Thinker · TH-0102
Cheng Yi
Cheng Yi was a Northern Song Confucian scholar who, with his elder brother Cheng Hao, founded the learning of principle that Zhu Xi later…
程頤
Also known as Cheng Yichuan, Yichuan
1033 – 1107 · Luoyang; Song China
Traditions: Chinese
Schools: Neo-Confucianism
Cheng Yi was a Northern Song Confucian scholar who, with his elder brother Cheng Hao, founded the learning of principle that Zhu Xi later systematised as the Cheng–Zhu school. He formulated li as the principle that makes each thing what it is and that is ultimately one, though manifested in many particulars. His emphasis on investigating things to understand their principle shaped East Asian thought for centuries.
Key ideas
- Each thing has its principle (li), and principle is one while its manifestations are many.
- Principle is distinct from qi, the vital stuff of which things are made.
- Knowledge is gained by investigating things and extending understanding step by step.
- Self-cultivation requires reverent attention (jing) and study.
Major works
- Yichuan Yizhuan (Commentary on the Book of Changes)
- Er Cheng ji (Collected Works of the Two Chengs, with Cheng Hao)
In the conversation
- Question Where do Zhu Xi’s li and qi fall in the substance-versus-process divide?
- Question Is Zhu Xi’s li a universal? What does ‘principle is one, manifestations many’ mean?
In the Coordinates
The questions of philosophy where Cheng Yi takes a place, from The Coordinates of Thought.
- 1.1.2 Universals and Particulars A tomato and a fire engine are both red. Is there something they share?