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The Chinese philosopher Wang Yangming (1472–1529) taught that knowing and doing are one. In moral life, he argued, truly knowing was more than being able to repeat the right words: understanding had to show in what you did. When we say we know how we ought to behave, what in our actions shows it?

Wang Yangming

PhilosophyHistory

The story behind the card

Wang Yangming was a Ming-dynasty official, general and philosopher who challenged the bookish Neo-Confucianism of his day, which put long study of the classic texts before action. In 1506 he angered a powerful court eunuch, was flogged and banished to a remote post in Guizhou, in south-west China. There, in 1508, he reached the insight behind his teaching: moral knowledge is already present in the mind, and real knowing shows itself in conduct. To know what is right and not do it, he said, is not yet to know.

Türkçe oku
Çinli düşünür Wang Yangming (1472–1529), bilmekle yapmanın bir olduğunu öğretti. Ona göre ahlakta gerçekten bilmek, doğru sözleri tekrarlayabilmekten öte bir şeydi: İnsanın bildiği, yaptığında görünmeliydi. Nasıl davranmamız gerektiğini bildiğimizi söylüyoruz; peki davranışlarımızın hangisi bunu gösteriyor?

Wang Yangming, Ming hanedanı döneminde devlet adamı, komutan ve düşünür olarak yaşadı. Klasik metinleri uzun uzun okumayı eylemin önüne koyan, dönemin kitaba dayalı Yeni Konfüçyüsçülüğüne karşı çıktı. 1506'da saraydaki güçlü bir hadımın öfkesini çekince sopa cezasına çarptırıldı ve Çin'in güneybatısındaki Guizhou'da ücra bir göreve sürüldü. 1508'de orada öğretisinin temelini oluşturan düşünceye vardı: Ahlaki bilgi insanın zihninde zaten vardır ve gerçek bilgi kendini davranışta gösterir. Ona göre doğruyu bilip yapmamak, henüz bilmemektir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Wang Yangming
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