Abstract

Kai Marchal’s Im Spiegel der All-Einheit: Selbst- und Weltbezug im chinesischen Mittelalter (In the Mirror of the All-One: Self and World Relation in Medieval China) is the first of its kind. At first glance, its subject matter may appear somewhat unclear. For a monograph that ultimately focuses on Zhu Xi 朱熹 (1130–1200), it is surprising to find his name neither in the title nor in large portions of the book. Yet Marchal’s ambition is not to present Zhu Xi’s philosophy on its own, but to depict a panorama of “medieval” Chinese philosophy, starting with skeptical challenges by Mahāyāna Buddhism, proceeding to early Neo-Confucian responses and culminating in the great Neo-Confucian synthesizer himself. As such... Read More.