Orginal Article

“Learning to Be Human” as Moral Development—A Reconstruction of Mengzi’s Views on the Heart-Mind

  • YAO Xinzhong
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  • School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China, Beijing 100872, China

Published date: 15 Jun 2018

Copyright

2018 Higher Education Press and Brill

Abstract

Learning to be human is a highly important concern in Confucian philosophy. This paper is intended to provide a special perspective on this theme through an attempt to reinterpret Mengzi’s views on the heart-mind (xin心) as “learning to be human” and to reconstruct these views into a multi-staged process of moral development. Through an intentional interpretation of various arguments advanced by Mengzi, we seek to justify that his views on the heart-mind and moral virtues can be seen as a learning process and that he subjects the inborn beginnings of goodness to a delicate development before they can actually qualify a person as fully human. Having examined the three dimensions of Mengzi’s learning, the intellectual, the practical and the spiritual, we will come to the conclusion that whether innate or a posteriori, initial good senses and knowledge require a moral and spiritual process of learning to develop which is, to Mengzi, crucial for one to become a genuine human being.

Cite this article

YAO Xinzhong . “Learning to Be Human” as Moral Development—A Reconstruction of Mengzi’s Views on the Heart-Mind[J]. Frontiers of Philosophy in China, 2018 , 13(2) : 194 -206 . DOI: 10.3868/s030-007-018-0015-7

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