Zhu Xi: Selected Writings
Philip J. Ivanhoe
Abstract
This volume contains nine chapters of translation focusing on the philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), one of the most influential Chinese thinkers of the later Confucian tradition. Zhu Xi’s philosophy offers the most systematic and comprehensive expression of the Confucian tradition; he sought to demonstrate the connections between the classics, relate them to a range of contemporary philosophical issues, and defend Confucianism against competing traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. He elevated the Four Books—i.e., the Analects, Mengzi, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean—to a new and pr ... More
This volume contains nine chapters of translation focusing on the philosophy of Zhu Xi (1130–1200), one of the most influential Chinese thinkers of the later Confucian tradition. Zhu Xi’s philosophy offers the most systematic and comprehensive expression of the Confucian tradition; he sought to demonstrate the connections between the classics, relate them to a range of contemporary philosophical issues, and defend Confucianism against competing traditions such as Daoism and Buddhism. He elevated the Four Books—i.e., the Analects, Mengzi, Great Learning, and Doctrine of the Mean—to a new and preeminent position within the Confucian canon, and his edition and interpretation was adopted as the basis for the Imperial Examination System, the pathway to officialdom in traditional Chinese society. Zhu Xi’s interpretation remained the orthodox tradition until the collapse of the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) and exerted a profound and enduring influence on how Confucianism was understood in Korea, Japan, and Vietnam.
Keywords:
sincerity,
Way,
reverential attention,
pattern-principle,
investigation of things,
humaneness,
self-centered,
extension of knowledge,
ritual
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2019 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780190861254 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: July 2019 |
DOI:10.1093/oso/9780190861254.001.0001 |
Authors
Affiliations are at time of print publication.
Philip J. Ivanhoe, editor
Distinguished Chair Professor in the College of Confucian Studies and Eastern Philosophy, at Sungkyunkwan University, Seoul, Korea
More
Less
