Mencius

Mencius: The Man and His Ideas by Albert Felix Verwilghen, 94 pages

Meng Ke, traditionally known as Mengzi (Master Meng) and Yasheng (the Second Sage) in China and Mencius in the West, has been revered for millennia as the definitive interpreter of Confucius.  It was Mencius, more than anyone, who turned Confucius' varied writings into a coherent system.  Unsurprisingly, his writings have fallen out of favor in a cynical era which tends to view every act of exegesis as somehow inherently fraudulent.  As a result, a central aim of Verwilghen's introduction to Mencius and his thought is to defend him against the charges of insincerity and opportunism.  In this account Mencius, far from being either a reactionary or a sophist, is understood as a truly integrated personality who made the pursuit of virtue within the context of the natural law the center of both his philosophy and his efforts at social and political regeneration.