Critical Essay | Critical Essay by Hoyt Cleveland Tillman

Critical Essay by Hoyt Cleveland Tillman

SOURCE: “Chu Hsi and Chang Shih,” in Confucian Discourse and Chu Hsi's Ascendancy, University of Hawaii Press, 1992, pp. 59-82.

In the essay that follows, Tillman states that much of Chu Hsi's philosophical development resulted from his relationship with Chang Shih and the correspondence exchanged between the two philosophers. Tillman reviews the issues they discussed, including self-cultivation and the understanding of the mind; Hu Hung's text on the relationship between goodness and one's actions and original inner nature; and humaneness and how it is achieved. Overall, Tillman notes, Chu Hsi's focus was on theory, whereas Chang Shih's emphasis was on practice.

During the second period of the Tao-hsüeh fellowship in the Southern Sung, much of Chu Hsi's development occurred in friendly intellectual exchange with Chang Shih. Chu regarded Chang as exceeding his own quickness and intuitiveness of mind, as evident in the speed and ease with which Chang comprehended ideas...
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