四し端たん

noun

the Four Beginnings; the four sprouts

A Mencian concept referring to the four innate moral senses (compassion, shame, courtesy, and sense of right and wrong) that are the sprouts of the cardinal virtues. Used in classical Chinese philosophy and its Japanese reception.

• 孟もう子しは四し端たんの説せつで、人にん間げんの本ほん性しょうが善ぜんであることを説といた。

  Mencius argued for the innate goodness of human nature through the theory of the Four Beginnings.