Time

Wed 10 Jun 2026, at 14:30

Place

No 57, Yannanyuan Garden, Peking University

Language

Chinese

This is the 10th event of the Sansongtang Chinese Philosophy Workshop Series.

Abstract

As a major development within pre-Qin Confucianism, Xunzi’s thought occupies a distinctive place in the history of Chinese philosophy due to its clear problem-consciousness and profound theoretical construction. Whether in its analysis of human nature and moral cultivation, its discussions of ritual propriety, normative institutions, and political order, or its reflections on the relationship between Heaven and humanity, the relation between names and realities, and the problems of knowledge and language, Xunzian thought demonstrates a philosophical character that combines practical concern with theoretical depth.

For a long time, Xunzi has often been interpreted within frameworks such as the contrast between Mencius and Xunzi, the relationship between Confucianism and Legalism, or the doctrine of the evilness of human nature. In recent years, however, with continuing advances in the fields of classical interpretation, intellectual history, excavated texts, and comparative philosophy, Xunzi studies have begun to develop a new constellation of questions. This development has also provided an important opportunity for reexamining the complexity and richness of pre-Qin Confucianism.

      作为先秦儒学的重要展开，荀子思想以其鲜明的问题意识和深厚的理论建构，在中国思想史上占据独特位置。无论是对人性与教化的辨析，对礼义、法度与政治秩序的论述，还是对天人关系、名实关系、知识与言说问题的思考，荀学都展现出一种兼具现实关怀与理论深度的思想品格。长期以来，荀子常被置于孟荀对举、儒法关系或性恶论的框架中加以理解；而近年来，随着经典诠释、思想史研究、出土文献、比较哲学等领域的持续推进，荀学研究正在形成新的问题格局，也为重新理解先秦儒学的复杂面貌提供了重要契机。