Dong Xi, Xiaoyong Wang, Zhaoyang Xu, Jiayi Cheng

Xiaoyong Wang

August 31, 2025

Zhang Zai’s philosophy, Ancient Greek philosophy, Original convergence.

Zhang Zai’s philosophy bears striking proximity to ancient Greek philosophy, the origin of Western philosophy, yet diverges in fundamental ways: their modes of inquiry, methodologies of reasoning, systems of knowledge, frameworks of deduction, and — most critically — their foundational premises and ultimate objectives differ profoundly. Taking Zhang Zai’s philosophy as a watershed, pre-Northern Song philosophy may be regarded as the primordial or spontaneous stage of Chinese philosophy. In contrast, post-Northern Song philosophy represents the self-conscious stage of Chinese philosophy. Furthermore, Zhang Zai’s philosophy transcends both Neo-Confucianism (Lixue 理学) and Logos (Daolun道论), implicitly pointing toward a trajectory of autonomous development for Chinese philosophy. 

© 2025, the Authors. Published by ISCCAC

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