Lixue
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Lixue, also known as "Learning of the Principle," is a school of Chinese philosophy that emerged during the Song dynasty (960–1279) as part of the broader Neo-Confucian revival. This intellectual movement sought to re-establish Confucianism as the dominant philosophical force by creatively responding to Buddhist and Daoist influences.12
Key figures like Zhou Dunyi, Shao Yong, Zhang Zai, and the brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi, with Zhu Xi as the great synthesizer, developed a comprehensive humanist vision. Lixue integrated self-cultivation with social ethics and moral metaphysics, aiming to faithfully restore and apply classical Confucian insights to contemporary concerns. Cheng Yi, a prominent proponent, emphasized that the way to discover universal principles (li) is through investigating the myriad things in the universe. This rationalist approach, later expanded by Zhu Xi, significantly shaped East Asian thought for centuries.12
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ConfucianismThe Song masters…official style, a way of life informed by Confucian ethics.
Read More…official style, a way of life informed by Confucian ethics.
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ChinaThe rise of neo-Confucianism…True Way”) and later as Lixue (“School of Universal Principles”). Education, to the thinkers of this school, meant a far-deeper self-cultivation of moral consciousness, the ultimate extent of which was the inner experience of feeling at one with universal principles. These thinkers, who might be described as transcendental moralists in…
Read More…True Way”) and later as Lixue (“School of Universal Principles”). Education, to the thinkers of this school, meant a far-deeper self-cultivation of moral consciousness, the ultimate extent of which was the inner experience of feeling at one with universal principles. These thinkers, who might be described as transcendental moralists in…
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