MENCIUS (MENGZI) (Chinese, 372-289 BCE)
This fourth-generation Chinese Confucian philosopher was called the "second Sage" after only Confucius himself. He inherited Confucius's ideology and developed it further, much as Paul did with the teachings of Jesus. He lived during the Warring States period, and traveled from court to court offering counsel to different rulers, holding conversations that would form the basis of the book named for him, the Mencius. He believed human nature to be upright and humane: any state with upright and humane policies will flourish, and its citizens, with the freedom afforded, will care for their wives, brothers, elders, and children, naturally becoming better citizens.
- The Mencius ranks as one of the Confucian "Four Books," along with the Great Learning by Confucius's disciple Zengzi, the Doctrine of the Mean by his grandson Zisi, and the Analects by the Master himself.
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