-420 – -350
Gaozi (告子) was a Chinese philosopher of the Warring States period, best known as the principal interlocutor in Mencius's debates on human nature recorded in the Mengzi. He held that human nature (xing) is morally neutral—neither inherently good nor bad—and can be shaped in any direction by external circumstance, famously illustrated through analogies with flowing water and carved willow wood. His views represent a significant alternative to Mencian moral psychology and remain a touchstone in debates about the origins and malleability of virtue.
Articulated the 'water-flowing-east-or-west' analogy for morally neutral human nature, the central foil to Mencius's optimism
Proposed that rightness (yi) is external to human nature rather than innate, prompting extensive Confucian counter-argument
Developed the willow-wood analogy comparing moral cultivation to crafting cups from raw material
Preserved through the Mengzi as the most fully argued opponent of innate moral goodness in early Chinese thought