YAO Xinzhong1,ZHANG Yan2
Journal of Renmin University of China.
From a comparative perspective this article is intended to examine the similarities and differences between the two theories of the heartmind,namely,the concept of “mind” as“xin”(“heartmind”) provided by contemporary American philosopher Michael Slote and the ‘learning of the heartmind’(xin xue) by Confucian idealist philosopher Wang YangmingThe former opposes rationalism in which the mind is a purely intellectual activity and holds that all mental activities contain emotional factors and all intellectual activities can be reduced to emotion or emotional attributes,while the latter defines the heartmind as the innately good knowledgeWhile both concepts of the heartmind tend to highlight the importance of sentiment rather than intellect,their understandings of the sentiment differs significantly which lead to two different types of ‘sentimental theories’ of the heartmind,one to be facilitated by empirical empathy and sympathy while the other to be metaphysically justified by the innately good heartmindThe comparison opens up more space for us to understand Slotes and Wang Yangming's views on the heartmind in the light of sentimental ethics