The School of Mind, or the School of Heart (Chinese: 心學; pinyin: xīn xué), or Yangmingism (Chinese: 陽明學; pinyin: yángmíng xué; Japanese: 陽明学, romanized: yōmeigaku), is one of the major philosophical schools of Neo-Confucianism, based on the ideas of the idealist Neo-Confucian philosopher Wang Shouren (whose pseudonym was Yangming Zi and who is thus often referred as Wang Yangming). Throughout the whole Yuan dynasty, as well as in the beginning of the Ming dynasty, the magistral philosophy in China was the Rationalistic School, another school of Neo-Confucianism emphasizing the importance of observational science built by Cheng Yi and especially Zhu Xi. Wang Yangming, on the other hand, developed his philosophy as the main intellectual opposition to the Cheng-Zhu School. Yangmingism is considered to be part of the School of Mind established by Lu Jiuyuan, upon whom Yangming drew inspirations. Yangming argued that one can learn the supreme principle (理, pinyin: Li) from their minds, objecting to Cheng and Zhu's belief that one can only seek the supreme principle in the objective world. Furthermore, Yangmingism posits a oneness of action and knowledge in relation to one's concepts of morality. This idea, "regard the inner knowledge and the exterior action as one" (知行合一) is the main tenet in Yangmingism.
It is sometimes called the Lu-Wang school by people who wish to emphasize the influence of Lu Jiuyuan. The Lu-Wang school (or Xinxue) was seen as a rival to the Cheng–Zhu school (or Lixue) school named after its leading philosophers, Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi.
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