The archery of "wisdom" in the stream of life: "wisdom" in the Four Books with Zhu Xi's reflections.

Philosophy East and West, July, 2007 by Thompson, Kirill O.

Traditional, premodern philosophies typically attempted to inculcate a state of wisdom, an in-depth comprehension of their respective domains of reflection. Confucius and his follower Mencius introduced a notion of wisdom, but it has lain dormant and largely unexplored during the past two millennia since their time. Confucius' and Mencius' notion of wisdom, its content, and its relation to their other virtues have been puzzles unanswered in the scholarship--not to mention the question, "Why this long period of dormancy?" It is time to examine this humanist form of wisdom, and to consider why it was long overshadowed and neglected. In the following, we shall follow the interpretive cues of the philosopher Zhu Xi.

Zhu Xi [TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII.]...