Title

The Investigation of Things and the Fathoming of Principles (Gewu Qiongli) in Matteo Ricci’s Tianzhu Shiyi

Author

Kuang-tai Hsu

Genre

Article  

Pages

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Key words

Matteo Ricci,Tianzhu shiyi, gewu qiongli, scholastic philosophy, reasoning and causality

Abstract

      In late Ming and early Qing, Jesuits introduced a different view of gewu qiongli (the investigation of things and the fathoming of principles格物窮理) while they transmitted western learning in their missions in China. This can be traced back to Matteo Ricci’s work, Tianzhu shiyi天主實義. In this paper the author aims at making clear how did Ricci propose his scholastic view of gewu qiongli in it.

    Perhaps through his contact with many Neo-Confucians and his translation of Chinese Four Books四書 in early 1590s, Ricci came to realize that gewu qiongli was a key issue for contemporary Neo-Confucians. Al though he knew that Neo-Confucians and Jesuits were so different in many ways, including reasoning and causality, by using Neo-Confucian issue, gewu qiongli, as well as terms, li 理 and suoyiran 所以然 , with scholastic interpretations, Ricci produced a new view of gewu qiongli in the Tianzhu Shiyi , in which he made his efforts to prove the existence of the Lord Heaven.