Without mentioning Xunzi specifically, Changzai, centuries later, diagnosed this problem succinctly:

When the Way of Heaven and the nature of man function separately, there cannot be sincerity. When there is a difference between the knowledge obtained by following Heaven and that obtained by following man, there cannot be perfect enlightenment... And when the nature of man the Way of

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Heaven are united in harmony, they will be preserved and abide in sincerity. [19]

Xunzi's critics would argue that he overreacted to Mencius by strictly separating the partners of the cosmic triad. As a result he did not fully appreciate the moral and aesthetic powers of Heaven and Earth nor completely understand their interactive harmonies. Returning to the poetic lines quoted above, we should, contrary to Xunzi's apparent advice to regulate it, simply admire Heaven as great; and, instead of genetic engineering, we should allow species to "multiply by themselves"; and we should stand in awe of Heaven and Earth rather than exploiting them for our own use. The cosmic trinity can be sustained, as the Doctrine of the Mean says, only if human beings "assist in the transforming and nourishing process of Heaven and Earth." [20]

　　 In order to avoid the anthropomorphism he found in Mencius, Xunzi's critics claim that he still preserves an anthropocentrism that leads him to treat Heaven and Earth more like objects rather than subjects in their own right. This is contrary to the Confucian tradition, as Tu Wei-ming believes:

Confucian humanism is therefore fundamentally different from anthropocentrism because it professes the unity of man and Heaven rather than the imposition of the human will on nature. In fact, the anthropocentric assumption that man is put on earth to pursue knowledge and, as knowledge expands, so does man's domination over earth, is quite different from the Confucian perception of the pursuit of knowledge as an integral part of one's self-cultivation. [21]

Please note that, technological exploitation aside, the spiritual Titans of India might be said to have the same agenda. The earth and our bodies are viewed as not ends in themselves, but as means to a liberation that exceeds even the gods. Neither Heaven, especially in Buddhaghosa's

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doctrine of celestial destruction where the gods are forced into the human realm, [22] nor Earth can maintain their integrity or value in such a view.

　　 Benjamin Schwartz sums up this traditional view of Xunzi by claiming that he represents a "paradigm of the positivist-technological orientation" and is the best Chinese example of the "scientific humanism" of the West. [23] Since Xunzi lacks an appreciation of basic theoretical investigation, he is more like Francis Bacon than Galileo Galilei. There is more than a hint of Bacon's "knowledge is power" in the lines above. Tu Wei-Ming essentially agrees with this assessment of Xunzi, but he does add an important caveat at the end of this insightful passage:

To be sure, the belief that knowledge implies power is not totally absent in the Confucian tradition. Xunzi, for example, strongly advocates the position that since culture is man-made, the human transformation of nature is not only necessary but also highly desirable. Yet, what Xunzi proposes is hardly a form of aggressive scientism. Indeed, he is so painfully aware of the principle of scarcity that his general attitude towards natural resources is not manipulative but conservationist. [24]

In this regard Chan observes that whereas Mencius idolized sage kings Yao and Shun, Xunzi preferred Yu, who was famous for his engineering feats, specifically the diversion of nine rivers to prevent flooding. [25]

III.
　　 Machle believes that the view of Xunzi as a prototechnologist is not supported either by the famous poem or in his philosophy as a whole. Let me first present his translation of this passage and then I will reconstruct his rebuttal.

When "magnifying Tian," which is better:
(merely) to contemplate it,

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or to turn things into wealth by nurturing them?
When "following Tian," which is better:
to sing its praises, or
to make use of what occurs by conforming it to a pattern?
When "attending to the seasons," which is better:
(merely) to await them, or
to employ them productively by responding to them?
When "harmonizing with things," which is better:
(merely) to prize them, or
to transform them by manifesting their potential?
When "thinking about things." which is better:
(merely) to notice what they are on their own, or to avoid losing them, by
making them conform to their underlying rationale (li)?
(In short) which is better: to direct your concern toward that
which gives birth to things, or to assist what brings existing things to full completion.

The most controversial phrase in the beginning of this poem is "zhi tian ming er yong zhi," which Chan translates as "control the Mandate of Heaven and use it" and Hu renders as "control Nature's course and use it." Since Xunzi does not use the phrase tian ming and because the line has one too many words, Machle believes that tian is an editorial insertion. Machle justifies his own translation by noting the contextual use of tian in the same chapter and Chapter XXII of the Xunzi. Machle's translation is "make use of what occurs by conforming it to a pattern." The final zhi in the phrase, according to Xunzi's normal usage, indicates that we should use what occurs naturally as a "pattern" for cultural institutions. Machle concludes that "Xunzi's aim is not 'to control nature's course' but 'to assist things in finding their place,' so as not 'to lose their essence.'" [26]