The Obscure and the Conspicuous: The Concept of Free Will in the Course of Development of Monism of Mind

First coined by Confucius and Mencius in pre-Qin era, the concept of “free will” evolved alongside modern Monism of Mind and into several sub-concepts. With Wang Guowei’s article “Original Fate”, Liang Shuming’s discussion of “will” in the philosophy of culture and, later on, the emergence of Polemics of Science and Metaphysics, “free will” emerged as a topic of discourse. While there were external influences, namely, Schopenhauer’s Voluntarism as it spread to the East, “free will” has its roots in Chinese philosophy, as evident in the history of concept of Monism of Mind, stemming from the ideas of Wang Yangming’s disciples. In the traditional debate of Effort and Fate, Wang Gen’s “creation of fate” first challenged Fatalism. In Wang Dong, Wang Tangnan and Liu Zongzhou’s analysis, the idea of Yi (意, intention) took center stage, while the effort to connect Yi and Zhi (志, aspiration), further developed the concept of Liangzhi (良知, innate knowledge). “意志” as a word came from Japanese and involved blending of ancient Chinese words that subsequently became obsolete and Western vocabulary. Therefore, the creation of the term “意志” in modern history deserve explanations beyond a linguistic perspective. After Liang Shuming, Xiong Shili proposed Kantian “free will” in the philosophical discussions in consolidated Ontology and Ethics. Xiong’s disciple Mou Zongsan based his analysis on the guiding principle of “innate knowledge is presentation”, categorizing ‘free will’ as a main characteristic of Liangzhi and turning it into a discourse of “intellectual intuition” which became part of “the metaphysics of morals”. The process of turning “free will” into topics of discourse and the conceptualization of it not only expanded the problem set of traditional Chinese philosophy, but also deepened the understanding of subjectivity.