The Study Of ZhuXi's Conception Of Emotion And Rationality

Emotion and rationality have always been important issues in philosophy.The tradition of Western rationahsm usually regards emotion and rationality as two poles——emotion is regarded as the opposite of rartionahty.However,Chinese traditional philosophy focuses more on emotion.Confucius's "benevolence " is based on emotion,which interlinks with rartionality,and that is "rationahzed emotion".The emotion of Zhu Xi's philosophy is the same as Confucius',which has long been integrarted with rational factors and completed the intemalization of rationahty.However,his doctrine also has the characteristic that moral rationahty takes precedence over emotions.The essay will mainly focus on the categones of "emotion" and "rationality" and the relationship between them in Zhu Xi's philosophy."Emotion" and "rationality" in the essay are great ideas.The discussion on them is not only limited to the concepts of emotion and rationahty themselves,instead,the scope of investigation is extended to all conoepts that embody the ideas of "emotion" and "rationaliy",such as the concepts of "benevolencen","lover","filial piety" which embody the "emotion",and the concepts of "manners" and "law" which embody the "rationality".In Zhu Xi's philosophy,the "emotion" covers Four Origins and Seven Emotions,thinking,and selfish desires;moreover,"mamers" as "the abstention and glozing of heavenly principle" and"humanity" as the "heavenly principle" in human,undoubtedly all of these belong to the concept of "rationality".There is also a kind of rational power that contains heavenly principle,that is,the "heart" of"judging emotions".Regarding the relationship between emotion and rationality,duality is reflected in Zhu Xi's philosophy On the one hand,they are consistent to some extent,which is mainly reflected in the aspects of "setting up rites according to the emotions",and "human nature is the body and the emotion is the form" as well as the "father-son concealment".First,"manners" are made by "heavenly principles" and are proposed by "emotion" of sages;secondly,four-ends sentiments such as compassion are rooted in the natures of benevalence,manner,wisdom,and Righteousness.And human nature is hard to find directly,which can be seen from four-ends sentiments.Finally,it is cut into the case of"mutual concealment form father and son":this kind of "Zhi" embodies the integration of "rationality" and "emotion".On the other hand,Zhu Xi's moral rationalist position will inevitably lead to the emphasis on"rationality",which is manifested in three aspects:"obey the manners and law","preserve heart and control emotion",and "recognize rationality and remove private".In the discussion of the two cases of striving for nation between father and son recorded in the Analects,and the well-known Puyi event in Song Dynasty,we can ee his emphasis on the manners and law.In this sense,relation love was suppressed by heavenly principle.Except for that,in Zhu Xi's philosophy,"emotion" is not only the four-ends,but also the selfish desires At this time,the rational force of"heart" is required to regulate and suppress it.Finally,heavenly principles and selfish desires from the perspective of concept are the embodiments of "rationality" and "emotion" Zhu Xi proposes to pay more attention to the justice of heavenly principle instead of the selfishness of human desires Zhu Xi's conception of emotion and rationality have a profound impact on the development of emotion philosophy in the develop ment of later Confucianism(including modem and contemporary).Besides,the reexamination at the relationship between emotion and rationality is of great significance to moral practice in nowadays,and provides some lessons for correctly handle the tension between Chinese traditional ethics that bighlights emotions and modem rule of law.