Venerating Virtue and Inquiring into Learning: A Study of Wu Cheng's Philosophical Thought

Author: Fang Xudong
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-04-01
Features: This book presents a systematic study of the philosophical thought of the Yuan Dynasty Confucian scholar Wu Cheng. The author employs a research method that combines textual analysis with modern interpretation, placing Wu Cheng within the broader historical context of the New Confucianism of the Song Dynasty. Following the cognitive logic of "the Way as the Heart-Mind—Learning—Application," the book examines and organizes propositions and doctrines such as "Principle Precedes Qi," the theory of the Taiji, "Principle—Distinction," accounts of nature, the study of the Heart-Mind, learning for breadth, the essence and sequence of learning, methods of learning, and methods of self-cultivation. Through this, it comprehensively elucidates the theoretical system of Wu Cheng's philosophical thought, highlighting and revealing its fundamental characteristics and historical significance.
From the perspective of the problem awareness, the concept of the transmission of the Way, and the cultivation methods reflected in Wu Cheng's philosophy, as well as his overall academic direction and framework, Wu Cheng is not a moderate between Zhu Xi and Lu Ji, but primarily an inheritor of Zhu Xi's thought and should be termed "Post-Zhu Xi Studies."
Theoretically, Wu Cheng was the first to propose the proposition of "Principle Exists within Qi" in the history of Chinese philosophy. In the history of the "Heart-Mind School," Wu Cheng's views represent an inheritance of the entire Song Dynasty Confucianism, not just Lu Jiuyuan's Heart-Mind School. In terms of learning methods, Wu Cheng's vast academic framework and the emphasis on understanding principle as the primary means of knowledge acquisition fully reflect the path of "seeking learning through inquiry" re-emphasized by Zhu Xi. Moreover, Wu Cheng's emphasis on reverence as the foundation of knowing and acting demonstrates that his understanding of "revering moral nature" largely inherits the tradition of the "reverence for propriety" of the Cheng-Zhu school.