Cheng Hao

Cheng Hao (1032–1085) was a Chinese Confucian philosopher of the Song dynasty. His account of human nature, moral cultivation, and the unity of principle influenced later Neo-Confucian thought.

Confucianism: A Chinese ethical and philosophical tradition centered on moral cultivation, social relationships, and good government. Cheng Hao renewed Confucian teaching as a philosophy of moral character and social life.
Li (principle): The ordering principle or pattern that, in Neo-Confucian thought, gives things their intelligible form. Cheng Hao’s account of principle grounds moral order throughout the world.
Cheng Yi: A Song dynasty Confucian philosopher and Cheng Hao’s younger brother, known for a more analytical account of principle. Comparing the brothers shows how closely related teachings developed different emphases.
Cheng-Zhu school: The Neo-Confucian tradition associated with the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi, later dominant in Chinese education. Cheng Hao’s thought became one of the foundations of this influential school.
Song dynasty: A Chinese dynasty that ruled from 960 to 1279 and saw major developments in government, commerce, and scholarship. Its intellectual and political setting shaped Cheng Hao’s work and its later reception.
Qi (Chinese philosophy): The vital material force or stuff through which things take concrete form in Chinese philosophy. The distinction between principle and material force helps frame later interpretations of his thought.
Zhu Xi: A Song dynasty philosopher who systematized Neo-Confucian thought and shaped its later orthodoxy. Zhu Xi incorporated the Cheng brothers into the tradition that became the Cheng-Zhu school.
Lu-Wang school: A Neo-Confucian tradition associated with Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming that emphasizes the mind’s moral insight. Its disagreements with Cheng-Zhu interpretations mark a major later divergence from Cheng Hao’s legacy.
Analects: A collection of sayings and dialogues associated with Confucius and his early followers. Cheng Hao treated the classical Confucian inheritance as a living guide to ethical practice.
Ren (Confucianism): A Confucian virtue commonly translated as humaneness or benevolence, expressed through care for others. Cheng Hao presented humaneness as a profound responsiveness connecting people and things.

Linked from 4 pages

Zhou DunyiRelated: The Cheng brothers’ teaching helped establish the intellectual movement Zhou’s work influenced.