On Human Nature

A subversive eight-factor model

I. What Questions Does This Book Answer?

"What is the human being?"—this seemingly simple question has plunged countless philosophers into meditation and debate for over two thousand years.

Mencius said "all people have a heart that cannot bear the suffering of others," so human nature is good; Xunzi said "human nature is evil; goodness is artificial," so human nature is evil. Gaozi said "human nature is neither good nor not good"; Yang Xiong said "human nature is a mixture of good and evil." Western philosophy is equally trapped: Aristotle said the human being is a "rational animal"; Hobbes said man is a wolf to man; Rousseau said human beings are born free yet everywhere in chains.

Every view has factual support, but none can convince everyone. Why?

Because everyone is debating the "color" of the same building, yet no one has drawn its "structural diagram."

This book is that structural diagram.

Its core proposition: good and evil are not inherent attributes of human nature but energy relations among human beings. To understand human nature, one must first understand where the human being comes from—not the origin in the mythological sense but the foundation in the ontological sense.

That foundation is this: the human being is first of all an organic living material system that must maintain its own existence.

From this origin, the book derives a complete structure of human nature—the eight-factor model.

II. Core Weapon: The Eight-Factor Model

Four physical factors: matter, suffering, pleasure, tranquility

Physical nature—the fundamental attribute of the human being as organic living matter. It determines that humans must satisfy basic material needs such as eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping, and inevitably follow the material laws of illness, aging, and death.

Suffering—the internal signal mechanism by which a living being perceives that it is being damaged and that the system is deviating from equilibrium. Suffering is life's first alarm.

Pleasure—the internal signal mechanism by which a living being perceives that it is being nourished and that the system is returning to equilibrium. Pleasure is life's first praise.

Tranquility—the balanced state of the body free of suffering and pleasure. It is the "default state" of the living system, the peace that wants to return after suffering and pleasure rise and fall.

Four spiritual factors: privacy, benevolence, malignancy, reason

Privacy—the calm state of the spirit free of good and evil, the ultimate destination of human nature. Privacy is not selfishness. Privacy is everyone's "home"; selfishness is locking yourself in the home forever and keeping everyone who approaches outside the door.

Benevolence—all thoughts and feelings at the spiritual level that benefit oneself or others and bring nourishment; it is the extension and sublimation of the body's pleasure in the spiritual world.

Malignancy—all thoughts and feelings at the spiritual level that harm oneself or others and bring consumption; it is the extension and sublimation of the body's suffering in the spiritual world. Malignancy itself is not the problem; uncontrolled malignancy is the problem.

Reason—the spirit's ability to cognize, judge, and infer things; it is the tool that serves emotion. Emotion sets the goal; reason finds the path. Reason is always the servant; emotion is the master.

Core relations: privacy is the goal, good and evil are means, reason is the tool

The core relation of the eight factors can be stated in one sentence: privacy is the goal, good and evil are the means, reason is the tool.

Privacy is the "home" the spirit wants to return to. No matter how far you roam—anger, joy, sorrow, satisfaction—in the end you want to go home, to return to the calm of privacy.

Good and evil are the "roads" home. Goodness is returning by a nourishing path; evil is returning by a consuming path. Different roads, same destination, but the quality of the roads differs.

Reason is the map and the compass. It does not ask why you want to go home; it only tells you which road is shortest, which is safest, which one reaches.

Understand this core relation and you understand the operating mechanism of human nature. All your behaviors, all your contradictions, all your struggles can be explained within this framework.

III. The Four Levels of Judgment: How Do People Judge Good and Evil?

With the same person and the same event, why do different people reach completely opposite judgments of good and evil?

Because the level of judgment differs.

Level one: sensory judgment. The standard: what comforts me is good; what distresses me is evil. Children are most typically at this level. But many adults remain here for years—judging everything by feeling.

Level two: emotional judgment. The standard: what I like is good; what I dislike is evil. Fans' unconditional support of their idols, mutual attacks between political enemies—both are typical emotional judgment. One has a standpoint but cannot hear dissenting opinions.

Level three: rational judgment. The standard: from the long-term view, what benefits the system is good. One can temporarily step out of one's own feelings and standpoint to see problems from a longer-term, more holistic angle. It may be uncomfortable now, but good in the long run—good.

Level four: reflective judgment. The standard: is my standard of judgment itself right? One can examine one's own judgment, question one's own grounds, and see problems from a higher vantage. This is the highest way of judging.

The elevation of the level of judgment is, in essence, a deepening of the understanding of the core relation. Level one sees only good and evil and not privacy; level two sees privacy but only one's own; level three sees the privacy of others and of the whole; level four sees privacy itself and the limits of judgment.

IV. The Essence of Good and Evil: Energy, Relation, Process

Good and evil are energy—they are relational properties

For two thousand years people have asked: "is human nature good or evil?"

The question itself is wrong. It presupposes a premise: that good and evil are something that can be attached to a person, the way color attaches to an object.

But good and evil are not inside the body, not inside "nature"; they are in the interaction between persons.

Good = energy flows from A to B, making B's system more balanced, more stable, more healthy. Evil = energy is drawn out of B, making B's system unbalanced, damaged, pained. Privacy = energy circulates within one's own system, neither flowing out nor drawing in.

This definition has several crucial implications:

It explains why the debate over good and evil has raged for two thousand years—because people have debated a relational property as if it were an intrinsic property. It gives judgments of good and evil an observable, discussable basis—we can ask: which way does the energy flow? Is the ledger positive or negative? It helps us escape moral blackmail—no longer clinging to the labels of "good person" and "bad person" but attending to the effect of behavior on systems.

Good and evil are process chains: the five-link model

Goodness is not a single entity but a complete chain of five links:

Good cause → good intention → good thought → good deed → good result

Good cause: the objective thing or environment that triggers the good (what happened in the world?)

Good intention: the goodwill arising within (do you want to do good?)

Good thought: thinking about how to realize the good (have you figured out how?)

Good deed: the good action performed by the body (did you do it?)

Good result: the actual consequence of the action (is the result good?)

If any link goes wrong, the chain of goodness may break.

The essence of "good intentions, bad results" is that good intention drives it, but the good thought misfires and the good deed is improper, and in the end an evil result comes. The essence of "bad intentions, good results" is that evil intention drives it, but the outcome accidentally turns good—this is neither complete evil nor complete good.

Three logics of good and evil

Driving out evil with goodness—directly using the power of goodness to eliminate a state of evil. Features: direct, visible, immediate, emotionally positive. Limitations: resources are limited; may treat symptoms rather than the root; may create dependence.

Promoting good through evil—using appropriate "evil" to stimulate potential, finally obtaining good results. Features: indirect, hidden, delayed, risky. Required conditions: the object has potential, the degree of evil is moderate, good support exists, the object can understand.

Suppressing evil with evil—using evil means to eliminate the source of evil. Features: confrontational, necessary, dangerous, needs constraint. Required conditions: a clear source of evil, means proportionate to the end, no better alternative, expected result is good.

At the same time, there are three logics that produce evil results: bullying the good with evil (the most obvious evil), promoting evil through good (the most hidden evil), and assisting good with good (the most easily overlooked evil).

V. The Evolutionary History of Human Nature: Your Life Is a Miniature of Human Civilization

Individual growth and social evolution follow the same logical order—from sensory feeling to public evil, from public evil to private good, from private good to public good, from public good to reason. This is the inevitable order in which human nature unfolds; it cannot be skipped and cannot be reversed.

This parallel reveals a profound law: your life is a miniature of human civilization.

The joys and sorrows you experience today have all been experienced in human history. The choices of good and evil you face today have all been faced in human history. When you read history, you are not reading the stories of others; you are reading your own story.

VI. The Ultimate Standard of Good and Evil: Erecting the Heart-Mind for Heaven and Earth

Is there really an objective standard of good and evil?

Yes.

Through a thought experiment (the incident of a nomadic tribe seizing grain), the book step by step introduces the time scale, the spatial scale, the energy ledger, the levels of judgment, and the verdict of history, and finally proposes:

The ultimate standard of human civilization can be summarized in two items:

First, human harmony—reducing internal conflict and promoting cooperation and co-existence. Second, developing productive forces—acquiring energy more effectively and improving survival.

What conforms to these two items is "aligned with the Way of Heaven"; what violates them is "against the Way of Heaven."

This is not moral preaching; it is systemic law. Harmony reduces energy consumption; production increases the total amount of energy. Civilizations that conform to the law endure; civilizations that violate the law die out.

"Erecting the heart-mind for heaven and earth" is recognizing this law and then actively conforming to it and advancing it.

VII. Where This Book Stands in the System of Thought

On Human Nature is the general treatise on human nature in the "core grand theory (trunk)" module of Hua Guoping's system of thought, the key work leading from the origin of The Vanguard Concept to grand theories in every domain.

The core questions it answers: what is the human being? What factors constitute human nature? What are the relations among these factors? What is the essence of good and evil? How does the human being judge good and evil? How does human nature evolve?

Its relations with other works in the system are as follows:

The Vanguard Concept establishes the origin of the eight-factor model—what the human being is.

On Human Nature unfolds the complete structure of the eight factors—the four physical factors and the four spiritual factors.

The Nature of Morality systematically applies the eight-factor model to the domain of morality, answering "what is the essence of morality."

The Logic of Law systematically applies the eight-factor model to the domain of law, answering "what is the essence of law."

Civilization of Public Good applies the eight-factor model to institutional comparison, answering "what kind of institutions better fulfill people."

Ultimate Dao Governance applies the eight-factor model to the philosophy of governance, answering "after the rule of law, where does human governance go."

On Eight-Factor Education applies the eight-factor model to education, answering "what kind of people should education cultivate."

The Community of Human Well-Being applies the eight-factor model to humanity's future, answering "how can humanity live well together."

If The Vanguard Concept is the "root" of the system and Civilization Must Not Burn Itself is the "trunk," then On Human Nature is itself the system's most important "trunk"—it systematically unfolds the origin of "what the human being is" into a complete structure of human nature, taking the eight-factor model from philosophical speculation to an operable, applicable theoretical tool.

VIII. The Ultimate Answer of This Book

The title of this book is On Human Nature: The Underlying Logic of Good and Evil, Energy, and Civilization. The title encapsulates the book's core proposition:

Human nature is an eight-factor system: physical nature, suffering, pleasure, tranquility, privacy, benevolence, malignancy, reason.

The core relation is: privacy is the goal, good and evil are the means, reason is the tool.

Good and evil are not inherent attributes of a person but energy relations among persons.

Judgment has four levels: sensory, emotional, rational, reflective.

The evolution of human nature follows the inevitable order from the senses to public evil to private good to public good to reason.

The ultimate standard of human civilization is human harmony and the development of productive forces.

The ultimate answer of this book: you are not your emotions; you are the one who can see the emotions. You are not your judgments; you are the one who can raise the level of judgment. You are not your attention; you are the one who can choose the attention. You are not your human nature; you are the one who can balance the eight factors.