Zhu Xi’s 朱熹 (1130–1200) Theory of Emotions

Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200), celebrated as a prominent synthesizer of Neo-Confucianism, is well known for developing a theory that attributed a positive role to emotions in moral philosophy. The scope of this theory far exceeds what current scholarship has thus far revealed. In this talk, I demonstrate the multiple layers of Zhu’s engagement with emotions, showing that he was concerned not only with shaping feelings through moral structures, but also with a set of issues potentially associated with ethically appropriate emotions. The various dimensions of Zhu’s theory converge to show that his moral psychology is grounded in an expansive ontology of emotions that integrates cosmological, medical, and moral-philosophical ideas typically siloed in modern scholarship.