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

Chapter 6

New and Old Elements on the Centrality of Self

In the Ming-Qing period, growing interest in individual autonomy brought about the development of new theories, values, and tastes, which became all the more significant for the Neo-Confucian construction of the self. Drawing further on the traditional precept of pursuing “inner wisdom and outer regality” (neisheng waiwang), a renewed effort to uncover the centrality of the agent versus their social engagement and fundamental moral relations added to the bulk of existing reflections on individual autonomy.

The fact that since the very beginning Neo-Confucianism had paid utmost attention to self-cultivation and self-fulfilment has played a part in the formation of what can be properly named “a cult of the self.” In this respect, de Bary has stressed the revival of Lunyu’s wisdom of “learning for one’s self,” which became of central importance in Zhu Xi and the Neo-Confucian discourse more broadly.¹ Indeed, “caring for the self,” in the form of cultivating body, spirit, and life energy, was a fundamental practice in China ever since antiquity.² As already expounded, the values