Wang Yangming · Philosophy
Wang’s radical reinterpretation of <em>gewu</em>: not the ‘investigation of things’ Zhu Xi taught, but the <em>rectification of affairs</em> - correcting the mind’s own engagements. Cultivation happens not in withdrawal and study but in the very midst of action, where the innate knowing must be extended into each deed.
You learned that Wang reinterpreted gewu from Zhu Xi’s ‘investigation of things’ into the rectification of affairs (correcting the mind’s engagements by extending liangzhi into them), so that moral effort ( gongfu ) is exercised in the midst of affairs rather than in withdrawal. Explain the rei…
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