Xun Kuang was a Chinese Realist Confucian philosopher who lived during the Warring States period and contributed to one of the Hundred Schools of Thought.

A book known as the Xunzi; an influential collection of essays; is traditionally attributed to him. Xunzi witnessed the chaos surrounding the fall of the Zhou dynasty and rise of the Qin state - which upheld legalistic doctrines focusing on state control; by means of law and penalties. Xunzi's variety of Confucianism therefore has a darker; more pragmatic flavour than the optimistic Confucianism of Mencius; who tended to view humans as innately good. Like Shang Yang; Xunzi believed that man's inborn tendencies were evil; and that ethical norms had been invented to rectify mankind.