Philosopher
Yang Xiong
53 BCE – 18 CE
Also known as Yang Hsiung
Han court poet and Confucian scholar, best known for holding that human nature is neither good, as Mencius said, nor bad, as Xunzi said, but a mixture of both.
Yang Xiong was born in Chengdu in 53 BCE and became known for his poetry, which won him a summons to court around 20 BCE. His post was a lowly one, and he was later released from its duties while keeping its pay and the use of the imperial library. Disillusioned with the power of his poetry to reform the court, and grieving the death of his son, he turned to philology, and to his two philosophical works, The Great Dark Mystery and Words to Live By.
He lived through the fall of the Former Han and the usurpation of the throne by Wang Mang, with whom he was associated, and was vilified for it. He is counted the leading figure of the Old Text school of Confucianism, yet the Confucian canon has mostly passed his writings by, and after Mencius’s view of human nature became orthodoxy, Confucians attacked him.
Key ideas
- Human nature is mixed
- Human nature is a muddle of good and bad tendencies. Cultivating the good ones makes a person good, and cultivating the bad ones makes a person depraved, as a horse may carry its rider either way.
- The Great Dark Mystery
- Yang’s divination manual, modelled on the Classic of Changes and indebted to the Laozi, follows the cycles of time and of yin and yang through beginning, flourishing and decay.
- Frugal government
- Yang took the Reformist side in the politics of his day: no state monopolies, no costly wars, and lighter burdens for ordinary people.
- Tradition
- Chinese
- Region
- Chengdu and Chang'an, China
- Schools
- Confucianism
- Themes
- Human nature
Influences
Influenced by
- Laozifl. 600–500 BCE
- Confuciusc. 551 – c. 479 BCE
- Menciusc. 372 – c. 289 BCEcriticised
- Xunzic. 310 – after 238 BCEcriticised
Yang Xiong53 BCE – 18 CE
Influenced by
- Laozifl. 600–500 BCE
- Confuciusc. 551 – c. 479 BCE
- Menciusc. 372 – c. 289 BCEcriticised
- Xunzic. 310 – after 238 BCEcriticised
Yang Xiong53 BCE – 18 CE
Where these links come from
- Yang Xiong drew on Laozi. Source: Andrew Colvin, Yang Xiong, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Yang Xiong drew on Confucius. Source: Andrew Colvin, Yang Xiong, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Yang Xiong argued against Mencius. Source: Andrew Colvin, Yang Xiong, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
- Yang Xiong argued against Xunzi. Source: Andrew Colvin, Yang Xiong, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- The Great Dark Mystery (Tai xuan)
- Read free at Wikisource (in Classical Chinese)
- Words to Live By (Fa yan), 9 CE
- Read free at Wikisource (in Classical Chinese)
Sources
- Andrew Colvin, Yang Xiong, Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy