The problem of evil in the Neo-Confucian context: Wang Yangming’s view on evil

Wang Yangming believes that human nature is entirely good. A question naturally arises: where is evil from? It has been argued that Wang’s idealism gives rise to the problem of evil. I first argue that the difficulty for Wang to have a coherent account of evil can be removed when his idealism is understood in a narrow sense. Second, I offer an account of Wang’s view on evil in three steps. First, I argue that evil comes from the interaction between humans and the external world according to Wang. Second, I show that given Wang’s account of human nature with three aspects, there is no contradiction between Wang’s claim that human nature is the same in everyone and Wang’s claim about differences in our natural endowment which affect our moral practice. Third, I argue that Wang’s doctrine of non-distinction of good and evil in the original substance of human nature is uniquely Confucian. © 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.

0 citations (Crossref) [2023-10-31] tex.ids: yangProblemEvilNeoConfucian2020a tex.citation: https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/85096538386 type: Article