Wang Fuzhi's Complete Commentary on the Four Books: The Analects

Wang Fuzhi's interpretation of the Analects in his An Explanation of the Complete Collection of the Four Books offers us a fresh perspective on Confucian classics and traditional philosophical thought.

Wang Fuzhi lived during the transition from the Ming to the Qing dynasty. He witnessed social upheaval, while scholarship and intellectual thought were also in a state of crisis. Through his interpretation of classics such as the Analects, he sought to restore their original meaning and find practical remedies for the problems of the age. In his annotations on the Analects, Wang Fuzhi held a clear materialist position, sharply contrasting with the idealist views of Song-Ming Neo-Confucianism. He criticized the Cheng-Zhu school for setting "heavenly principle" against "human desire," arguing that "when everyone can fulfill their desires, that is the universal harmony of heavenly principle." He maintained that human desires are not a scourge, and that satisfying them reasonably is also in accordance with heavenly principle. This view broke through the constraints of traditional Neo-Confucianism and affirmed people's legitimate needs.

On the relationship between knowledge and action, Wang Fuzhi argued that "the pursuit of knowledge and the investigation of things also involve action," criticizing Neo-Confucian scholars' claim that "knowledge comes before action." In his view, understanding and practice are interconnected and inseparable: true knowledge can only be acquired through practice. For example, when interpreting Confucius's remarks on learning and action in the Analects, he explained in depth that learning is not merely the accumulation of knowledge; it must also be put into practice, uniting knowledge and action.

Wang Fuzhi also displayed a distinctive historical perspective. In interpreting the Analects, he took the social context of his time into account and offered new readings of its political and ethical ideas. His analysis of Confucius's principle of "governing through virtue" not only emphasizes the importance of a ruler's moral character in governing the state, but also goes on to point out that