Li Zhi, Confucianism, and the Virtue of Desire

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Pauline C. Lee 李贄 Confucianism and T H E V I RT U E O F D E S I R E p. ke ide nd rn were both inspiring and inflammatory. Widely read from his own time to the present, Li Zhi has long been acknowledged as an important figure in Chinese cultural history. While he is esteemed as a stinging social critic and an impassioned writer, Li Zhi’s ideas have been dismissed as lacking a deeper or constructive vision. Pauline C. Lee convincingly shows us otherwise. Situating Li Zhi within the highly charged world of the late-Ming culture of “feelings,” Lee presents his slippery and unruly yet clear and robust ethical vision. Li Zhi is a Confucian thinker whose consuming concern is a powerful interior world of abundance, distinctive to each individual: the realm of the emotions. Critical to his ideal of the good life is the ability to express one’s feelings well. In the work’s conclusion, Lee brings Li Zhi’s insights into conversation with contemporary philosophical debates about the role of feelings, an ethics of authenticity, and the virtue of desire. auline auline ee A volume in the SUNY series in Roger T. Ames, editor LI Zh I , C oN f UC IA NISM , ANd T h E VIRTUE of d ESIRE Li Zhi 李贄, Confucianism and THE VIRTUE OF DESIRE A volume in the SUNY series in Chinese Philosophy and Culture Roger T. Ames, editor ...