Seeking a popular explanation of the unity of knowledge and action

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:

First, 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, such as the story of Liezi's "suspicious neighbor stealing axe". 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.

Second, theoretical analysis.

Wang Shouren's theory of unity of knowing and doing deepens the relationship between consciousness and practicality of moral consciousness, overcomes the deficiency of Zhu's theory of knowledge first, but at the same time obliterates the epistemological elements in Zhu's theory of knowing and doing.

Although Wang Shouren's point of view is beneficial to moral cultivation, it ignores the study of objective knowledge, resulting in the abuse of Wang Xuedi's willful abandonment of school in the future. Thinkers in the early Qing Dynasty even attributed Ming's death to Wang Xuedi's shortcomings.

In this way, Wang Yangming replaced the reasonable aspect of "doing" with ideas, and asked people to establish a belief that they should do things according to the principle of "goodness" at the beginning of their thinking activities, and eliminate evil and evil when they just sprout. This is also called "integration of knowledge and action".

Therefore, we should fully understand the "unity of knowledge and action" in order to correctly evaluate it. In addition, Wang Yangming's educational thought still has many places worth learning from: First, the responsibility of determination, diligence, correction and goodness. "If you don't stand up, nothing can be done in the world. ... if you don't stand up, like a boat without a rudder, a horse without balance, what will you get in the end? "

"Determination can promote diligence." "If you don't study hard, you will have unfinished business." "Repentance" refers to oneself, and "responsibility for goodness" refers to persuading others to mend their ways, including "admonishing teachers", that is, admonishing teachers and pointing out mistakes.

The second is independent spirit and learning ability. The third is to teach students in accordance with their aptitude step by step. The fourth is to emphasize personal practice. These educational thoughts have a good reference significance for today's young people to learn.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Unity of Knowledge and Practice