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Asian Philosophy > Chinese Philosophy > Chinese Neo-Confucianism > Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism > Wang Fuzhi
Wang Fuzhi
About this topic
| Summary | Wang Fuzhi (Wang Fu-chih王夫之, 1619-1692) was one of the most (if not the most) prolific philosophy writers in the history of Chinese philosophy, and his contributions to the reinvention of Confucianism could not be enumerated. Wang thought that Neo-Confucianism developed to his times has greatly distorted the essence of classical Confucianism, and vowed to spend his mature life to rediscovering and reinvigorating the ideas in the classics themselves. By writing massive commentary on the classics, Wang’s own philosophy emerged as a new form of qi-naturalism derived from the Yijing, as well as a new form of moral psychology informed by Mencius’ conviction in the goodness of human nature. |
| Key works | Even though there are many books and articles on Wang Fuzhi in Chinese, due to the absence of English translation of Wang’s copious works, there is virtually little research on his philosophy in English. Fortunately, we have Black 1989 that provides a comprehensive introduction to Wang’s metaphysics, his epistemology and his moral philosophy. Among current scholars writing in English, JeeLoo Liu has done the most work on Wang Fuzhi, reconstructing his philosophy of history, his metaphysics and his moral psychology. Liu 2001 is an early work on Wang’s philosophy of history, Liu 2011 reconstructs Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi’s view on qi into qi-realism, and Liu 2012 takes Wang’s moral psychology to defend a form of social sentimentalism. |
| Introductions | Black, Alison Harley. Man and Nature in the Philosophical Thought of Wang Fuzhi. Seattle, WA: University of Washington Press. 1989. This is the first systematic study of Wang Fuzhi’s philosophy in English. This book is well written and provides a good introduction to Wang’s philosophy. Liu 2011 tackles the issue of fact and value in neo-Confucian qi-philosophy championed by Zhang Zai, Luo Qinshun (羅欽順 1465-1547), Wang Tingxiang (王廷相1474-1544) and Wang Fuzhi. It is not a historical survey but an analytic reconstruction of this qi philosophy into qi-realism. Liu 2012 engages in a comparative study on Thomas Nagel, Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi in terms of their views on altruism or humaneness. It further suggests a social sentimentalist proposal, inspired by Wang Fuzhi’s view, for developing altruism in contemporary society. |
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Related
Siblings
- Zhou Dunyi (9)
- Shao Yong (7)
- Zhang Zai (23)
- Cheng Hao (16)
- Cheng Yi (21)
- Lu Xiangshan (11)
- Zhu Xi (108)
- Wang Yangming (94)
- Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism, Misc (100)
Contents
9 found
Order:
- W ang Fuzhi’s Criticism of Buddhism and Its Limitations.Mingran Tan - 2018 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 17 (3):381-400.Wang Fuzhi’s 王夫之 remarks on Buddhism have not been given sufficient attention despite increasing research on him. The few works on this topic either focus on just one aspect of his view of Buddhism or fail to disclose the purpose and uniqueness of his attack of it. This essay analyzes his view of Buddhism comprehensively, in particular his insight into the paradox of Buddhist universal love and his rejection of Buddhist retribution and reincarnation from Confucian righteousness and qi 氣-monism. In (...)
- Moral Reason, Moral Sentiments and the Realization of Altruism: A Motivational Theory of Altruism.JeeLoo Liu - 2012 - Asian Philosophy 22 (2):93-119.This paper begins with Thomas Nagel's (1970) investigation of the possibility of altruism to further examine how to motivate altruism. When the pursuit of the gratification of one's own desires generally has an immediate causal efficacy, how can one also be motivated to care for others and to act towards the well-being of others? A successful motivational theory of altruism must explain how altruism is possible under all these motivational interferences. The paper will begin with an exposition of Nagel's proposal, (...)
- Mou Zongsan and Tang Junyi on Zhang Zai’s and Wang Fuzhi’s Philosophies of Qi: A Critical Reflection.Wing-Cheuk Chan - 2011 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 10 (1):85-98.Fuzhi’s philosophies of qi. In this essay, both the strength and weakness of their interpretations will be critically examined. As a contrast, an alternative interpretation of the School of qi in Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism will be outlined. This new interpretation will uncover that, like Leibniz, Zhang Zai and Wang Fuzhi introduced a non-substantivalist approach in natural philosophy in terms of an innovative concept of force. This interpretation not only helps to show the limitations of Mou Zongsan’s and Tang Junyi’s understandings of (...)
- The Is-Ought Correlation in Neo-Confucian Qi-Realism: How Normative Facts Exist in Natural States of Qi.JeeLoo Liu - 2011 - Contemporary Chinese Thought 43 (1):60-77.
- Liu, Liangjian 劉梁劍, Heaven, Humans, and Boundary: An Exposition of Wang Chuanshan’s Metaphysics 天· 人· 際· 對王船山的形上學闡明: Shanghai 上海: Shanghai Renmin Chubanshe 上海人民出版社, 2007, 12+271 pages. [REVIEW]JeeLoo Liu - 2009 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 8 (1):105-108.
- The status of cosmic principle (li) in neo-confucian metaphysics.Jeeloo Liu - 2005 - Journal of Chinese Philosophy 32 (3):391-407.In this paper, I attempt to make use of Western metaphysical taxonomy to explicate the cosmological variances in Chinese philosophical schools, especially with regard to the debates among the Neo-Confucian thinkers. While I do not presume that Chinese philosophers dealt with the same Western issues, I do believe that a comparative study of this nature can point to a new direction of thinking concerning the metaphysical debates in Neo-Confucianism. This paper is divided into three parts. In Part I, I employ (...)
- Contemporary Chinese studies of Wang Fuzhi in Mainland China.Sky Liu - 2004 - Dao: A Journal of Comparative Philosophy 3 (2):307-330.
- Is Human History Predestined in Wang Fuzhi’s Cosmology?Jeeloo Liu - 2001 - Journal of Chinese Philosophy 28 (3):321–338.In traditional Chinese cosmology, this pattern could be very well explained in terms of the fluctuation of yin and yang, or as the natural order of Heaven. This cosmological explanation fits natural history well. There are natural phenomena such as floods, draughts, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, etc., that are beyond human control. These events have their determining factors. Once those factors are present, a natural disaster, however unfavorably viewed by humans, is doomed to take place. The view that natural history is (...)
- Wang Fu-Chih’s Revolt against the Domination of Li.Yung Kim & ik - 1982 - Journal of Chinese Philosophy 9 (3):291-305.
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