Weakness of Will in Confucian Philosophy
Channel: Bryan Van Norden
Date: 2020-01-23

This is a lecture on the problem of "weakness of will" in the Neo-Confucian philosophers Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming, given by Professor Bryan VAN NORDEN, at Yale-NUS College in Singapore for the course Philosophy and Political Thought 2, on 22 January 2020. 

Previous Lecture: China's Favorite Confucian: Wang Yangming, https://youtu.be/3gGPvnYvRU0
Following Lecture: Confucian Iconoclasts of the Ming Dynasty, https://youtu.be/b0u2iUPofPo

For more on Zhu Xi, see "Zhu Xi and Mature Neo-Confucian Metaphysics," https://youtu.be/4U3zFuFQnsU

2:03 What is "weakness of will"?
5:47 Who was Zhu Xi?
8:28 What is Neo-Confucian metaphysics?
13:39 Interpreting the Four Books
24:34 Bad smells and lovely sights as moral metaphors
33:08 Wang Yangming's Critique
39:10 Summary