Li Zhi’s tongxin 童心 and the aesthetics of free subjectivity in nature and society

Rošker, Jana S. (author)

This paper reinterprets Li Zhi’s notion of the childlike heart-mind as a philosophical expression of free subjectivity embedded within an immanent, relational world. Rather than approaching tongxin 童心 as a romanticized ideal of innocence or spontaneity, it situates it within Li Zhi’s critique of Neo-Confucian moral dogmatism, metaphysical hierarchy, and imposed norms of cultivation. Instead of subordinating individuality to a cosmic order or dissolving subjectivity into an impersonal process, he advances a vision of ecological embeddedness grounded in critical, self-reflective agency. The study highlights Li Zhi’s relevance for contemporary debates on subjectivity, ecology, and the limits of moral abstraction in holistic thought.

• Language: English
• Keywords: aesthetics, ethics, ecology, cosmic embeddedness, Li Zhi, childlike heart-mind, tongxin
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: FF - Faculty of Arts
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 26.08.2026
• Year: 2026
• Number of pages: Str. 1-14
• Numbering: Vol. 53, No. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-186326
• UDC: 1(510)
• ISSN on article: 0301-8121
• DOI: 10.1163/15406253-12340176
• COBISS.SI-ID: 289416195
• Publication date in RUL: 31.08.2026

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Journal of Chinese philosophy
• Shortened title: J. Chin. philos.
• Publisher: Brill
• ISSN: 0301-8121
• COBISS.SI-ID: 1563925

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Keywords: vpetost v kozmos, Li Zhi, otroška srčna zavest, tongxin

Projects

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: P6-0243-2019
• Name: Azijski jeziki in kulture

• Funder: ARIS - Slovenian Research and Innovation Agency
• Project number: J6-50202-2023
• Name: Konfucijanski preporod in njegov vpliv na sodobne vzhodnoazijske družbe skozi prizmo odnosa med individuumom in družbo