ABSTRACT
Wang Yangming was an idealist, the leading figure in the philosophy known as the School of Mind that developed during the Ming dynasty (1368–1644 CE). Although he is now honoured chiefly as a philosopher and scholar, in his time he was also an eminent statesman and general, a brilliant strategist who notably defeated the rebellion of Prince Chen Hao and organized an effective suppression of banditry. His philosophy of Mind, although in the mainstream of neo-Confucianism, stands as a contrast to the ideas of his great neo-Confucian predecessor, Zhuxi (Chu Hsi). 2 Both men had a typically Confucian concern with morality,284but Zhuxi's teaching is dominated by what is often known as ‘the investigation of things’, Wang Yangming's by the exploration of mind. By the end of the fifteenth century Zhuxi's philosophy, till then regarded as the official doctrine in China, was showing signs of trivialization and disintegration, and there was a climate of receptivity that welcomed the new ideas being generated by Wang Yangming.
