Wang Longxi's Debate On Conscience And Knowledg

What is the relationship between conscience and knowledge? This question has been an important point of discussion in the Confucian tradition,dating back to the time of Confucianism’s Confucius and Mencius,and has since been hotly debated by many scholars.Wang Yangming proposed that ’conscience does not exist because of what one sees and hears,but what one sees and hears is not the use of conscience’,discussing the relationship between conscience and knowledge in terms of body and application.Wang Longxi followed Wang Yangming’s view of conscience and put forward the idea that "seeing is in conscience",deepening the discussion of the relationship between conscience and knowledge.The first chapter traces the pair of concepts of conscience and knowledge,which were first proposed in the Confucian and Mencian periods,but were not widely discussed.During the Song and Ming dynasties,the relationship between conscience and knowledge was hotly debated by scholars.Zhang Zai first proposed the dichotomy between the knowledge of virtue and the knowledge of seeing and hearing,laying the foundation for the discussion of the distinction between conscience and knowledge.Zhu Xi and Lu Jiuyuan produced a heated debate on the question of which came first: respect for virtue or knowledge of the Way.Wang Yangming made it clear that there was a relationship between conscience and knowledge that was ’not stagnant but not divorced’.There are also theories from Er Cheng and the Middle and Late Ming periods.The second chapter focuses on the formation of knowledge.Wang Longxi inherits Yangming’s view that conscience is the heart of heaven and earth,void and ready for all changes,and is therefore the former subject-object differentiator,and provides a place for the formation of knowledge.The differentiation of subject and object stems from the activation of intention,"the use of intention is the object",and where consciousness is activated,there must be an object of intention,and thus the differentiation of subject and object.The interaction between the cognitive subject and the cognitive object results in the formation of knowledge.The third chapter analyses the presentation and obscuring of conscience by knowledge.According to Wang Longxi,conscience and knowledge are one and the same,with conscience being the essence of knowledge and knowledge being the application of conscience.Everyone has a conscience,a common consciousness and feeling,and the objectivity of knowledge is thus formed based on the role of intersubjectivity.Since knowledge has objectivity,it is possible to obscure conscience,which is why Wang Longxi emphasizes the work of ’turning knowledge into conscience’.Chapter 4 explores how Wang Longxi transforms knowledge into conscience.On the one hand,"turning knowledge into conscience" does not deny the independent value of knowledge;on the other hand,it identifies the intrinsic connection between conscience and knowledge,which are not opposed to each other.If one is caught up in knowledge,one is likely to lose one’s mind.Therefore,it is necessary to break the attachment to knowledge in order to return to the original conscience.At the same time,Wang Longxi does not deny the objective status and independent significance of knowledge,but hopes to establish conscience in order to transcend the limitations of knowledge.In short,in the context of Confucianism as a whole,conscience and knowledge are not even remotely the same,but they are indistinguishable.Conscience can guide the acquisition of knowledge,while the accumulation of knowledge can also help to present conscience.Wang Longxi’s distinction between conscience and knowledge does not dissolve knowledge with conscience,nor does it dissolve conscience with knowledge.