On Lu Shiyi’s Human Nature Theory

Lu Shiyi’s theory of human nature occupied special importance among Confucianism in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties.At that time,when the society was undergoing great changes,combined with Wang Yangming’s Philosophy,Lu Shiyi innovated and constructed a relatively integral human nature theory system on the basis of traditional Confucianism in Song dynasty.Lu Shiyi’s theory of human nature had its specific social background and theoretical origin,and at the same time it ran through the whole of Lu Shiyi’s thought.The formation of this theory was a recognition and interpretation of Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu and discussion of Confucianism’s theory of human nature in Song dynasty as well as a systematic cognition of Lu Shiyi’s own view of li and qi.Lu Shiyi’s theory of human nature well reflected the development characteristics of human nature theory in the late Ming and early Qing dynasties and had unique insights.On the basis of the Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu,he advocated "the nature of righteousness" and "the nature of makings";put forward "the nature of li and qi" and "the good nature lies in the makings".He attached great importance to the good of human nature,but never ignored the evil of human nature,who dialectically treated the good and evil of human nature.It also explained the specific methods of human nature cultivation: sincerity being the best,introspect saving time,with diligent mindfulness,unity of knowing and doing.Started from the inner morality,combining with the specific external behavior,and you would gradually close to the state of saint.Lu Shiyi’s theory of human nature was a philosophy of self-cultivation as well as benefiting the people,which had a positive influence on the later generations.However,due to the limitation of time and individual,Lu Shiyi’s theory of human nature also had obvious defects,which mainly reflected in two aspects: the contradiction between the judgment of truth and false on the fact and good and evil on the value;the contradiction between nature and nurture of makings.No matter what kind of thought,we need to analyze it dialectically in a comprehensive way.In general,Lu Shiyi’s theory of human nature made certain innovation that was on the basis of predecessors,which he maintained his opinion of good makings and proposed the Monism of good makings that was different from Neo-Confucianism of Cheng-Zhu,and deepened the comprehensive understanding of the research on theory of human nature;also helps to further understand the change of thought and characteristics of the theory of human nature thought in late Ming and early Qing dynasty.