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The Confucian Spirit of Traditional Chinese Aesthetics
Confucian aestheticsConfuciusConfucian aesthetics is an important component of traditional Chinese culture. Indeed, it made significant contributions...
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Mencius and Wang Yangming
In this chapter, after telling a concise history of the reception of Mencius’s philosophy before Wang Yangming, I compare Wang Yangming’s thought...
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Zhu ** and Later Neo-Confucians
This chapter surveys Zhu **’s influence in the Chinese intellectual histories of the Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, and offers an introduction to the...
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Mengzi’s Theory of Human Nature and Its Role in the Confucian Tradition
Mengzi’s theory of human nature is one of the most fascinating narratives in traditional Chinese intellectual history. His arguments are ambitious,...
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Discursive Understanding and Experiential Confirmation: Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi on Human Nature
The philosophy of human nature is a core issue in traditional Confucianism from which ethical doctrines and teachings of moral practice are...
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Introduction
Zhu ** 朱熹 (1130–1200) has long been widely recognized as one of, if not the most, influential philosophers of Neo-Confucianism; some even regarded...
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Zhu ** on Self-Focused vs. Other-Focused Empathy
This chapter is about issues in ethics and moral psychology that have been little explored by contemporary philosophers, ones that concern the...
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From the Liu wei 六位 (Six Positions) Discussed in the Liu de 六德 (Six Virtues) to the San gang 三綱 (Three Principles of Social Order)
The Three Principles (san gang 三綱) of the traditional Chinese ritual concept dealing with the father–son, husband–wife and ruler–minister...
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The Worldview of Zhu **
Neo-Confucianism is not just a kind of philosophy, but a particular way of life aimed at realizing the highest virtues embedded in human nature and...
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Moral Psychology: Heartmind (**n), Nature (**ng), and Emotions (Qing)
The central goals of Neo-Confucian philosophy are explaining why and how we humans can be good—and furthermore, why we should be good. For Zhu **,...
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Sŏ Kyŏngdŏk and the Rise of the Philosophy of Ki 氣
The philosophy of the Korean Neo-Confucian SŎ Kyŏngdŏk 徐敬德 (1489-1546, pen name: Hwadam 花潭) is investigated in “SŎ Kyŏngdŏk and the Rise of the...
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Dai Zhen’s Criticism and Misunderstanding of Zhu **’s Moral Theory
D ai Zhen 戴震 criticizes Song-Ming 宋明 Neo-Confucianism, especially Z hu **’s 朱熹 dichotomy between principle ( li 理) and desires ( yu 欲) and his claim that...
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The Philosophical Foundations of Chinese Civilization
The philosophical foundations of Chinese civilization manifest mainly as cosmology. In contrast to modern Western mechanistic theories of the...
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Interpretational Paradox, Implicit Normativity, and Human Nature: Revisiting Weakness of Will from a Perspective of Comparative Philosophy
This essay critiques or engages a wide range of existing works on the ancient and well-contested issue of weakness of will, from a new perspective of...
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The Confucian Canon’s Pivotal and Problematic Middle Era: Reflecting on the Northern Song Masters and Zhu **
Z hu **’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) interpretations systematized the Five Classics; moreover, he elevated the “Four Books” to such a supra-canonical status that...
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A Brief Account of the Development of the Chinese Intellectual Tradition
Unlike the world’s other ancient civilizations, which arose within relatively small geographical areas, Chinese civilization developed over a vast...
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Early Confucian Philosophy and the Development of Compassion
Metaphors of adorning, crafting, water flowing downward, and growing sprouts appear in the Analects ( Lunyu 論語), the Mencius ( Mengzi 孟子), and the Xunzi ...