The Revival of Confucian Philosophy Through Its Interaction with Daoism: The Case of Sixth-Century <i>Master Liu</i> (<i>Liuzi</i>)

This paper offers the first English-language philosophical treatment of <i>Master Liu</i> (<i>Liuzi</i> 劉子)—a treatise that gives a unique insight into the intellectual life of sixth-century China. Most probably written by Liu Zhou (d. 565) and known at the Tang court, the wo...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Dawid Rogacz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2024-11-01
Series:Religions
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/12/1437
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This paper offers the first English-language philosophical treatment of <i>Master Liu</i> (<i>Liuzi</i> 劉子)—a treatise that gives a unique insight into the intellectual life of sixth-century China. Most probably written by Liu Zhou (d. 565) and known at the Tang court, the work was later neglected due to its eclectic label. This article argues that <i>Liuzi</i> integrated Confucian moral philosophy with selected Daoist ideas and responded to post-Buddhist transformations of key categories of Chinese thought in a manner that anticipates many solutions characteristic of neo-Confucian <i>lixue</i>. This includes an innovative understanding of such categories as spirit (<i>shen</i>) and heart-mind (<i>xin</i>), feelings (<i>qing</i>) and desires (<i>yu</i>), and, finally, reliability (<i>xin</i>) and balancing (<i>quan</i>).
ISSN:2077-1444