The Study On Xu Heng's Thought Of Knowledge And Practice

Xu Heng,a famous Neo-Confucian in Yuan Dynasty,played an important role in promoting the spread of Neo-Confucianism in the north and even in the whole country.The thought of knowledge and practice is an important part of XuHeng's Neo-Confucianism,including the recognition of Li and the practice of moral.On the whole,XuHeng's thought of knowledge and practice is generally based on the theory of ZhuXi,indirectly absorbing the theory of knowledge and practice of LuJiuyuan,whose thought is of great significance in the recognition of Li and moral cultivation.It is also the main reason that many experts and scholars believed that the thought of knowledge and practice always remains between Zhu and Lu.XuHeng's thought of knowledge and practice was formed at beginning of the Yuan Dynasty,influenced by the thought in Song Dynasty.The thought of Xu Heng mainly came from the work of Neo-Confucianism,which is got by Yao Shu from Zhao Fu and directly succeed Zhu Xi's view of the nature of things,the formation of theory before practice and knowledge and practice depended on each other.It is also indirectly absorbed LuJiuyuan's thought of first explanation and then practice.On the basis of predecessors' thought,XuHeng holds that knowledge is the recognition of Li,deed is the practice.Xu Heng advocated that the unity of knowledge and practice,and believed that knowledge must be practice.In the mean time,Xu Heng believed that knowledge and practice should go forward together and emphasized that the deed is on the basis of the knowledge and practice.Based on that,the main cultivation method of XuHeng is to combine the knowledge of the nature of things with the heart and nature.Through keeping quiet,cultivation and self-examination,one can change one's temperament and unite the knowing and doing in the aspect of cultivation.As a philosophical thought,Xu Heng's thought of knowledge and practice has played an important role in guiding his educational and political thought.In education,Xu Heng emphasized on that teaching goes together with pleasure and advocated the deed based on the knowledge.In politics,he advocated that knowledge and practice should go forward together and devoted to govern the country with Confucianism.On the whole,XuHeng's thought of knowledge and practice is stressed on the doing based on knowledge and emphasized thatknowledge and practice should go forward together.The pragmatic characteristic is the new development of Neo-Confucianism under the social background of that time and paved the way for the appearance of the philosophy of the mind in Ming Dynasty.