Ito Jinsai’s Criticism of Heaven, Earth and All things, and the Principle Came First and Followed by the Material Force in Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism

Ito Jinsai argued how heaven and earth were generated and critiqued Zhu Xi’s. I study it in this article. He critiqued the principle came first, followed by the material force (lixian qihou 理先氣後) in Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism. Because he thought heaven and earth was in the beginning, and material force was between two, called the Primordial Material Force (yuankqi 元氣), and, due to the movement of the material force, all things were generated and principle is inside a thing, meaning the material force came first and followed by the principle (qixian lihou 氣先理後). In contrast, Zhu Xi thought that not only heaven and earth but also all things were naturally generated by the movement of material force, its rule is principle, so he claimed that the principle came first and followed by the material force (理先氣後). Zhu also argued the material force came first and followed by the principle (氣先理後), like Ito Jinsai. Because Zhu viewed on principle and material force in current view point. Unlike Zhu, Ito Jinsai viewed on those in root view point, because he regarded principle as not rule and governor of the movement of material force, as but principle inside a thing. Therefore, Ito Jinsai regarded governor of the movement of material force as not principle but the heaven. His root and present view is the same, and it is different from Zhu Xi’s.