Theorizing Confucian Virtue Politics: The Political Philosophy of Mencius and Xunzi

Sungmoon Kim, Theorizing Confucian Virtue Politics: The Political Philosophy of Mencius and Xunzi, Cambridge University Press, 2020, 237pp., $99.99 (hbk), ISBN 9781108499422.
Reviewed by Tim Connolly, East Stroudsburg University
2021.05.02
From the review: “Mencius says: people’s nature is good. I say: this is not so. In every case, both in ancient times and in the present, what everyone under Heaven calls good is being correct, ordered, peaceful, and controlled. What they call bad is being deviant, dangerous, unruly, and chaotic. This is the division between good and bad. Now does he really think that people’s nature is originally correct, ordered, peaceful, and controlled?” (Hutton 2014, 252)