This is a lecture on the problem of "weakness of will" in the Neo-Confucian philosophers Zhu Xi and Wang Yangming, given by Professor Bryan VAN NORDEN, at Yale-NUS College in Singapore for the course Philosophy and Political Thought 2, on 22 January 2020.

Previous Lecture: China's Favorite Confucian: Wang Yangming,    • China's Favorite Confucian: Wang Yang...  
Following Lecture: Confucian Iconoclasts of the Ming Dynasty,    • Confucian Iconoclasts  

For more on Zhu Xi, see "Zhu Xi and Mature Neo-Confucian Metaphysics,"    • Neo Confucian Ethics & Metaphysics  

2:03 What is "weakness of will"?
5:47 Who was Zhu Xi?
8:28 What is Neo-Confucian metaphysics?
13:39 Interpreting the Four Books
24:34 Bad smells and lovely sights as moral metaphors
33:08 Wang Yangming's Critique
39:10 Summary