The Academic Origin Of Dai Zhen’s Mencius Theory

In the process of vehement criticizing of Neo-Confucianism on its “killing people by reasoning”, Dai Zhen set up the new Neo-Confucianism with the harmony between feeling and lust, aiming at recovering original state of pre-Qin Confucianism. However, Dai Zhen’s Mencius thinking was regarded as heresy by defenders of Song studies in the Qing Dynasty. Until the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China, his philosophical thought was newly acknowledged, and academic circles successively sprang up the wave in studying his philosophical thinking so that gigantic and vigorous Dai Zhen thought was formed afterward. Specifically, one of the most controversial topics was no doubt the theoretical origin of Dai Zhen’s Mencius thinking. Scholars put forward the “Inner logic Theory” from the perspective of intellectualism, presenting the “West Coming Theory” based on the analysis of the relationship between Dai Zhen’s Mencius theory and the theology thoughts of Matteo Ricci; coming up with “Dual Source Theory” by integrating the arguments of the former two schools. Analyzing Dai Zhen’s Mencius Theory, in particular the ontology of qi, theory of human nature, views on li and yu and cultivating ways on the basis of previous studies. Guiding by Benjamin Elman’s contextualization theory, combined with the political environment, cultural environment of early Qing Dynasty, especially the tense political atmosphere caused by the harsh literary inquisition during this period, and the situation of denying Western culture resulted from Catholic religion was banned as well as the trading while favoring Confucianism atmosphere shaped by mountainous and water rich geographical feature of Huizhou. Dai Zhen’s Mencius Theory certainly has carried on the inner logic of the development of Confucianism, however, Western natural science knowledge spread by Roman Catholic missionaries, particularly the knowledge about astronomy as well as calendar played a more important role in shaping Dai Zhen’ s ontology of qi. Moreover, the geographical features and cultural environment of Huizhou renew Dai Zhen’s thinking about humanity as well as the relationship between li and yu.