Feng Menglong and the Ideological Trend of Emotion in the Late Period of the Ming Dynasty

The theory of the emotional moral education advanced by Feng Menglong is the highest stage in the ideological trend which emphasized the value of the human emotion in the late period of the Ming Dynasty. Feng Menglong had constructed the ontology of the emotion, but this theory did not surpass the feudalistic ethics and the traditional mode of thinking, and the ideological trend the emotion also did not develop into a theory of defending the human rights. Feng Menglong did not want to overthrow the old moral system. The only thing he want to do is to change the basis of the old moral system and save the society. Both the theory of the emotional moral education and the ideological trend of the emotion did not develop into the capitalist theory, because there were no proper conditions for developing the capitalist ideas in the society at that time.