Xiong Shili’s Metaphysical Theory about the Non-Separability of Substance and Function

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Xiong Shili 熊十力 (1885–1968) commands a unique and superior position among the Contemporary New Confucians. To begin with, he was the first Confucian after Wang Yangming 王陽明 (1472–1529) to inherit and promote moral spirituality in general, and moral metaphysics in particular. This moral spirituality represents the daotong 道統 (traditional heritage of truth) within Confucian thought or traditional Chinese culture.2 Second, Xiong had propounded a substantial metaphysics about the non-separability of substance and function based on the idea of the non-abiding and perpetually changing benti 本體 (ontological or original substance) promoted by Confucius and in the Book of Changes (Yijing 易經). This philosophy of the non-separability of substance and function is the foundation of New Confucianism. Third, Tang Junyi 唐君毅 (1909–78), Mou Zongsan 牟宗三 (1909–95), and Xu Fuguan 徐復觀 (1903–82)—commonly regarded as belonging to the second generation of New Confucianism—have substantially developed different aspects of Confucianism, widely influencing students of Chinese philosophy. They were all Xiong’s disciples, being deeply indebted to him for the cultivation of a sophisticated philosophical orientation and a superior personality.3