The unity of knowledge and action (Chinese: 知行合一) is a concept in philosophy created by
Wang Yangming
Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese statesman, general, and Neo-Confucian philosopher during the Ming dynasty. After Zhu ...
. It means that knowledge and action should go together and help each other. This idea says that only by behaving well can someone become wise.
Overview
In Chinese philosophy, knowledge and action were traditionally seen as related but distinct. Wang argued there was no difference between them. He thought that knowledge was knowing how to act in a situation, based on his ideas about people and their innate knowledge. He also believed that the world was always changing, rather than staying the same.
History
Wang Yangming
Wang Shouren (, 26 October 1472 – 9 January 1529), courtesy name Bo'an (), art name Yangmingzi (), usually referred to as Wang Yangming (), was a Chinese statesman, general, and Neo-Confucian philosopher during the Ming dynasty. After Zhu ...
developed the concept during the
Ming dynasty
The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of ...
.
in response to a disagreement with the teachings of
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
.
Wang Yangming disagreed with the teachings of
Zhu Xi
Zhu Xi ( zh, c=朱熹; ; October 18, 1130April 23, 1200), formerly romanized Chu Hsi, was a Chinese philosopher, historian, politician, poet, and calligrapher of the Southern Song dynasty. As a leading figure in the development of Neo-Confuci ...
. Zhu Xi encouraged students to study in two parts, one theoretical and one practical. Wang believed this approach made people ineffective.
[https://philpapers.org/archive/LEDWIT.pdf]
Application
Western philosophers talk about ''
akrasia
Akrasia (/əˈkreɪziə/; from Ancient Greek ἀκρασία, literally meaning "lack of self-control" or "powerlessness," derived from ἀ- "without" + κράτος "power, rule") refers to the phenomenon of acting against one's better judgment ...
'', which is when someone does something they know is wrong on purpose. But Wang disagrees. He says that just saying you know something is wrong isn't enough. You have to actually act on what you know for it to count. For example, if a student cheats on a test but says cheating is wrong, Wang would say they don't really understand what they're saying.
See also
*
Unity of Heaven and humanity
Unity of Heaven and humanity () is an ancient Chinese philosophical concept that is found common across many Chinese religions and philosophies. The basic idea is that societal phenomena such as physiology, ethics, and politics of humanity are ...
*
Unity of religion and rule
The term refers to the unification of ritual and politics. Ritual in ritual-politics means "ritual" and religion. The word "politics" means "ritual" and politics.
In Japan, the Oracle of miko can be traced back to the ancient theocracy, includi ...
*
Virtue epistemology
Virtue epistemology is a current philosophical approach to epistemology that stresses the importance of intellectual and specifically epistemic virtues. Virtue epistemology evaluates knowledge according to the properties of the persons, or othe ...
References
{{reflist
Xinxue
Wang Yangming
Epistemology
Confucianism