Wonderful—this is a richly resonant comparison. Jim Behuniak’s processual reading of Mencius as a philosopher of becoming human finds deep echoes in Winnicott and Kohut, both of whom also understand the self not as a fixed substance but as a developmental, relational, and affectively co-constructed process.
Let us explore a comparative synthesis in terms of five core themes: emergence, affectivity, environment, cultivation, and the ethical arc of becoming.
1.
Emergence: The Self as Process, Not Essence
|
Mencius (via Behuniak) |
Winnicott / Kohut |
|
“Human nature” is not a static moral essence, but a capacity to become human - an unfolding that depends on conditions. |
The self is not innate or preformed; it emerges through experience, especially in early relationships. |
- Mencius’ idea of xing (性) as potential resonates with Winnicott’s “true self”, which arises not from heredity but from the infant’s ability to find himself in the mother’s face.
- For Kohut, the self is shaped through relational functions—mirroring, idealization, and twinship—not as end-states, but as ongoing processes of integration.
The self is always in the middle of becoming—neither original essence nor finished project.
2.
Affectivity: The Role of Feelings and Proto-Ethical Capacities
|
Mencius |
Winnicott / Kohut |
|
The four beginnings (compassion, shame, respect, discernment) are affective seeds of virtue, not full virtues themselves. |
For both, affect is foundational. In Kohut, empathy is the developmental matrix. In Winnicott, the affective attunement of the caregiver creates the space for true self to emerge. |
- These rudimentary feelings are not moral laws but felt tendencies—much like Kohut’s notion of archaic needs that seek a selfobject function in the world.
- Behuniak reads Mencius as understanding that emotion is the soil from which ethical life arises—not in opposition to reason, but as its source.
3.
Environment: The Necessity of a Holding Field
|
Mencius |
Winnicott / Kohut |
|
Proper ritual, family life, and education are essential conditions for the unfolding of virtue. |
The “holding environment” (Winnicott) and selfobject milieu (Kohut) are necessary for healthy self-development. |
- Both traditions emphasize that ethical/moral/self-development cannot occur in isolation.
- For Mencius, the family and rituals embody embedded relationality; for Winnicott, the good-enough mother is the source of transitional space where the self can play and be.
The world must hold us in order for us to become ourselves.
4.
Cultivation: Growth Through Responsive Engagement
|
Mencius |
Winnicott / Kohut |
|
Moral cultivation is like tending sprouts: slow, iterative, and dependent on care. |
The self requires mirroring and recognition, but also frustration and repair - growth happens through dynamic attunement. |
- Both reject quick moral fixes or static character traits.
- Cultivation (Mencius) and therapy (Winnicott/Kohut) are both delicate arts of timing, of responding rather than imposing.
5.
The Ethical Arc of Becoming
|
Mencius |
Winnicott / Kohut |
|
To become fully human is not to obey rules but to embody humanity in relational life. |
The healthy self is not autonomous in the Western sense, but interdependent, responsive, and resonant. |
- Ethics for Mencius is embodied resonance, not commandment.
- Likewise, Kohut saw therapy’s goal not as insight, but restoration of the self’s vitality and coherence through empathic presence.
- Winnicott wrote: “It is a joy to be hidden, and a disaster not to be found.” This could easily be said of Mencius’ view on the “sprouts.”
Final Reflection: A Shared Vision of Human Becoming
Mencius (as read by Behuniak), Winnicott, and Kohut all affirm:
- The self is fragile, relational, and emergent
- Becoming human is a moral-aesthetic journey grounded in feeling and care
- Ethics begins not with rules, but with attunement to the living—self, other, and world
To become human is to be met—and to meet others—in the space where feeling and form coalesce.
Would you like a meditative synthesis titled “In the Garden of Sprouts and Mirrors: On Moral Cultivation and the Emergent Self”?