Moral Psychology: Heartmind (Xin), Nature (Xing), and Emotions (Qing)

Abstract

The central goals of Neo-Confucian philosophy are explaining why and how we humans can be good—and furthermore, why we should be good. For Zhu Xi, the basic answer to these questions is “because that is what we truly are.” We are inherently good, even though we do not always act this way. Too often, we are confused or mistaken, misperceiving our world and ourselves. Sometimes our emotions guide us well, but many times we overreact or fail to be moved when we should. The theoretical challenge which Zhu Xi shoulders is explaining how it could be that unreliable creatures like ourselves really are good, deep down, and also have the capacity to realize this goodness in a much more consistent and even spontaneous way.