Philosopher
Wang Fu
82–167 CE
Eastern Han critic whose Discourses of a Hermit revived the Confucian idea of withdrawing from a corrupt society, for virtue's sake, as the dynasty declined.
Wang Fu wrote as the Eastern Han was declining towards the catastrophes that ended it around the year 200. His Discourses of a Hermit revived the controversial theme of Confucian reclusion, which the Analects itself suggests and which had faded during the earlier Han.
The best-known model of such withdrawal was the Warring States poet Qu Yuan, who went into exile and drowned himself in protest.
Key ideas
- Confucian reclusion
- When the moral Way prevails, or can be restored, the good person should serve. When it has been abandoned and cannot be restored, they should withdraw, so as not to be morally soiled.
- The power of a corrupt community
- Past a certain point of disorder, an individual cannot transform their community; if they stay engaged, the community will transform them instead, however fine their character.
- Retreat in the service of virtue
- Wang Fu’s withdrawal was not indifference: like earlier Confucian recluses, he aimed ultimately at restoring virtue to society.
- Tradition
- Chinese
- Region
- China
- Schools
- Confucianism
- Themes
- How to govern
Influences
Where these links come from
- Wang Fu drew on Confucius. Source: Alexus McLeod, Philosophy in Han Dynasty China, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy
Key works
- Discourses of a Hermit (Qianfulun)
- Read free at Wikisource (in Classical Chinese)
Sources
- Alexus McLeod, Philosophy in Han Dynasty China, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy