The Theory of "The Unity of Knowledge and Action"As Liangzhi Ethics——A Study on "When A Thought Is Aroused It Is already the Presentation of Moral Knowledge and Action"
In recent years, with the assistance of the progress of comparative study on Chinese and Western philosophy, the underlying meaning of "the unity of knowledge and action"(知行合一) by Wang Yangming has been reconsidered. However, in the relevant discourse on this topic,"when a thought is aroused it is already the presentation of moral knowledge and action" (一念发动便是知亦便是行) is an important statement which has long been neglected due to its only appearance in the Complied Works of Wang Yangming's Remaining Words. It is undoubtedly the supplement of the familiar statement "when a thought is aroused it is already action" (一念发动处便即是行) and an complete explanation of "the unity of knowledge and action". It indicates that when "knowledge-action" is in the process of the moral knowledge through a sudden thought (一念良知), "knowledge" is not of experience (闻见之知) but of virtue ( 德性之知), and it also refers to will and intention, which cannot be separated from the action that aroused from thought. Moral knowledge's ability of self-reflexive enables the accomplishment of the "unity of knowledge and action". In this sense, since liangzhi is"unity of knowledge and action", therefore, this is a liangzhi ethics statement rather than epistemological statement.
Yangming Schoolthe unity of knowledge and actionliangzhi ethics
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