The Classics are Merely Footnotes to My mind: Neo-Confucianism as Religious and Pedagogical Practice

The project critically investigates the notion of Confucianism as a philosophy.

That the notion is inappropriate becomes clear when studying the Wang Yangming movement in 16th century China, a movement which was action oriented and concerned about religious ideas and rituals. Its practitioners organized lectures and discussion meetings. The earlier textual and theoretical approach of Neo-Confucianism was abandoned for a more oral and practical one.

Studies for the civil service examinations and reading of Classical texts were relativized, as summarized in the striking epithet: “The Classics are merely footnotes to my mind”.The concepts Neo-Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism, formulated in the West around 18th century, distort our understanding of Chinese philosophical ideas and religious culture.

The concepts make us overlook the fluidity between those traditions.

Using primary sources from the 16th century and theories from the field of conceptual history, these so called “isms” will be analyzed as well as key indigenous concepts such as knowledge and learning.China now promotes Confucianism as its cultural heritage, worth adapting to current society and spreading globally.

It is urgent to study this tradition in the West independently, to be able to interact with it critically without subordinating our understanding to the communist state’s point of view. The project will be conducted over a three-year period in collaboration with researchers at Hamburg University.