Welcome back. As promised, we will now turn our attention to the influential new Confucian thinker, Zhu Xi. Zhu Xi was a truly truly prolific scholar. In addition to his many writings, his students also compiled a record of his conversations which alone comes up to eight volumes in a modern edition. For our purposes, we will only focus on a few of the main concepts that underpin Zhu Xi's system of Neo-Confucian philosophy beginning with the concepts of Li, Principle and Qi, Vital Energy or Essence. The concept of Li here is entirely different from the other Li meaning ritual or proper conduct. Now these two words have the same pronunciation, but they are two different Chinese characters all together. So it's very important that we do not mix them up. The word Li translated as principle or pattern looks like this. This word, this Li originally refers to the lines or patterns that one finds in a piece of jade and by extension other objects. From the start the word therefore connotes a pattern or perceived order or coherence that is inherent in a thing. As a verb, it suggests following the patterns to carve and treat jade and, by extension, to organize and put things in order. In Neo-Confucian philosophy, the meaning of Li, pattern, takes on an even more profound extension signifying the principle, order, reason, or law governing both objects and affairs. I refer to this concept as Li, principle, to distinguish it from the other Li meaning habituated, structured, or ritualized proper conduct and norms of propriety. Turning to the concept of Qi, which we are already familiar with, it refers to the one basic original substance, life giving essence or vital energy that is understood to constitute all matter and animate all living things. Combining these two concepts what you see all things in the world are made of Qi, but they have also the Li, principle. To understand the world, we then need to understand the relationship between Li, principle and Qi, vital essence. The simplest way to understand is maybe to follow an inductive approach by looking at specific objects. Take this chair, for example, it's made of metal, plastic. Other chairs maybe made of wood or other materials or combination of the materials. Upon further analysis, we realize that these materials are made of more basic constituents. For example, plastic is made of what? Hydrocarbon molecules. And wood is made of cellulose and so on. In traditional Chinese philosophy, beyond the diversity of phenomena that appear on the surface, the general understanding is that all things are constituted by five dynamic elements or agents and these are called Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth. These five elements may also be understood as five phases because they are also understood to be dynamic in motion and are associated with the five visible planets. Leaving the technical definition aside, the more basic point is that these five elements or agents are seemed to be derived from even more basic constituents, namely Yin and Yang. The two generic forms of Qi energies or vital essences. And Yin and Yang themselves as Zhu Xi emphasises, they are but different configurations of the one cosmic Qi. Qi is always a difficult concept to explain. It's not energy really because it's not just the property of objects that can be transferred or converted to other forms, but rather the very very constituent of all objects. It is also not just a fixed substance, but both substance and energy both particle and wave, one might say, all rolled into one. For our purposes Qi, is a philosophical concept. We are not treating it as a scientific concept. It serves to explain the origin, the constitution, and the operations of the universe and human life and affairs in Chinese philosophy. So everything, absolutely everything is made of Qi. Our body included and also this lovely chair of ours, but quite obviously that is not all that makes this chair a chair. To fully understand the chair, it seems that we would have to go beyond the material composition to consider its structure and function. A chair may be made of wood, but we cannot understand a chair without reference to its legs, sitting surface, and in this example back rest as well. When all the elements are put together in the right way, the chair may then fulfill its function to support you when you sit on it. If the sitting surface, let's say, is not joined to the back rest at the proper angle, or if the legs are off drastically different length, just imagine, then the chair would not be able to fulfill its function and therefore strictly speaking cannot be called a chair. Based on this analysis, we see then that beyond the material composition of an object, there are intangible elements that are equally important to its being what it is. For any object, the way in which it is formed, so that it can function properly depends on the physical laws governing objects. Gravity would be an obvious example, but we do not actually see these laws but only the object such as this chair. In other words, from an analysis of a chair, we can come to the conclusion that there are underlying principles that govern all chairs and from chairs to all objects, which are equally governed by the laws of nature. This is what Zhu Xi means by Li-principle. And it would seem that principle is actually the more important because the material composition may change and the chair can still be a chair. Even the structure may vary. Say, a chair may have three legs instead of four so long as it adheres to the proper Li-principle. But if the principle is violated, the object would not be a chair. Take an airplane. I mean just to take another example to understand it. One can try to see what it is made off and what function it serves. Inferring from this, we can see how the principle of flight, aerodynamics, ultimately determines the being of a plane. Because the same principle is not limited to planes, but also applies to say kites and birds, we can say that in one sense, Li-principle is more fundamental. In itself, Li-principle is not dependent on objects. The principle of aviation remains real even if planes were never invented. Properly understood, conceptually transcending the world of material things, according to Zhu Xi, Li-principle is precisely what is meant by the Dao, the Way, in Confucian philosophy. Let me quote here from Zhu Xi himself. This is a rather long passage, so bear with it, but it provides a good summary and also it give a sense of his style of reasoning. And this is what he says, "The Li-principle of things is the Dao," he says, "conceptually, it is not admissible to call things Dao. For example, this chair has four legs and we can sit on it, and this is the principle of the chair. If we remove one of its legs," Zhu Xi continues, "we won't be able to sit on it; then, the principal of the chair will be lost. Within any object, there is always the Dao that is above or beyond any shape or form. For example," now Zhu Xi continues, "take this fan," he says, "this object which as such has the Dao or Li-principle of this particular fan. A fan is made in this way, and it should be used in this way. This, then is the Li-principle that is above the realm of forms. In this world, there is heaven above and the earth below and in between, the sun, the moon, and the stars; there are mountains and streams, plants and trees, human beings and animals, and others too many to enumerate. All these are subsumed under the category of objects that are within the realm of forms." That is to say, they all have shape or form. "Yet, within all these objects, they each have their own principle." This is what is meant by the Dao according to Zhu Xi. And because of the emphasis on Li-principle, Zhu Xi reformulation of Confucian philosophy has come to be called the learning of Li-principle or Lixue. And because principle transcends the realm of material forms, which is to say that it does not have any physical attributes, it may be described as metaphysical in orientation. This explains why Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy is often said to have a strong metaphysical orientation. But, and this is a very important but, we shouldn't take this too far and turn Zhu Xi's view into a kind of metaphysical idealism, where ideas are the only really real and objects are but imperfect copies. Zhu Xi is in fact adamant that Li-principle should never be understood as existing independently of the world constituted by Qi essence or energy. This distinguishes Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy. On the one hand, yes, what Confucius meant by the Dao or Way should be properly understood as referring to the Li-principle of things. On the other hand, Li-principle cannot be divorced from the material side of reality, from the material side of things. In fact, on the question where does Qi come from, Zhu Xi makes clear that it is eternal and uncreated, and this is very important because it clarifies the relationship between Li-principle and Qi-vital essence. Earlier, we said that Zhu Xi's Neo-Confucian philosophy centers on the concept of Li-principle and that there is a sense in which Li can be said to be more fundamental than Qi. Now, if the Qi the life-force is eternal, it can only mean therefore Zhi Xi Li-principle is not more basic than Qi in terms of temporal sequence or origin. It is not as if Li-principle is self-existent prior to Qi and in a temporal sense, at the beginning of time. Li-principle is conceptual. It is entirely abstract and technically, it does not exist in the material sense. Qi is the real stuff that makes life possible. But viewed from another perspective, without Li-principle, Qi would be blind, so to speak, and unable to differentiate into the world of concrete objects. In this light, one can say that for Zhu Xi, although Li-principle has conceptual or logical priority over Qi, Li-principle in itself does not and cannot create anything physically. And for this reason, Zhu Xi repeatedly states that without Qi, Li-principle would have nothing to adhere to. In short, if we want to understand the world at all, we will need to understand not only its physical constitution and processes, but also its Li-principle. In the real-world of objects, Qi is pervasive and essential. But in understanding what things are and how they work, we come to realize that the universe is also underpinned by fundamental principles. In real-life, Li and Qi principle and material substance and energy are always, always integrated. By conceptually, Li-principle is distinct. The next question is, how this analysis applies to the world of ethical complexities? Are there principles that govern the world of relationships and human affairs as well? That will be the subject of our next discussion.
