A Research on Sun Shen-Xing’s Philosophical Thought

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate Sun Shen-Xing(1565-1636)’s Confucian thought, based on the text of Kun Si Chao and Shen Du Yi. Hwang Zong-Xi (1610-1695) said in the Ming Ru Xue An, “Sun Shen-Xing epitomized the thought of Donglin School,” which indicated that Sun Shen-Xing’s philosophical thought was significant and representative in the development of Donglin School in late Ming. However, Sun Shen-Xing’s philosophical thought and his writings haven’t been noted and focused on in academic. In view of this, this thesis probes into the origin of Shen-Xing’s problem consciousness and the development of his Confucian thought via document arrangement and textual research. Therefore, chapter II gives a general overview of the version of Kun Si Chao and Shen Du Yi, and separately introduces Sun Shen-Xing’s writing motions and the process of publication. In chapter III, with the context of Kun Si Chao and Shen-Xing’s former problem consciousness, the author analyzed how Shen-Xing interpreted the conception of “human nature(xing),” “destiny(ming),” and “mind(xin)” under his thinking structure that temperament(qi zhi) and righteousness(li yi) are two sides of a coin. In chapter IV, based on Shen Du Yi, the author focused on the change of Shen-Xing’s explanation of self-discipline(shen du), pointed out that Sun Shen-Xing converged moral Kungfu on “extensive study”, “accurate inquiry”, “careful reflection”, “clear discrimination,” “earnest practice,” making a great effort into the way of human instead of only being guided by the way of heaven. In summary, Sun Shen-Xing’s philosophical thought is practical, turning metaphysics into daily human relationships, placing a high value on practice. However, as he re-interpreted the text of classics, the signified he used usually differed from common sense, resulting in his alternative concepts hard to read and understand. Despite the fact that Sun Shen-Xing’s philosophical thought was full of the characteristic of both Li School and Xin School, with the passing of time, Shen-Xing’s kungfu theory was more obviously inclined to Li School and for practical use in his later years, which reflects one aspect of the academic transformation from ming dynasty to qing dynasty.