Abstract

This essay is an examination of the perception during the Song dynasty of moral life and human nature as reflected in the moral thought of Zhu Xi 朱熹. It is based on the assumption that for every historical period there is a corresponding particular type of morality.1 The thesis that this analysis defends is the existence of an immanent transmoral dimension within Neo-Confucian morality. This dimension is fully immanent as a constantly present grounding of the individual. It is also fully transmoral as a capacity that enables the individual to surpass conventional notions of morality or moral norms and practices, and to reach the ultimate source of morality. The latter is inward but anchored in a higher...