The Cheng Brothers' Onto-theological Articulation of Confucian Values

Author: Huang, Yong

Source: Asian Philosophy, Volume 17, Number 3, November 2007 , pp. 187-211(25)

Publisher: Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

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Abstract:

In this article, I attempt to provide a new interpretation of li (commonly translated as 'principle') in the neo-Confucian brothers Cheng Hao and Cheng Yi. I argue that (1) the two brothers' views on li are not as radically different as many scholars have made us to believe; (2) li in both brothers is a de-reified conception, referring not to some entity, including the entity with activity, but to activity, the life-giving activity of the ten thousand things; and (3) this life-giving activity, in terms of its mysterious wonderfulness, is called shen (literally meaning 'God' or 'divinity'), and thus we have a Confucian theology (shen-talk) in the Cheng brothers, very similar to the Christian theology of creativity by Gordon Kaufman.

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1080/09552360701708704

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