What exactly does the unity of knowledge and action mean?

The unity of knowledge and action means that the object conforms to the subject, knowledge refers to conscience, and action refers to human practice. The unity of knowing and doing is neither swallowing action with knowledge nor swallowing knowledge with action, and thinking that action is knowledge.

This was put forward by Wang Shouren, a thinker in the Ming Dynasty. In other words, understanding the truth of things and its application in reality are inseparable. This is the proposition of epistemology and practice in China's ancient philosophy, which mainly focuses on moral cultivation and practice.

Ancient philosophers in China believed that we should not only know ("know"), but also practice ("do"). Only by unifying "knowledge" and "action" can it be called "goodness". The unity of conscience and knowing and doing is the core of Yangming culture.

Extended data:

Put forward the background:

After Wang Yangming was enlightened in Longchang Town, xiuwen county, north of Guiyang, he deeply realized the truth of life, which was an epiphany after hard thinking. Wang Yangming believes that mentality determines behavior and world outlook.

For example, in Liezi's story, "Suspected neighbors steal axes". From then on, he parted ways with Zhu Xuexue, which laid the foundation for the great success of the system of psychology. Wang Shouren's theory of the unity of knowing and doing is mainly aimed at Zhu's study, which is contrary to Zhu's thought.

Oppose Zhu Cheng's Neo-Confucianism's theory of "dichotomy of knowing and doing, thinking that you must be a prophet and then you can do it" and the resulting style of study of "valuing knowledge but neglecting action".

Zhu Cheng Neo-Confucianism, including Lu Jiuyuan, advocates "knowing after the prophet", divides knowledge into two parts, and holds that knowledge must be known before it can be practiced. Wang Shouren advocated the unity of knowledge and action to correct Zhu Xue's bias.

Mr. Yangming's thought consists of three parts:

1, nothing outside the heart

This belongs to ontology in philosophy and constitutes his basic view of the whole world, that is, the world outlook.

2. Unity of knowing and doing

After Mr. Yangming has a worldview with nothing in his heart, he needs to establish his own values and outlook on life according to his worldview, that is, to turn to practice and action. On this basis, he further put forward the theory of the unity of knowledge and action.

This has changed the previous thinkers' practice of separating knowledge from practice, thinking that knowledge and practice are integrated and mutually inclusive. More importantly, Wang Yangming raised knowledge and action from two parts of simple human behavior to an ontological concept.

In other words, the unity of knowledge and practice is not a tool, but the true state of human life, which makes the Confucian philosophy of life unfold at the inner level.

3. Conscience

The unity of knowing and doing emphasizes that knowing and doing is the noumenon of life, but it does not clearly know what to do. Therefore, in his later years, Mr. Yangming clearly put forward that the ontology of the unity of knowledge and action is conscience. This makes the ontology of life with the unity of knowledge and action have a clear connotation and direction.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Unity of Knowledge and Practice