Rethinking service learning in the light of Wang Yangming’s philosophy

Abstract

ABSTRACT Aimed at rethinking the concept of service learning, this article draws upon the philosophical thought of the neo-Confucian thinker Wang Yangming. The inquiry is directed at a perennial concern that the prevailing understandings of service learning may encourage patronisation and domination in the server coupled with subordination and disempowerment of the served. Following Wang’s thought, two arguments are made in this paper. First, service learning fosters love and solidarity between the server and the served through the concept of ‘one body with all things’ (wanwu yiti) and humaneness (ren). Second, service learning harmonises the ‘service’ and ‘learning’ components through the ‘unity of knowledge and action’ (zhixing heyi) that enables the servers to extend their innate knowing (liangzhi). Two major implications are highlighted from a reconceptualisation of service learning: the significance of a moral orientation of service learning; and a recommendation to enact service learning programmes that promote human unity and love.