Lecture 03 What Is Neo-Confucianism?

  • An intellectual movement beginning in the Northern Song (960-1127)
    • The establishment of the Song Dynasty (960)
    • From a military general to the emperor
    • civil service examination
    • strengthen the court and weaken the local
    • the problem of the military threat from the borders
    • the problem of having too many officials, too many soldiers, and too much expense
    • China among equals
  • The main concern I – how to restore the sage's teaching
    • Is Confucianism relevant any more?
    • What, why and how?
    • Han Yu's "On the Origin of the Way" and Ouyang Xiu's "On the Root"
    • Cheng Yi's criticism
      • literary composition
      • exegesis to the Classics
    • Renew the tradition
      • by reinterpreting the Classics
  • The main concern II – how to become a perfect person
    • Being perfect means being perfect in daily behavior
    • Knowledge is not behavior
    • the importance of know how
    • a praxiology (praxeology)
  • The political and social connotations of the main concern
    • The rule for action: righteousness overrides profits
    • The emperor and the ministers
    • literati as political elite
      • officials in the court
      • officials in the local governments
    • literati as social elite
      • charitable granaries
      • private academies
  • The philosophical outline
    • The cosmos
      • heaven and earth
      • the motion of the cosmos
      • the Great Ultimate (taiji 太極)
    • The human realm (all under Heaven, between heaven and earth)
    • The inner self
  • Conclusion
    • The survival of Neo-Confucianism after the Song
    • Why and how?