Journal of Chinese Philosophy 27:3 (September 2000) 361–373 © 2000 Journal of Chinese Philosophy kurtis hagen A CRITICAL REVIEW OF IVANHOE ON XUNZI In the early 1990s Philip J. Ivanhoe published two stimulating essays on Xunzi. 1 There is an aspect of his interpretation, however, that has gone too long unchallenged. I will first endeavor to bring this aspect into focus, then bring it into question, and finally I will offer an alternative interpretation. Ivanhoe’s Interpretation Ivanhoe suggests that Xunzi considered there to be a unique solution 2 to achieving a flourishing society, and that that way had already been realized by the sage kings of the past. Ivanhoe states that “Xunzi believed that the society worked out by the sages of old provided the one and only way to a happy and flourishing world.” 3 Further, this way was in a sense a reflection of the order of the world itself. 4 “The Confucian rituals provide a way to realize an orderly design inherent in the world.” 5 In Ivanhoe’s view the rites provide not just “a way,” but “a way” that is considered to be “the unique way.” “Xunzi believed the rites showed human beings the unique way to cooperate with heaven and earth for the fulfillment of all three, a way that realized a design inherent in the universe itself.” 6 If the world has a singular order, and rites are essentially a social mapping of the real and singular relations in nature, then there can be only one legitimate social construction. At least, this is how Ivanhoe’s reading seems to have it. Ivanhoe goes further, suggesting that not only is there only one legiti- mate dao, but that it is fixed and changeless: 7 This is the key to understanding how Xunzi justified the Confucian rites as the “unalterable patterns” for human beings to follow. The rites alone pro- vide for universal harmony and the common flourishing of heaven, earth and human beings. Only the dao offers the possibility of this happy symmetry. 8 Ivanhoe makes his stance abundantly clear: Xunzi’s position is that the way of the sages was complete, unchanging, and univocal: [T]he rites that human beings follow, would seem to require regular adjustment and modification. Xunzi did not see things this way. He did