Matthias’s Reviews > An Introduction to Chinese Philosophy > Status Update

*Ren* undergoes exactly the same transition in meaning as "virtue:" "In its earlier usage, the term referred to some manly or virile quality... however, the term gradually came to denote a moral quality characteristic of humanity." I guess when you take male as the default "man" has two distinct contrastive meanings: vs. women/children, and vs. unthinking beasts/unfeeling objects, so the switch is easy.