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?

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