Man's nature in Confucianism

The concept of human nature is fundamental to Confucianism, determining its theory and practice. Confucius put forward the thesis of ethical sociality of human nature, thus justifying the social essence of a human being and his mode of life, different from that of animal existence. In the process of Confucianism development this thesis was kept unchanged, and the theory of Neo-Confucianism brought transcendent ontological foundation to this ethical sociality.