Abstract

The author reviews two recent books in the series "Cina e altri orienti" [China and other Orient]. The first volume, Anna Seidel, "Il taoismo religione non ufficiale della Cina" [Taoism, China's unofficial religion], shows how taoism has been the popular religion of China and has survived any social and political disaster. The second volume, Maurizio Scarperi, "Xunzi e il problema del male" [Xunzi and the problem of evil], considers the debate on the problem of evil that issued from the confrontation between Confucius, Mencius and Xunzi; the author points out that in Xunzi's doctrine the evil forces inborn in human nature can be contrasted by acquiring a "second nature" called "wei".