Learning as a way of living: Lu Xiangshan and the neo-Confucian orientation to learning

This dissertation examines Lu Xiangshan's overall approach to learning. Instead of depicting Lu as a philosopher who holds to an extreme subjective idealist system, this dissertation proposes to view Lu from another angle and offers a coherent analysis of Lu's understanding of the Confucian learning project.;The Confucian learning project is essentially a project of learning to be human. It aims at a transformation of one's whole being with an emphasis on the moral and spiritual dimensions. I propose to understand Lu's idea of learning to be human in three respects. First, learning to be human, in Lu's view, fundamentally requires an existential decision of the participant. It is a personal commitment to a way of life and it demands the person's whole energy, concentration, and determination. Second, learning to be human is a spiritual exercise which transcends the moral dimension. A cosmic sense about the unity of oneself with the universe is gained through this exercise. Viewing from this angle, I interpret Lu's cosmological thought and his idea of "mind is principle" not as extreme philosophical ideas but as spiritual exercise methods. Third, learning to be human necessarily has a socio-political dimension. Through an examination of Lu's idea of the duty of a shijunzi , I demonstrate that the project of learning to be human, for Lu, does not stop at the moral purification of the self. To fulfill one's duty as a shijunzi, one must engage in an unceasing learning process which goes beyond the limit of the self.