Investigate the principle in each thing, one after another, and after long effort understanding will one day connect everything.
Zhu Xi · Neo-Confucianism
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Summary
Philosopher
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Zhu Xi
1130–1200 · Neo-Confucianism · Medieval
Zhu Xi was the great synthesiser of Song-dynasty Neo-Confucianism. He set the Four Books (Analects, Mencius, Great Learning, Doctrine of the Mean) at the centre of education, and from 1313 his commentaries were the basis of China's civil-service exams for six centuries. Everything, he held, is made of principle (li), the pattern that makes a thing what it is, and material force (qi), which can be clear or murky.
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Human nature is principle and so good. We clear the murk by 'investigating things': patient study of things and texts until their principle becomes plain.
Summary card only.
Start here
Reflections on Things at Hand, tr. Wing-tsit Chan.
His own selection of what matters.
Quotations
Key ideas
Principle and material force
Li is the pattern, qi the stuff. Neither exists without the other.
Investigation of things
Study one thing, then the next, until understanding connects.
Nature is good
Following Mencius, our nature is principle; bad conduct comes from clouded qi.
Major works
Collected Commentaries on the Four Books (1190)
Exam standard from 1313.
Reflections on Things at Hand (1175)
Anthology with Lü Zuqian.
Influences
Influenced
Common misreadings
- Investigating things is not only natural science. It includes ethics and texts.
- Principle is not a Platonic form in another world. It is in things.
Famous lines Zhu Xi never said
None of the lines this library files for Zhu Xi is marked Questionable or Misattributed. That is only a fact about these cards. It is not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
FAQ
What is the best book to start with?
Reflections on Things at Hand, tr. Wing-tsit Chan. His own selection of what matters.
What is the most famous quote?
This library does not measure fame, and it does not rank lines by how often they are shared. The first line it files for Zhu Xi that is not marked Questionable or Misattributed is “Investigate the principle in each thing, one after another, and after long effort understanding will one day connect everything.” (Supplementary commentary on the Great Learning, ch. 5, summary, Summary).
What is the most misquoted line?
None of the lines this library files for Zhu Xi is marked Misattributed or Questionable. That is a fact about these cards, not a certificate that every popular sentence is theirs.
What is one key idea, in a sentence?
Principle and material force: Li is the pattern, qi the stuff. Neither exists without the other.