Xunzi

A collection of 32 chapters by the Confucian thinker Xunzi, with some probably written by his students. Unlike most early Chinese texts, much of it consists of sustained, argued essays rather than sayings. Its most famous chapter, 'Human Nature Is Bad', answers Mencius: left to ourselves we follow our desires and fall into strife, so goodness is the product of deliberate effort, as warped wood must be steamed and pressed to become straight. The remedy is ritual and learning. The opening chapter, 'Encouraging Learning', insists that study must never stop. 'Discourse on Ritual' argues that the ancient sage kings created ritual to give order and measure to human desires, so that they can be satisfied without conflict. 'Discourse on Heaven' treats Heaven as a constant natural order that does not respond to human pleas, and says strange omens are nothing to fear. Other chapters cover correct naming, the fixations that cloud the mind, kingship, warfare and music.

It is the strongest early argument that civilisation is something humans build against their own impulses, and its naturalistic view of Heaven and stress on education still read as strikingly modern.