 According to the prevailing traditional European epistemologies, knowledge has mainly been gained through observation and reasoning. However, in traditional Chinese thought, knowledge has been understood in a much broader sense, namely as something which also (or primarily) stems from moral contents and which cannot be separated from (social) practice. The method which determined most of the epistemological teachings found in the Chinese classics was based on a holistic world view, and was directed towards a comprehension which could be achieved through education and learning. The basic contents of these teachings were rooted in the premises of pragmatic and utilitarian ethics. Chinese epistemology was relational (Rošker 2012), meaning that it understood the external world to be ordered as a network of relations, forming a dynamic structure. The human mind was also structured in accordance with this cosmic all-embracing organic system (li 理). The relational cor­re­spon­dence and mutual compatibility between the cosmic and mental structures thus represents the basic precondition of human perception and comprehension.