Individual Autonomy and Responsibility in Late Imperial China By ...

element in the construction of the personality and in the process of self-cultivation. It is interpreted as a sign of “scandalous” behavior; that is, the behavior which to the many may seem socially incorrect and unacceptable but is nevertheless a good sign because it follows the human conscience.

In other words, kuangjuan is a compound that can be traced back to the Analects and signifies two different types of personality: the ambitious and daring, versus the overcautious and conservative.⁶² The term had negative connotations like those of “presumptuous” and “narrow-minded,” and more generally indicates people who do not follow rules or do not have a sense of decorum. However, it can also bear positive meanings which designate an “honest” and “spontaneous” person (kuangjuan puye zhi ren 狂狷樸野之人).⁶³ During the Ming Dynasty, a disciple of Wang Yangming, Huang Wan 黃綰 (1480–1554), considered these two kinds of personalities as potentially progressing toward self-cultivation—provided that their mind remained free of desires—yet inadequate to excel in morality.⁶⁴ Wang Yangming often employs kuang to represent those who discard etiquette and act crazily out of concern for the well-being of their relatives and loved ones: he compares this strong feeling of affection (骨肉之情) to his pain for people’s difficulties, as well as to his efforts to raise people’s self-esteem, self-confidence, and autonomy (自尊自信自立). These efforts, according to Wang, are ridiculed by bigots and conformists.⁶⁵ This is the reason why he uses this term: “people criticize, insult and curse me, they look at me as if I were an insane (天下之人見其若是，遂相與非笑而詆斥之，以為是病狂喪心之人耳).⁶⁶ Elsewhere he contrasts the “unrestrained” character of the human with the “hypocritical good folks of the village” (xiangyuan 鄉原).⁶⁷ Again he associates unrestrained pupils with those who are overcautious and recommends adopting different methods to teach them.⁶⁸

In Wang’s passage on the innate conscience quoted earlier, we have seen how kuang is understood in terms of an attitude that does not conform to the dominant opinions. Wang Ji closely connects it with wisdom (狂者之意，只要做聖人).⁶⁹ Li Zhi has also written: