Mencius is the Latinized version, similar to Confucius, of
the Chinese words "the Master Meng." He is a Confucian philosopher, but
his impact upon the Chinese ideals has been extremely huge. The central
philosophy of Mencius is the belief that man is innately benevolent, but because
of immoral acts that prevail in the society, his sense of moral changes.
The four venerable books in Chinese literature includes The Book of Mencius.
Mencius is sometimes called "the Second Sage," whereas Confucius "the First
Sage." In addition to the Confucian concept into which Mencius was
inculcated, Mencius added two more concepts: righteousness and duty.
Similar to Confucius, Mencius believed that monarchs,
selected by heaven, exist to promise peace and harmony to societies.
However, Mencius also believed in that if monarchs fail to bring about peace and
harmony, the peasants should, by all means, revolt against authority, overthrow
the monarch and replace him with a new one. Consequently, many times in
the Chinese history, Mencius was regarded as a potentially dangerous author, for
some government officials believed that he brought perils to the divine
authority.