Moral knowledge is epistemologically prior to ontological constructions of content and being as well as rational and empirical analysis, which means that you evaluate our ethics prior to their impacts.

The belief into the priority of moral knowledge found substantial consensus among many of the 2nd generation Confucians. However, Fang Dongmei and Xu Fuguan devoted much less attention to elaborating and modernizing traditional concepts of rationality and intuition, as their primary interest was on other aspects of philosophy and intellectual history. We will thus focus here upon introductions of Tang Junyi’s and Mou Zongsan’s epistemologies. In general, the link between reason and intuition was the element that the thinkers of the second generation of Modern Confucianism, based on very similar hypotheses already elaborated by the frst generation, used as a key criterion for defning differences between philosophy and science, and between Western and Chinese philosophy. This approach gradually became an indispensable aspect of their theoretical endeavors, not only in the controversies surrounding science and democracy (see Rošker 2015: ch 5), but also in their epistemological discourses. Like all Modern Confucians, Tang Junyi also proceeded from the notion of immanent transcendence and defned it based on his interpretations of the NeoConfucian school of mind (Xin xue 心學). His epistemology is therefore closely related to his ontology, for he saw the world as a metaphysical reality that is immanent to all that exists in the universe, while also possessing moral qualities (Chan 2002: 306). In this context, the central Confucian virtue of humanity or mutuality (ren 仁) is already part of the cosmic structure, while its recognition, or its simultaneous incorporation and internalization, manifests itself in the moral performance of individuals. The heart-mind (xin 心) as a necessary and constitutional part of the moral self is the key component in the recognition process. This process is constituted through its function of “connective resonance” (gantong 感通), which relies on feelings, reason, and human will.37 The fusion of these three factors is conditioned by “proper perception,” which must proceed in accordance with the all-embracing, rational structural principle (li 理). When recognizing other human beings, this sensual compatibility must also be based on empathy. Tang explores and explains the activity of human spirit and tries to place it in dynamic mutual inter-relation with various realms or spheres (jingjie 境界) of existence (Tang 1977, 1: 393, 2: 256). According to him, these inter-relations represent everything that makes up the object and the contents of human knowledge. He certainly acknowledges that the activities of human spirit are of utmost complexity and extremely multifarious. Nevertheless, he succeeds in categorizing the whole of it within nine spheres (jing 境).38 Hence, recognition on the basis of sensual compatibility is also a precondition for the transition between various spheres (jing 境), or for the development from a lower to a higher sphere. The concept of sphere as such is thus not only ontological and axiological, but also epistemological, for jing is originally a Buddhist concept that denotes an object towards which the mind is directed and implies a unifcation of subjective understanding and the objective situation. According to Chan Sin yee, it can therefore be compared to the Kantian view of perception, by which perception is also a product of the mind’s unifcation of sensory data by means of categories supplied by the mind itself (Chan 2002: 308). Tang Junyi’s treatment of reason is inseparable from the concept of the moral Self, as developed by the School of Mind. I believe reason (lixing) is the innate nature (xing) that can manifest and follow the structural principles (li), and is thus a unity of both. Chinese Confucianism denoted it with the term xingli. It is human essence or substance that causes the emergence of the human moral, spiritual and transcendent Self.39 (Tang 1986: 254) For Tang, reason thus also underpins the moral self, which he denotes as a “transcendent rational self” (chaoyuede lixing ziwo 超越的理性自我, Tang 1986: 254). Tang understands human moral life as something that requires conscious control over oneself and that is common to all human beings. At the level of epistemology, this Mengzian universality of human morality manifests itself not only in the cognitive capacity of reason, but also in the empirical recognition of the world through the senses (Tang 1985: 110). 40 However, it is important to note that Tang is not speaking of inter-subjectivity, i.e. he did not postulate the existence of some common spirit or consciousness in the sense of all people having the same goals or intentions, but instead is positing a transcendent spirit of the individual that unites itself with others through this process of transcendence (Chan 2002: 313). Such transcendence is possible because the human heart-mind forms a unity with the universe. Tang’s epistemology implies both a theory of knowledge and a theory of wisdom. In both cases, reason and intuition are interconnected. Based on this interconnection and infuence amongst the different segments and mechanisms of the heart-mind, and with the application of analytical philosophy, Tang formulated an interesting and innovative hypothesis regarding the creativity of wisdom (zhihui de chuangzaoxing 智慧的創造性). What he calls knowledge (zhishi 知識) includes concepts or ideas, inferences, logical cognitive laws, and empirical intuition. “Wisdom” is instead a “miraculous creativity” (shenmiao de chuangzaoxing 神妙 的創造性), i.e. a kind of intuitive thought that is neither completely empirical nor wholly rational. It is the kind of reasoning that can apply previously acquired knowledge, but only based on a prior independent decision for such an application. Hence, knowledge is both surpassed and integrated. Morality plays a central role in both theories, for it represents the foundation of the self and thus of the heart-mind.