The essence of Confucianism lies in practice, and thus the issue of the consistency between knowledge and practice was a major point of contention in the history of Confucian philosophy. Wang Yangming (1472-1528) criticized the pursuit of knowledge by...
The essence of Confucianism lies in practice, and thus the issue of the consistency between knowledge and practice was a major point of contention in the history of Confucian philosophy. Wang Yangming (1472-1528) criticized the pursuit of knowledge by the scholars of the Cheng-Zhu school, who valued the traditional learning of the Classics, for failing to contribute to moral practice and for rapidly losing the original spirit of self-cultivation. However, when dividing knowledge into that which is needed for everyday moral practice and that which is related to complex and abstruse moral judgments, Wang Yangming emphasized the latter, while the Cheng-Zhu school emphasized the former. The Yuan dynasty Confucian scholar Wu Cheng (1249-1333), who was known as significantly influenced by Lu Jiyuan’s view point about knowledge and practice, actually demanded the restoration of the original purpose of Gewu-zhizhi (格物致 知) study within the context of Neo-Confucianism. Although he criticized the lack of consistency among the adherents of the Neo-Confucian tradition on the surface, he still supported the Cheng-Zhu school’s view point about knowledge and practice and the associated Gewu-zhizhi study method, emphasizing that the ruling class responsible for politics and education should accumulate extensive moral knowledge. However, Wu Cheng did not simply advocate for the study of the classics. He identified the potential for a separation between theoretical and practical aspects of studying, and sought to combine the two by reinterpreting the concept of Bowen-yueli (博文約禮). His interpretation is distinguished from Zhu Xi's establishment of an area of Yueli (practice) separately from Bowen (knowledge), combining the two goals of completing moral knowledge and practice belonging to the study of Gewu-zhizhi.