From Practical Learning to Chinese Substance and Western Utility: The Philosophy of Moral Education in an Era of Crises

Abstract

This chapter examines the crises of the philosophy of moral education in the Qing Dynasty. The first half concentrates on the moral education concepts of three philosophers of enlightenment, Huang Zongxi, Wang Fuzhi, and Gu Yanwu, who agonized over the fall of the Ming Dynasty, criticized the empty talk of Neo-Confucianism and advocated practical learning. The second half discusses how the philosophers responded to Western challenges in the late Qing Dynasty. It covers the advocacy by the Self-Strengthening Movement of using Confucianism as the Substance and Western science and technology as Utility—Chinese Substance and Western Utility—and discusses the reformists’ advocacy of interpenetrating Chinese learning and Western learning.