Trend Discrimination and Heart-Mind Awareness: A Modern Reconstruction of Wang Yangming’s Conscience and Good-Evil Criterion from a Materialist Perspective

This paper systematically reconstructs Wang Yangming’s theory of conscience and its criterion of good and evil from the perspective of dialectical and historical materialism. By returning to the original texts, it argues that the core proposition “Knowing good and evil is conscience” is not merely a subjective moral doctrine, but a practical philosophy that judges right and wrong based on the objective evolutionary trends of nature, life and society. For centuries, mainstream interpretations have reduced conscience to an a priori moral ontology, obscuring its materialist essence and its implications for social development. This study breaks the idealist and metaphysical stereotypes by defining conscience as a cognitive capacity formed through biological evolution and social practice, which enables human beings to perceive and judge the positive trends of the universe, life and civilization. It establishes an objective standard: actions conforming to the progression of natural existence, human liberation, communal harmony and social progress are good, while those that violate these laws are evil. The paper clarifies the inherent limitations of Wang Yangming’s era, corrects long-standing academic misinterpretations, and proposes a modern framework for the creative transformation of traditional Chinese philosophy. It demonstrates the inherent compatibility between Marxist philosophy and Yangming’s thought, and provides a standardized, objective interpretation of the theory of conscience for contemporary ethical and practical use.