The three philosophers have been linked Confucius and are seen as the great in studying his work. In relation to emotions, the three have different takes when it comes to the subject. This paper will compare the ideas of the three in regard to emotion. While exploring this paper will try to highlight where they agreed or disagreed.
Zhuangist view of emotion is described in the virtuoso view. In this view, emotions are seen as virtuosos to be able to overcome strong emotions. In this case they would stay at ease and calm while dealing with their welfare. They are not however, emotionless but have the ability to control their emotion (Cook 218). In this case these people, they have a sense of peace and are at ease. They may keep their commitments from parents but are not interrupted by strong emotions. They are fluid and handle things as they come.
For Mengzi’s, method of moral feelings are covered in extension. According to him the emotional intuition, the human heart is seen to uses emotion and other things like reasoning to pass or extend the emotion to the objects that the humans have (Cook 273). In this case, he implies that the emotions are used by the human and processed together with other faculties to be expressed to the subject.
Xunzi is seen to have been a challenger to supernatural forces. In this regard his exploration of emotions was heavily disagreed upon. This is because he showed emotions as fictions and thus may have lacked rationalism (Cook 267). However, he showed such could be controlled to individual’s needs.
Work cited
Cook, Scott. Hiding the World Within the World: Ten Uneven Discourses on Zhuangzi. Albany: State University of New York Press, 2003.
