the state of Qin for Zhao, and went to Chu for Lanling.
In 238 BC, Chun was killed, Xunzi lost his official position and wrote tens of thousands of words at home. Buried in Lanling after death. From the last years to Chun's death, there are about 50 years, which adds up to Xunzi's age of more than 65,438+0,000 years. The researchers think it is not credible. Ying Shao changed 50 to 15 in Custom Pass. There are also objections to this, thinking that it may not be appropriate for a boy of fifteen or sixteen to put forward the theory of kingship when Qi is about to perish. Therefore, the exact age of Xunzi cannot be verified, but his activity time is roughly between 289 BC and 238 BC. Generally speaking, Xunzi was born in Zhao, early and middle in Qi, and later in Lan Ling, Chu. During this period, he visited the State of Qin and lived in the State of Zhao. He has been mainly engaged in teaching and writing all his life. His disciples, Han Fei and Li Si, were both famous politicians and legalists at that time. Both of them directly helped Qin Shihuang unify China in thought and action.
Xunzi lived in an era of profound changes in China's social system. At that time, the feudal system had been established and there was a trend of feudal unification. Due to the long-term annexation war since the Warring States, only seven big countries, namely Qin, Qi, Chu, Korea, Zhao, Wei and Yan, remain. At that time, with the development of production struggle and class struggle, the conditions for the landlord class to obtain national unified political power rather than feudal hegemony were already met. As a progressive materialist thinker of the landlord class, Xunzi provided a theoretical basis for the historical task of the new landlord class to unify the whole country. He was the last master of Confucianism at the end of the Warring States Period, a scholar with a hundred schools of thought contending, and an outstanding materialist thinker in ancient China. He critically inherited the Confucian tradition since Kong Qiu, absorbed the strengths of Taoism, Mohism, Legalism and Confucianism, and established materialistic atheism. The purpose of his life is to rely on a powerful country to realize the Confucian political ideal of unifying China by kingly means.
Xunzi is Xun Kuang's work summarizing hundreds of theories and academic thoughts in his later years. "Historical Records Biography of Mencius and Xunzi" once wrote: Xun Qing hated the politics in troubled times, and it was unsuccessful to subjugate the country and rebel against the monarch. Instead, they camped in Wuzhu, believed in luck, despised Confucianism, and were confined to Zhuangzhou, which was ridiculous and chaotic, so they pushed Confucianism and Mohism to rise and fall and died in tens of thousands of words. This book was copied and circulated in the Han Dynasty, with 322 articles named Sun Qingshu. Originally revised by Liu Xiang, 290 articles were repeated and 32 articles were fixed, named New Book, and Han Shuzhi was recorded as Sun, namely Xunzi. The title of this book is as follows:
1, persuasion; 2. Self-cultivation; 3, meticulous; 4. Honor and disgrace; 5. Non-phase;
6. Not twenty years old; 7. Zhong Ni; 8. Confucian effect; 9, the king system; 10, rich country;
Wang Ba11; 12, Jundao; 13, Chen Dao; 14, Shi Zhi; 15, discussion soldier;
16, a powerful country; 17, tianlun; 18, theory; 19, etiquette theory; 20. music theory;
2 1, unpacking; 22. Correct the name; 23. malignant; 24. Gentleman; 25. Phase formation;
26. fu; 27, roughly; 28. Sit; 29. Sub-roads; 30 Air France;
3 1, bereavement; 32. Yao asked
Most of this book was written by Xunzi. Among them, the influence of Confucianism, the discussion of military strategists, the skill of great powers and so on. It seems to be recording disciples; At the end of the book, there are six biographies of Xunzi and Zalu, which are suspected to have been recorded by disciples, such as Gang, Zuo Zuo, Zi Dao, Fa Xing, Ai Gong and Wen Yao.
The book Xunzi, imitating the style of The Analects of Confucius, starts with "encouraging learning" and ends with "Wen Yao", which is systematic and thoughtful. Among them, the view of nature with the view of nature as the core is the main view of nature; Explaining epistemology, logical thought and thinking method are "revealing secrets" and "correcting names"; The theory of life is expounded in the theory of evil nature; The explanation of educational theory is "persuasion" and "self-cultivation"; The military theory is expounded in The Theory of Soldiers. Li Lun, Wang Zhi, Wang Ba and Guo Fu expounded their social and political thoughts. "Non-Twelve Sons" takes whether it conforms to the principle of feudal unification as the standard, and makes political criticism on the pre-Qin philosophers. Xiangcheng expresses the way of governing the country for the monarch in the form of folk literature. Fu Pian is a literary work of Xunzi and a prose style, which has a certain position in the history of literature.