Much of the technical philosophy of Confucianism was developed by sophisticated thinkers that came well after the time of Confucius, starting in the Song dynasty. This episode is our first devoted to the foremost of these “Neo-Confucians,” Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200 CE). To help us with this introduction, we are joined by special guest Stephen C. Angle, one of the leading scholars of Neo-Confucianism.

Consider a boat: it’s the nature of a boat to move more easily over water and not over land, and there is greater harmony and order in using boats this way than in trying to drag them across roads and fields. We can also make better sense of boats as waterborne vehicles than as land-based ones. Why are all of these things true of boats? Zhu Xi’s influential view is that we must ultimately posit the existence of an intangible entity or source that he calls “Pattern” (li 理) to explain these sorts of facts, not just about the nature and orderly use of boats, but about the nature and value of human beings, human life, and so much more. Join us for a discussion of Zhu Xi’s metaphysics of Pattern. Topics that we discuss include the following: it’s implied position on the fact-value distinction, holistic vs. individualistic approaches to ethics, and the senses in which Zhu’s worldview does (and does not) call for something resembling religious belief.

Key passages

Zhu Xi’s “definition” of Pattern:

至於天下之物、則必各有所以然之故、與其所當然之則。所謂理也。

As far as things in the cosmos go, we can be certain that each has a reason by which it is as it is, and a rule to which it should conform. This is what is meant by Pattern (li 理).

(Some Questions on the Greater Learning [Daxue Huowen 大學或問]  A/512; Angle and Tiwald’s translation)

Sources and phrases mentioned

• Stephen C. Angle (more about him and his research)
• The Pursuit of Happyness (film with Will Smith)
• Neo-Confucianism (of the Song and Ming dynasties)
• Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130-1200 CE)
• Medieval philosophers outside of China: St. Anselm, Augustine, Duns Scotus, Thomas Aquinas, Moses Maimonides, Averroes, and Avicenna
• Stephen C. Angle, Growing Moral: A Confucian Guide to Life
• Stephen C. Angle and Yutang Jin, Progressive Confucianism and its Critics
• Pattern (Li 理), also translated as “principle“
• Stephen C. Angle and Justin Tiwald, Neo-Confucianism: A Philosophical Introduction
• Dai Zhen 戴震 (1724-1777, later critic of Zhu Xi)
• gewu 格物 (“investigating things,” “getting a handle on things”)
• shengyi 生意 (“life impulse”)
• li yi fen shu 理一分殊 (“Pattern is one, but its manifestations are many”)
• Tianli 天理 (Cosmic Pattern, Heavenly Pattern)
• Chen Lai 陳來, 朱熹哲學研究 (Research on the Philosophy of Zhu Xi)
• Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472–1529)
• qi 氣 (vital stuff, “ch’i“)
• Taiji 太極 (Supreme Pivot, Great Ultimate)
• Stephen C. Angle, Sagehood
• “Wholeheartedness criterion” (discussed in Steve’s and Justin’s Neo-Confucianism and Justin’s article, “Confucianism and Neo-Confucianism“)
• Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) (the name from which the adjective “Kierkegaardian” is derived, as in “Kierkegaardian faith”)
• Pascal’s Wager
• Analects 11.12 (where Confucius criticizes a student for worrying too much about the afterlife)
• jing 敬 (“reverential attention”)
• Daniel Gardner, translator, Learning To Be a Sage (translates many of Zhu Xi’s comments on reverential attention)

Our guest:
Stephen C. Angle

Co-hosts:
Richard Kim’s website
Justin Tiwald’s website