---
title: "Mengzi | Confucianism | Thought Archive"
number: "026"
slug: "026-mengzi"
author: "Wenzi / 文子"
language: "en"
canonical: "https://tongzai.space/en/thought-archive/026-mengzi/"
is_primary_text: true
---

# Mengzi（Confucianism）



## Common research question

**How do the four sprouts support Mencius's account of human goodness?**

Mengzi's “four sprouts”—compassion, shame, deference, and discernment—identify beginnings from which benevolence, righteousness, ritual propriety, and wisdom may grow. He does not say every human act is already good. The sprouts require cultivation and can be obstructed by circumstances; human goodness is a thesis about potential and grounding.

## Interpretive boundary

Distinguish human nature, cultivation, and circumstance rather than replacing the argument with modern psychology.

## Archive evidence

- [E-07 ｜ “Gongsun Chou I” 6](#E-07)
- [E-08 ｜ “Gongsun Chou I” 6](#E-08)