The Development of Xunzi’s Theory ofXing, Reconstructed on the Basis of a Textual Analysis ofXunzi23, “Xing E” 性惡 (Xingis Bad)

The section of theXunzicalled “Xing e” 性惡 (xingis bad) prominently and repeatedly claims that people'sxingis bad. However, no other text in theXunzimakes this claim, and it is widely thought that the claim does not express Xunzi's fundamental ideas about human nature. This article addresses the issue in a somewhat indirect way, beginning with a detailed examination of the text of “Xing e”: identifying a core text, removing a series of interpolations, analyzing the structure of the core text, and distinguishing between three positions that are defended there. This analysis shows that the claim that people'sxingis bad is not really central to “Xing e.” More ambitiously, it supports the conclusion that Xunzi's ideas about people'sxingchanged over time. Though Xunzi did claim that people'sxingis bad, he later abandoned the claim, and replaced it with an account ofwei偽 “artifice.”