Confucian Moral Self Cultivation

This work traces the evolution of the concept of moral self cultivation in the Chinese Confucian tradition. It begins with an introduction which describes the pre-philosophical development of ideas central to this concept, and then examines the specific treatment of self cultivation in the philosophy of Confucius, Mencius, Xunzi, Zhu Xi, Wang Yangming and Dai Zhen. It thus represents a survey of the views of some of the most influential Confucian thinkers on an issue of central importance in the tradition. Beyond providing a description of these Chinese thinkers, this work also relates their concern with moral self cultivation to a variety of topics in the western ethical tradition.