Neo-Confucianism Metaphysics, Mind, and Morality [Hardcover]

Solidly grounded in Chinese primary sources, Neo Confucianism: Metaphysics, Mind, and Morality engages the latest global scholarship to provide an innovative, rigorous, and clear articulation of neo-Confucianism and its application to Western philosophy.

• Contextualizes neo-Confucianism for contemporary analytic philosophy by engaging with today’s philosophical questions and debates
• Based on the most recent and influential scholarship on neo-Confucianism, and supported by primary texts in Chinese and cross-cultural secondary literature
• Presents a cohesive analysis of neo-Confucianism by investigating the metaphysical foundations of neo-Confucian perspectives on the relationship between human nature, human mind, and morality
• Offers innovative interpretations of neo-Confucian terminology and examines the ideas of eight major philosophers, from Zhou Dunyi and Cheng-Zhu to Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi
• Approaches neo-Confucian concepts in an penetrating yet accessible way

Preface ix

Acknowledgments xi

Introduction 1

Part I Neo?-Confucian Metaphysics: From Cosmology to Ontology 29

1 From Nothingness to Infinity: The Origin of Zhou Dunyi’s Cosmology 31

2 The Basic Constituent of Things: Zhang Zai’s Monist Theory of Qi 61

3 Cheng–Zhu School’s Normative Realism: The Principle of the Universe 85

4 Wang Fuzhi’s Theory of Principle Inherent in Qi 103

Part II Human Nature, Human Mind, and the Foundation of Human Morality 123

5 Zhu Xi’s Internal Moral Realism: Human Nature Is Principle 125

6 Lu Xiangshan and Wang Yangminglã!