Study On The Political Philosophy Of Lu's Spring And Autumn

Lu's Spring and Autumn, compiled in late Warring States period, by consultants of Lu Buwei, the Prime Minister of Qin, is a work of integral form and rich content. On the basis of the rise of the empire of Qin and its open and compatible cultural tradition, Lu's Spring and Autumn summarizes the contention of all schools in the warring state, inherits the theory of pre-Qin philosophers and synthesizes them into a great system including heaven, earth and man to fulfill the requirement of political and academic unification. Lu's Spring and Autumn stresses the relationship between heaven and man, which opens up a new way to integrate all schools in the model of "Harmony between heaven and man". Its core content is that harmony of social order is derived from the harmony of heaven. This theory about "Harmony between heaven and man" does not involve common people, which true meaning is "Harmony between heaven and king" the king should obey the way to heaven, that is, practice the "kingly politics". So the book intended to formulate a complete code of ruling principle for the future empire of Qin. Firstly, the thesis introduces the background of Warring states'social reforming and academic prosperity, elaborating that the tendency of unification and the energetic activities of intellectuals lead to the integration of thoughts of all schools, pointing out that the birth of Lu's Spring and Autumn in Qin is attributed to the rise and the open cultural tradition of Qin as well as Lu Buwei's individual leadership. Then the relationship between heaven and man in this book is discussed in respects of its background, academic sources and main ideas. The synthesis and transcendence of Lu's Spring and Autumn's political philosophy over other schools is also discussed centered on the relationship between heaven and man. Special focus is put on the relationship between the view of destiny of Qin and the theory of Yinyang Wuxing in the State of Qi, discussing their comprehensive utilization about the relationship between heaven and man in the book. So the peculiarities of Lu's Spring and Autumn's treatment of this topic are induced. Lu's Spring and Autumn not only stresses the principle of man's imitation of Heaven and earth, but also absorbs merits of all other schools under the purpose of "kingly politics". Therefore the thesis analyzes how Lu's Spring and Autumn's theory of "kingly politics" synthesizes and transcends all other schools in propositions like "the monarch's inaction and his vassals'initiative","the preference of moral cultivation to criminal punishment ","the art of criminal names" and "the just use of armed forces ". Thus the Lu's Spring and Autumn is treated as an eclectic school because it has an integral system of thought with a vivid political purpose. Finally, the thesis discussed the function and influence of this book in the great tendency of the integration of thoughts of all schools as well as its important role and significance in the history of China's thought, scholarship and culture by a comparison to Dong Zhongshu's theory in Han dynasty.