The Source of Learning is Thought Reading the Chin-ssu lu with a Western Eye

The contribution focuses on Neo-Confucian texts as collected by Zhu Xi (?? 1130-1200) and Lu Zuqian (1137-1181) and is a look from the outside', from the perspective of German theories of Bildung (self-cultivation'). It aims at demonstrating that among other insights that today's readers may gather from Neo-Confucian literature, one aspect protrudes from others: that learning can be considered as a virtueeven a meta-virtuea form of life and mode of self-formation of the person. It does not seem exaggerated, from this perspective, to state that Neo-Confucian philosophy isto a large extenta philosophy of learning and self-transformation which offers fruitful irritants for questioning the widespread habits of thinking about skills and their development in today's strong and problematic discourses and corresponding educational policies.