Neo-Confucianism

A philosophical revival of Confucianism that developed in Song-dynasty China, combining Confucian ethics with metaphysical ideas shaped partly by Buddhism and Daoism.

Confucianism: A Chinese ethical and political tradition centered on human relationships, ritual, learning, and exemplary conduct. Neo-Confucian thinkers revived this tradition while reworking its intellectual foundations.
Zhou Dunyi: An eleventh-century Chinese philosopher whose cosmology connected the Supreme Ultimate with yin-yang and the Five Phases. His diagram and commentary helped launch Song-dynasty metaphysical reconstruction.
Cheng-Zhu school: The Neo-Confucian lineage associated with the Cheng brothers and Zhu Xi, emphasizing principle and investigation of things. It became the dominant orthodox school and supplied a standard method of study.
Four Books: A collection of four Confucian texts that became central to education and examination study under Zhu Xi’s influence. Zhu Xi’s commentaries made these works the principal curriculum for later scholars.
Li (principle): The organizing principle or pattern that makes things what they are in Chinese philosophy. Neo-Confucian accounts use li to explain both cosmic order and moral norms.
Zhang Zai: A Song-dynasty philosopher who explained the world through the transformations of qi. His account gave qi a central role in a Confucian cosmology.
Lu-Wang school: A Neo-Confucian lineage associated with Lu Jiuyuan and Wang Yangming, emphasizing the mind’s moral principle. Its focus on innate moral understanding provides a major alternative to Cheng-Zhu inquiry.
Imperial examination: A system of civil-service examinations used to select officials in imperial China. Neo-Confucian commentaries became required intellectual currency for candidates in later dynasties.
Qi (Chinese philosophy): The vital material force through which things take shape and change in Chinese cosmology. Its interaction with principle explains the differentiated, embodied world.
Cheng Hao: An eleventh-century Chinese philosopher who emphasized moral awareness and the unity of all things. His teaching shaped the Cheng brothers’ influential account of principle and moral cultivation.

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