Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

Conscious of human fallibility, Zhu Xi recommended cautiousness against selfish desires (siyu 私欲), as opposed to principles (li), but he was also firmly convinced of the human possibility of improving and changing one’s condition. Thus, even in the case of the last evil kings who caused the collapse of Xia and Shang dynasties, he excluded any deterministic outcome and emphasized their awareness of having chosen the wrong way by following their desires. As exemplified in the excerpt that follows, Zhu did not directly raise the question whether their desires were predetermined by their dark energy and if moral responsibility was partially or totally obstructed: “Human nature is completely good. Even Jie and Zhou, whose wickedness was without limits, were conscious that their actions were evil. Then, if I just want to do whatever I want, without any regret, it is because nature has been overpowered by human desires.”⁵⁶ These words offer an explicit explanation. It is clear that what is most important for the Chinese thinker is, on the one hand, to stress the goodness of human nature and, on the other, the malign effects of selfish desires. Although no interest is shown on the theoretical problem of the free will of the wicked, here we read that any human being has a conscience that makes it clear what is good and what is bad, and thereby there is no doubt that one can decide and that one is responsible for one’s actions. If one lets desires prevail on one’s good nature, then there are no limits to wickedness and malignity.⁵⁷ At the same time, Zhu expressed his belief that once one is fully engaged in self-cultivation, correct behaviors are followed by a clear perception of right and wrong.⁵⁸ This suffices to explain how the conflict between the goodness of principle or nature and the tendency toward the evil of an actual temperament came to define the whole development of Neo-Confucianism. Such conflict always implies a margin of freedom because self-cultivation lets behavior follow the moral principle of human nature, while external conditions are outside one’s control.⁵⁹ When, in fact, self-cultivation is considered to be “sincere” and one is not deceiving oneself, one is thought of as being able to reach the height of uprightness. In this sense, the term zhi 志 is often used in