Sources of Learning: Zhu Xi’s Theory of Moral Development

As moral philosopher Zhu Xi (1130–1200) sought to nurture the autonomous moral self. In his pedagogical scheme, one ought to cultivate the innate goodness of the heart, investigate principles in things, and embody ethical standards in daily life. In Zhu Xi’s view, the ability to exercise moral autonomy is obtained through a long period of moral and ethical training under the close surveillance of one’s immediate surroundings since early childhood. For this reason, Zhu Xi emphasized the practice of social norms as well as the performance of mundane rituals as the preconditions for the development of the autonomous moral self. By combining the Lesser Learning (xiaoxue 小學) with the Great Learning (daxue 大學), Zhu Xi articulated an integrated vision of moral development from the heteronomous performing of ethical duties to the autonomous embodiment of moral principles.

500 years of Old Chinese phonology

This article introduces research on Old Chinese phonology before the Qing dynasty by reviewing the important relevant literature of recent intellectual historians. The article has six parts. The first section is an introduction. The second through fourth parts review the views and arguments over how to understand the works of several important linguists, treating respectively the Southern Song (§ 2, containing Wú Yù 吳棫, Zhū Xī 朱熹 etc.), the Yuan (§ 3, containing Dài Tóng 戴侗, Liú Yùrǔ 劉玉汝, Xióng Pénglái 熊朋來 etc.), and the Ming (§ 4, containing Yáng Shèn 楊慎, Jiāo Hóng 焦竑, Chén Dì 陳第 etc.). Section 5 discusses several methodological issues that concern researchers today, including the historical emergence of three methodologies and methodological issues in researching the history of scholarship. Finally, I point out those topics in need of further investigation.

Daoxue Conception of the Song Imperial Temple: Zhu Xi and His Disciples

Chapter 6 focuses on the link between the eleventh-century ritual discussions on imperial ancestral sacrifices and the Daoxue conception of the Imperial Temple, as represented by the prominent Daoxue scholar Zhu Xi 朱熹‎ (1130–1200) and some of his best students in ritual scholarship. With a special focus on Zhu Xi’s Yili jingzhuan tongjie儀禮經傳通解‎, the chapter demonstrates how Zhu’s and his students’ perception of the Imperial Temple and relevant ritual ideas were deeply influenced by previous ritual discourses, especially those launched by New Learning scholars in Northern Song ritual debates.

Constraint and li, work and qi: Deacon and Zhu Xi

In this article, I bring together the famous American semiotician Terrence Deacon and the most famous proponent of Neo-Confucianism, Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200). I focus on two of Deacon’s central concepts, constraints and work. All systems are constrained in some way, i.e. they behave in certain ways, but not in all ways. And “work” means that in their existence they make some difference: a gas in thermal equilibrium does not produce work. I bring these notions together with Zhu Xi’s concepts of li 理 and qi 氣. Li can be understood as internal articulation of a system or an event, its “veins.” And qi is the power of existence of a system or an event, its “energy.” In this light, I discuss the topics of the priority of li, the coagulation of qi, the normativity implied in the li, and self-cultivation. A connection to Deacon can give us new tools to make sense of those ancient topics of Chinese philosophy, and a connection to Zhu Xi can give semiotics in general and Deacon’s theory in particular an extension to certain fields that have been underdeveloped in Western thought, for instance self-cultivation.