Philosophical Essence of “Heart Nature” in Traditional Confucianism and Its Contemporary Transformation: A Review of Meng Peiyuan’s “Chinese Theory of Heart Nature”

Abstract

In the 1980s, Meng Peiyuan proposed the “Chinese theory of heart nature,” which classified Confucianism, Taoism and Buddhism in traditional Chinese philosophy as “the theory of heart nature.” This is an original perspective, which not only summarizes the commonalities of the heart nature theories of various schools, but also emphasizes the characteristics of heart nature theories of Confucianism. The “Chinese theory of heart nature” is the product of the “Emotional Reason School” in contemporary philosophy, involving “New Confucianism,” “Emotional Confucianism,” “Life Confucianism,” “Free Confucianism,” “Spirit Confucianism,” and so on. However, for Meng Peiyuan’s Emotional Confucianism, the “Chinese theory of heart nature” is actually just an early transitional concept. The traditional theory of heart nature is not the thought of all Confucian schools, let alone Confucianism of Confucius and Mencius, but rather a philosophical construction of NeoConfucianism in Song and Ming dynasties. Its philosophical essence belongs to the subjective philosophy of traditional ontology, so it is necessary to accept the reflection of the forefront of contemporary philosophical thought, namely, to accept the inquiry of “why subjectivity is possible.” Therefore, the contemporary transformation of the heart nature theory means deconstructing the old theory of heart nature, tracing back to the life situation of presubjectivity, and thus reconstructing subjectivity and its heart nature, especially the individual subjectivity of modernity.

Keywords

Chinese theory of heart nature / heart nature / Confucianism / philosophical essence

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