The Zhang Shundian The Philosophy Study

Guanzhong Li study entered the phase of variation and revival and presented the pluralistic characteristic in Song Dynasty. Therefore, the studies which focus on of Guanzhong Li study of Song Dynasty always catch the most attention. But, the documents and materials included in the "Si Ku Quan Shu" are limited, so the work of document preservation, propagation and processing is relatively backward. At the same time, some valuable scholars are neglected by the researchers. Zhang Shundian, as a very famous scholar in the late Ming Dynasty, is a good case in point. Few researchers have done research on him, so the study on him will do great deal to get a complete understanding of Guanzhong Li study in the late Ming Dynasty.Zhang Shundian was called by Li Yong "the true confucianist in modern time and the progenitor in the central Shaanxi plain", who was one of the profound Confucian scholars in Qing Dynasty. Zhang was contemporary with the famous scholar Feng Congwu. They gave lectures respectively in the eastern and western area. Zhang's thought of "illustrious virtue as the substance; illustrating illustrious virtue for use" has special characteristic owned by the scholars who upholds the Confucianism firmly in the transition period. The thesis tries to get a deeper and objective understanding of Zhang Shundian's theory and displays its profound connotation by analyzing the limited amount of materials, and by putting him back to the former social context and thinking what he thought.Except the introduction, the thesis can be divided into six parts:In the first part, based on the limited amount of materials, the thesis displays Zhang Shundian's lifetime stories and his great works. It is proved that Zhang Shundian spent much more time in teaching than in being an official. No matter what job he did, he devoted all his life to promoting the Confucianism.The second part introduces the social context Zhang Shundian lived in and his thought origin. The social context is analyzed from two aspects:the society, politics, economy and the thought pattern. It emphasizes the representation of social transformation in late Ming dynasty and the alternation between Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming. And then, the thesis makes a profound analysis on the issue of time. Zhang's thought origin is analyzed from the point of his teachers, life idols and those great books he likes, and proves the universality and richness of his thought origin.The third part analyzes and develops Zhang Shundian's theory of "illustrious virtue as the substance" systematically. In the first place, the thesis explains the evolutionary process of the concept "illustrious virtue". The connotation of "illustrious virtue" has become the moral substance from the simple moral ideal after the doctrine of mind. In the second place, the thesis explains in detail how Zhang constructed his theory from the perspectives of reason, purpose, connotation, feature and the representation of the substance. Of which, the process of displaying the illustrious virtue is the most important part.The fourth part follows the discussion on the effort of illustrating illustrious value in the third part, and presents how to realize the requirement of the substance of illustrious value, so as to unite the original substance and the effort. Firstly, the doctrine of effort is to get indirectly. It is also a principle of abstraction which contains lots of specific practice methods. Secondly, the mean of effort is "cautiousness", which has surpassed such experiential dimension as experiences and knowledge. Then, from the point of "being diligent from myself", "learning silently" and "doing introspection", the ways to be cautiousness highlight the hierarchy of the specific effort. At last, the result of effort is "the manly character" and the service providers to the people who "the heart turning to the doctrine." And it clearly demonstrates that Zhang's effort theory is the unity of Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming's theory.In fifth part, the thesis makes a brief comparison between Zhang Shundian and Feng Congwu in terms of their academic features, so as to highlight the features of Zhang's theory. It is believed that they have the same ideas on many aspects, such as issue-consciousness, esteeming justice and exorcising evil, upholding the doctrines of Guanzhong Li study etc. But they differed from each other on the academic tendency. Feng emphasized on the doctrine of Zhu Xi and gave prominence to rationality, which is meant to correct the abuses. However, Zhang inherited the theoretical characteristics of Xu Fuyuan who preferred the Effort Theory, and laid particular stress on getting a thorough understanding of the original substance.The sixth part is the conclusion. Based on the evaluation of Zhang Shundian's philosophy, the thesis mainly discusses his contribution to inheriting and developing Guanzhong Li study style.