Abstract：The “Ming Dynasty Program” of Confucian political philosophy represents the theoretical deepening and practical implementation of Confucian political philosophy during the Ming Dynasty. Since the founding of the Ming Dynasty, the official authorities had continuously shaped Zhu Xi’s Neo-Confucianism, while various schools of “Mind-Learning” emerged one after another. These developments accumulated to a critical point by the mid-Ming period, contributing to the diverse manifestations of Confucian political philosophy. The “Great Rites Controversy” was a concentrated reflection of the “external kingship” dimension of Neo-Confucianism and Mind-Learning. The Ritual-Defending School took Neo-Confucianism as an ideological weapon to resist the will of imperial power, demonstrating that Neo-Confucianism still retained certain vitality and dynamism even under political oppression. In contrast, the Ritual-Contending School used Mind-Learning to break free from the constraints of traditional ethics and rituals, marking the official emergence of Mind-Learning, an innovative branch of Confucianism, in the political arena of the Ming Dynasty. Mind-Learning excelled in highlighting individual subjectivity, yet its contributions to the “external kingship” dimension of Confucianism should not be overestimated. Meanwhile, Qi-Learning, with its emphasis on holism, inevitably exerted some restrictive effects on the individual; however, its efforts in expanding the “external kingship” dimension of Confucianism were quite remarkable. The construction of political philosophy based on the theory of Qi can be categorized into three types. Firstly, taking the “reality” represented by Qi as the criterion, it continuously adjusted the “name” represented by the Principle, aiming to achieve consistency between name and reality. Secondly, it placed “reality” and “name” in a process of mutual adaptation and dynamic adjustment. Thirdly, it separated “reality” and “name” into two distinct domains, abandoning the pursuit of consistency between name and reality in the context of Confucian moral philosophy. Overall, while the “Ming Dynasty Program” of Confucian political philosophy demonstrated profound insights and rich connotations, it inevitably had inherent limitations. This was largely because politics is the product of the combined forces of various factors of the times, which imposed unavoidable restrictions on its development.
2025, Vol. 42 
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