Wang Fuzhi
There is no principle floating above the physical world – order exists only within things, and history changes with its circumstances.
Placement
Late Ming thinker who lived in seclusion after the Manchu conquest: there is no principle apart from vital force (qi); history unfolds according to circumstances, not timeless patterns.
Key ideas
- Monism of qi
- Principle within things
- Historical change (shi)
Influence
Influenced by 1
Zhang Zai
influenced by
In his Commentary on Zhang Zai’s Correcting the Unenlightened (1685) Wang Fuzhi developed Zhang Zai’s philosophy of qi into a thoroughgoing monism of material force. Wang Fuzhi, Zhangzi Zhengmeng zhu (1685); SEP “Wang Fuzhi”
Evidence: AI draft
Zhang Zai › 1020–1077
Criticism
Criticizes 2
Zhu Xi
criticised
Wang Fuzhi rejected Zhu Xi’s priority of principle over material force: principle is only the pattern of qi and cannot exist apart from it (Du Sishu daquan shuo). Wang Fuzhi, Du Sishu daquan shuo; SEP “Wang Fuzhi”
Evidence: AI draft
Zhu Xi › 1130–1200
Wang Yangming
criticised
Wang Fuzhi blamed the Wang Yangming school’s teaching of innate knowing for empty, Chan-like talk detached from things and practice. Wang Fuzhi, Zhangzi Zhengmeng zhu, preface; SEP “Wang Fuzhi”
Evidence: AI draft
Wang Yangming › 1472–1529
Works
Wang Fuzhi defends Zhang Zai’s philosophy of qi against Buddhist emptiness and against the Neo-Confucian split between principle and qi.
Position
Wang Fuzhi developed Zhang Zai’s philosophy of vital force (qi) into a thoroughgoing monism. All that exists is qi; principle (li) is only the order of qi and has no existence apart from it – against Zhu Xi’s priority of principle, Buddhist emptiness and Wang Yangming’s inward turn alike. Likewise the Way exists only in concrete things and institutions. Human nature grows day by day, and desires rightly ordered are not the enemy of principle. History follows the force of circumstances (shi): institutions must change, and ancient models cannot simply be restored. His sharp distinction between Chinese and “barbarians” made him a hero of anti-Manchu nationalists around 1900.
Life & context
Wang Fuzhi was born in 1619 in Hengyang (Hunan) and passed the provincial examination in 1642. After the fall of the Ming he raised troops against the Qing and served the Southern Ming court, but withdrew, disillusioned by its factional quarrels. He then lived for decades in poverty and seclusion, latterly below Stone Boat Mountain (Chuanshan). He died in 1692; most of his works appeared only in the 19th century.
Further main works
- Outer Commentary on the Book of Changes (Zhouyi waizhuan, 1655)
- The Yellow Book (Huangshu, 1656)
- On Reading the Comprehensive Mirror (Du Tongjian lun, 1691)
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