Wang Tingxiang Concentric Thought

Wang Ting Xiang (1474-1544), who was named as JunCHuan, is a litterateur andthinker lived in the middle period of Ming dynasty. Along with the foundation ofMing dynasty, CHENG and ZHU's Neo-Confucianism was established as the officialacademic by the dominator. In the earlier stage of this dynasty, conformism toCHENG and ZHU's Neo-Confucianism is the mainstream of the academic, and thescholar focused on the carrying out of the principle of CHENG and ZHU'sNeo-Confucianism in which they constructed their theory, and the studying of theConfucianism classcis. Meanwhile, the academic also focused on the introspection,and did not reject the concept of "BENXIN","LIANGXIN". In the medium term ofthe dynasty, a atmosphere of pursuit of peculiar and unique prevailed the academia.This trend was consisted of literature innovation, which was lead by Li Meng Yangand He Jing Ming, and XinXue motion, which was lead by Wang Yang Ming. Beingin this special period, Wang Ting Xiang, as a Confucianism intellectual and whoseacademic did not belong to certain school, brought forth many perverse opinionsinevitably.On the basis of the Confucianism classic,《SISHU》, the Neo-Confucianism ofSong dynasty had developed a thought system of LI, QI, XIN, XING, and constructedthe system of axiology and practice according to their thinking about XING andTIANDAO, which was the background of the thinker of Ming dynasty for theirthinking. In fact, there were some contradictions in the CHENG and ZHU'sNeo-Confucianism, and it's function was really limited in the overcoming of thesocial crisis and the self-cultivation. In order to put the TIANLI into the practice ofthe subject, Wang Yang Ming, as the representative of the motion of XINXUE, set upthe theory of "ZHILIANGZHI". According to the theory, by means of merging themoral criterion with the moral consciousness, the subject will stir up internal spiritualpower to put the moral principles into practice. On the contrary, Wang Ting Xiang, asa typical thinker of QI monism in the middle period of Ming dynasty, objected to thetheory of DEXINGZHIZHI and LIANGZHI, and claimed that the human nature should be modeled by moral criterion from outside. Generally, Neo-Confucianismasserted that the human nature is goodness, but Wang Ting Xiang deemed that thegood and evil blend within the human nature. In a certain sense, Wang Ting Xiangadmitted that the human is good by nature, meanwhile, he did not think that thehuman will become sages and man of virtue naturally. Wang Ting Xiang claimed thatthe human should be regularized by universal ethics.According to the Wang Ting Xiang' s ontology of YUANQI, the connotation ofDAOTI, TAIJI and TAIXU is YUANQI, instead of LI. Wang Ting Xiang thought thatLI is the attribute of QI, and its existence depend on QI, thus, QI is the noumenon.Based on the ontology of YUANQI, Wang Ting Xiang objected the dualism of thehuman nature. Wang Ting Xiang asserted that the good and evil of the human naturewill not come to being before the existence of the human, and the moral character ofthe human is formed gradually in the social life, and the mind of the human do notpossess moral reason congenitally. Because Wang Ting Xiang did not think that themind is the moral entity, he claimed that a man should recognize the moral criterion,and put it into practice, and exercise it in the social life, instead of relying onLIANGZHI, in order to promote his moral level.Upon the influence of CHENG and ZHU' s Neo-Confucianism, Wang TingXiang assimilated some ingredient of CHENG and ZHU' s Neo-Confucianisminevitably to construct his theory of human nature. At the same time, Wang' s theorypossessed some characters which was not accord with the stream of theneo-Confucianism. Firstly, Wang Ting Xiang did not think that the human nature ischangeless, and reversely, the forming of the human nature is the consequence ofsocialization. So, Wang Ting Xiang paid attention to the influence of the studying,practice and environment. Secondly, Wang Ting Xiang pointed out that XING isconnected with QI closely, and XING is good and evil. In the meantime, Wang TingXiang discussed the human nature in the ground of the social change, and recognisedit from the position of empirical and intellektualismus. As a result, the cultivation ofthe human nature depend on the cognitive ability. Lastly, Based on the value of thegoodness for the Social management, Wang Ting Xiang illuminated the essence of the goodness, and thought that the goodness means its value for social subject. Thisopinion shows that Wang Ting Xiang pay attention to the social value of the moralpractice of individual, not only personal value.