What is the difference between neo confucianism and confucianism

A common way to understand Confucian ethics is that it is a virtue ethic. Tiwald distinguishes between something like the broad sense of virtue and a philosophical usage that confers on qualities or traits of character explanatory priority over right action and promoting good consequences. Table of Contents. In addition, scholars such as Tai Chen introduced an empiricist point of view into Confucian philosophy. Toward the end of the 19th century the reaction against Neo-Confucian metaphysics took a different turn.

Instead of confining themselves to textual studies, Confucian scholars took an active interest in politics and formulated reform programs based on Confucian doctrine. Because of foreign threats to China and the urgent demand for drastic political measures, the reform movements failed; in the intellectual confusion that followed the Chinese revolution of , Confucianism was branded as decadent and reactionary.

With the collapse of the monarchy and the traditional family structure, from which much of its strength and support was derived, Confucianism lost its hold on the nation. In the past, it often had managed to weather adversities and to emerge with renewed vigor, but during this period of unprecedented social upheavals it lost its previous ability to adapt to changing circumstances.

It is doubtful, however, that Confucianism ever again will play the dominant role in Chinese political life and institutions that it did in past centuries. The Chinese Communist victory of underlined the uncertain future of Confucianism. Many Confucian-based traditions were put aside. The Ch'eng brothers were responsible for the introduction of the concept li , "principle," which became the pivot point of Neo-Confucian metaphysics, psychology, and ascetical doctrine.

The central figure in this Confucian revival, however, was Chu Hsi He creatively synthesized the rather disparate contributions of these earlier thinkers into a coherent, powerful vision.

His commentaries on the Four Books3 wove a classical foundation for this vision so persuasively that in his interpretation was made normative for the civil service examinations. The Ch'eng-Chu school, so called because of the centrality of the Ch'engs' contribution to Chu Hsi's system, thus achieved the status of an officially sanctioned orthodoxy.

Though it maintained this central position down to the modern era, the Ch'eng-Chu school was not the only school of Neo-Confucian thought. The Neo-Confucian movement developed metaphysical and ascetical dimensions essential to revitalizing the Confucian tradition. In the course of this, it also reshaped the classical canon as attention focused particularly on works which spoke to these new concerns.