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Title:: The Possibility or Impossibility of Zhongyong: On the Dilemmaof the Empirical Psychological Studies on Zhongyong

Abstract:: Zhongyong 中庸, according to the interpretation of Zheng Xuan of the Eastern Han Dynasty,means the lofty use of equilibrium and harmony. Based on modern interpretation, it can be argued thatZhongyong is the highest virtue to adhere to the principle of goodness and use appropriate and reasonablemethods consistently in all daily life. Only those who are of utmost sincerity, of utmost benevolence, andof great wisdom and courage, can reach the highest moral realm of Zhongyong, and do things accordingto the principle and method of Zhongyong. For most people, however, Zhongyong is hard to become areality, so it is only one of the Confucian ideas that belongs to the category of axiological“ ought’s” . Thestrong psychological experience of Zhongyong and the impossibility of the practice of Zhongyong for themajority means that, there is a serious internal paradox in the psychological empirical study of Zhongyongbased on a large number of samples, causing the empirical study of Zhongyong not to be accepted as a truepsychology of Zhongyong. The strong psychological experience characteristics of Zhongyong shows that,the reasonable approach to psychological study of Zhongyong is only dependent on the qualitative studyof psychological interpretation.