A passage by this thinker, which claims the Way is not the “Way of Heaven” or the “Way of Earth” but instead what the noble man is guided by, is often compared to modern theories of constructivism. For 10 points each:
[10h] Name this thinker who categorized the sophistic paradoxes of his day into three “categories of delusion” in his essay “Rectifying Names,” which argues the king must fix the meaning of names.
ANSWER: Xúnzǐ (“SHUN-dzuh”) [or Xún Kuàng or Master Xún]
[10e] Xúnzǐ was an important thinker in a tradition named for this thinker, which developed out of classics like the Analects and the Mengzi (“MUNG-dzuh”).
ANSWER: Confucius [or Kǒngzǐ or Kong Qiu or Master Kong]
[10m] Chinese term or common translation acceptable. In a dialogue from the Xúnzǐ, Xúnzǐ claims that this concept is evil, opposing Mèngzǐ’s position that it is good. Mèngzǐ recorded Gaozi’s comparison of this concept to water that can flow east or west to argue it was neither.
ANSWER: human nature [or xing]
<EC, Philosophy>