Wang Yangming · Philosophy

Liangzhi: The Innate Knowing of the Good

Wang&rsquo;s mature teaching: <em>liangzhi</em>, the innate moral knowing present in every person - the immediate sense of right and wrong that needs no deliberation. Borrowed from Mencius and vivid in the instinctive alarm at a child about to fall into a well, its &lsquo;extension&rsquo; to every affair is, for Wang, the whole of the Way.

What you'll be able to recall

You learned that liangzhi is the innate moral knowing every person has - an immediate sense of right and wrong needing no deliberation - which Wang took from Mencius and made the centre of his teaching, so that &lsquo;extending liangzhi&rsquo; ( zhi liangzhi ) is the whole of the Way. Explain the idea and the example…

Leads to Mencius.

Begin this lesson →
← All lessons on Wang Yangming

epoché — a humanities education that remembers you.