A comparison on Wang Yangming’s xin [heart-mind] and Husserl’s ego

Abstract

Both Wang Yangming and Husserl adopted a subjective approach to their studies. Wang used his concept of xin [heart-mind] to guide the practice, while Husserl used his concept of ego to discover the truth of objects. A comparison on the descriptions, structures and functions of Wang Yangming’s xin and Husserl’s ego illustrated that xin and ego are different terms for the same thing. The distinction between the two scholars is their differences in teleology and study focus. But their studies can be complementary to extend the knowledge of human beings and benefit scientific research.

Contribution: The original discovery of the sameness of Wang Yangming’s xin (a Chinese concept) and Husserl’s ego (a Western idea) illustrates that people should adopt a new approach to science, which takes knowledge and morality as a unity, and follow the highest heavenly principles. This is a serious theological and philosophical response to teleology.

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Expression of Concern This is a permanent Expression of Concern following an investigation into ‘A comparison on Wang Yangming’s xin [heart-mind] and Husserl’s ego’ by Changhua Li as to alert readers of the following:

• potential undisclosed conflicts of interest by a reviewer.
• potential undisclosed conflicts of interest by the editor who handled the peer-review process for the article.
• potential compromised or manipulated peer review of the article.

The acceptance of this article was partly based upon the positive advice of reviewer reports from reviewers. We cannot, therefore, vouch for the reliability or integrity of this article.

AOSIS regret that the usual quality checks did not identify these issues before publication and have since put additional measures in place to safeguard research integrity.