Mencius and Wang Fuzhi

Abstract

Wang Fuzhi develops from the doctrine of Mencius a moral philosophy based on the doctrine of vital energy (qi) and affective mindset (xin). Base on Mencius, Wang criticizes Gaozi, Buddhism and Laozi on the one hand, and the Cheng Brothers, Zhu Xi, Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming on the other. Wang advocates that vital energy is always good while emotions can be evil, and emphasizes the significance of the affective mindset of dao to the accomplishment of human’s natural tendency. The position humans possess in the cosmos is founded on the affective mindset of dao. Humans are able to know their own nature (xing 性) – this fact is of primary significance for humans. The daily rebirth and daily regrowth of the natural human tendency (xing 性), and the capacity of humans “to be” is made possible by human beings’s capacity to sense reflexively, by virtue of the affective mindset of dao, the natural human tendency and the being of oneself. It is only in this state of self-awareness that the natural human tendency is one’s own natural tendency and the being is one’s own being.