Xunzi (Xun Kuang) · Philosophy
Xunzi’s philosophy of language and its politics: <em>zhengming</em>, the rectification of names. Words have no natural link to things; they are fixed by convention. But once a society settles its names, holding them clear and stable becomes a political achievement - because when names blur, thought, morality, and government fall into confusion.
You learned that Xunzi held names to be conventional (no intrinsic link between word and thing) but socially vital: the sage-kings fixed names by agreement, names must still track real distinctions, and holding them clear prevents the confusion of categories that leads to moral and political disorder. Explain why Xunz…
Leads to Confucius.
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