 Xunzi thus reasserted the Confucian tradition of imposing order onto society through uncompromising but benevolent rule to ensure that the anarchy of moral discourse that abounds in its absence does not culminate in the deterioration of civil society. He held these views not merely because they offered a pragmatic solution to Zhuangzi’s radical skepticism, but also because they were consistent with his cynical view of human nature. Our nature is inherently corruptible and bad, incapable of sustaining civil order if left to itself, and therefore demands correction by the institutions of society. More generally, and quite against the convictions of his Daoist counterparts, Xunzi held that morality is an invention to control man’s nature, because nature itself, in its endless transformations and unpredictable spontaneity, cannot be relied on to constrain human passion sufficiently to maintain the requisites of social harmony.