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arose from a background related to his education in Scottish Commonsense philosophy.
From the angle of Legge's philosophical methodology, it needs to be noted that Legge had a tendency to gauge philosophical profundity in terms of the insight a system gave to the inner workings of the mind. These kinds of questions were not extensively addressed in the Confucian Classics, although questions regarding the heart-mind were central in later Confucian metaphysical discourses. Legge was basically not interested in these systematic philosophies, most of which he felt were inarticulate and wrong. Empirical observations of human behaviour and categories inherited from an Aristotelian concept of the mind were assumed as the basic truths from which more precise models could be constructed. Legge discovered no resources of this sort in the Confucian traditions, and so could self-consciously advocate the need for Chinese students to readdress their traditional system with important questions which revealed systematic inadequacies.
Though this kind of critical stance may seem too harsh and even an unjustified imposition of alien values on the Chinese ways of thinking, not long after Legge died Chinese scholars did begin an all-out attack against the traditional Confucian ethical system. This was partially responsible for the final overthrow of the imperial powers in 1911.
VII. Legge's Immersion in the Confucian Tradition
Legge, a missionary and advocate of Christian faith, was also responsive to the Chinese culture and people among whom he lived. There are several reasons why this was the case, beyond the simple fact of being immersed among the Chinese for thirty-five years. One important reason is the parallels Legge perceived between his Non-Conformist heritage and selective Confucian traditions. Legge located in the famous Confucian Han Yu (768-824 AD) of the Tang dynasty shared general attitudes also found in Non-Conformist Protestantism: both valued a return to the fundamental spiritual texts of the tradition; both asserted a more commonsense view of the world; and both stood in opposition to superstitious religious traditions (primarily associated with Buddhism and Taoism).
In addition, Confucian scholarship had developed its own more