Contemporary Chinese Study of.pdfVIP

State of the Field Report IV Contemporary Chinese Study of Mencius in Taiwan ∗ HUANG Chun-chieh (Junjie) In this article, I shall review contemporary Chinese studies of Mencius in Taiwan. In order for this review to be more focused, I shall not attempt to include all the books and articles published on Mencius. Instead, I shall focus on materials that follow these two approaches: (1) philosophical and (2) intel- lectual-historical. Contemporary scholars who take the first approach see the Mencius as a philosophical text independent of social, political, and economic changes. Consciously or unconsciously, they assume that ideas in Mencius’ philosophical system are independent of these forces. Those who take the second approach examine Mencius’ thought in historical and cultural context, and are particularly interested in the ways Mencius’ thoughts are viewed in different historical and cultural backgrounds. Although these two approaches are methodologically different, they are also complementary. In the following, I shall examine some main studies done using these two different approaches, focusing on the main issues identified and main contributions made. I. Philosophical Approaches The main issues contemporary scholars of the Mencius are interested in in- clude: (1) the basis for Mencius’ view of the goodness of human nature, the relationship between human nature and heart/mind, and contemporary significance of Mencius’ view of the goodness of human nature; (2) the es- sence of the heart/mind in Mencius’ philosophy and the relationship be- tween heart/mind and body; and (3) the implication of Mencius’ concep- tion of cultivation of qi yang qi( 養氣) and the relationships between qi and heart/min