An Analysis And Discussion Of The Dong Zhongshu's Heaven-Human Induction Ideology

The main thought of Chinese traditional philosophy sprouts in the pre-historical period. This stream of thought develops in the Spring and Autumn Period and Warring State Period. As culture owns the feature of serving the society and politics,The Chinese traditional philosophy is non-exceptionally deeply marked by politics. It enriches itself in the development of Chinese nation over thousands of years and play an important role in the keeping-peace, reducing-war and ruling the nation."Heaven-Human Induction" is always the basic issue of the Chinese traditional philosophy. On the other hand, the harmony between Heaven and human is a basic concept of Chinese traditional philosophy. The idea of "Heaven-Human Induction" is the production of the research and development of basic concepts. It embodies the basic feature of Chinese philosophy. In the development of Chinese philosophy, Dong Zhongshu—a famous philosopher and thinker in the Xi Han Dynasty—makes great contribution. He enriches and perfected the ideology system of the traditional "Heaven-Human Induction".The so-called "Heaven-Human Induction" means the mysterious contact between the heaven and human. When monotheism replaces divinity ,"The heaven" gradually represents the mysterious prestigious power. "The Human" is the emperor of feudal dynasty. The idea of "Heaven-Human Induction" narrows down from the contact between the ordinary people and heaven to the contact between power-owed personnel and heaven. The latter contact becomes the most determinable induction. This is the idea of the "Heaven-Human Induction" long time ago. We can find the existence of this kind of mysterious concept in the ancient mythology. After the Neolithic era, Yin, Shang, and Zhou era, The Spring and The Autumn period and Warring State period, this sort of idea develops into a practical ideology system. There are two purposes of Dong's "Heaven-Human Induction". First, to maintain the legality of monarchy, He promotes the idea of belittling the people and making the emperor greater, which is the main theme of his "Heaven-Human Induction" ideology. He also say "he who becomes the emperor follows the will of the heaven". Second, when he make the emperor greater, he also limits the power of the emperor." We can find this kind of idea in his words "Belittling the emperor and making the heaven greater." He also say "He who becomes the monarch should run the country under the basic rules of heaven". These principia are also the essence of his political ideas.In order to fulfill his political ideas, he proposed the principia of "paying supreme tribute to Confucianism while banning all other schools of thought". The principium inherits the idea of Confucius, Mencius, Xuncius and various schools of thought and their exponents during the Pre-Qin period to Han Dynasty. After putting this proposal into political practice, Dong makes a great success. This success strengthens the important position of Dong's political philosophy in the Chinese traditional philosophy. We can touch the history impulse of the Chinese traditional philosophy through these principia.The "Heaven-Human Induction" is the main part of Dong's philosophy system. Through this ideology, there are two ways to maintain the Monarchy political system and keep the power in the central government. One way is that the heaven give some auspicious signs to the country to show his approval. The other is disaster. Dong believes that if the emperor runs the country well and keeps the politics clear, then he will move the heaven and the heaven will bless him and his country would be in harmony with the nature. "If there are disasters in the country, that is because the emperor does not run the country under the rules of heaven". This ideology plays an important role in maintaining the power in the central government and has a profound influence in the history.Actually, the "Heaven-Human Induction" is not created by Dong. It has a long history in the development of Chinese traditional philosophy. Dong inherits, mixes and develops the ideas of predecessors and built a systematic "Heaven-Human Induction" ideology system. It has the mysterious color of idealism, but it recovers prominent position of Confucian studies.Currently, a group of researchers have various perceptions and achievements during the research and analysis of Dong's "Heaven-Human Induction". This improves the development of Dong's philosophy greatly. We should adopt the policy of "develop what is useful and discard what is not" in our study of Dong's ideology. When we attach importance to the positive historical effect, we should also notice its negative effect that blocks the development of politics, economy and culture. We should take the history as a mirror, make the past serve the present and inherit Dong's philosophy prophet critically. We also should work hard to build modern Chinese political philosophy to make them serve for the building of a socialist country with Chinese features.Through the research and analysis of the development of Chinese "the harmony between heaven and human" and the theme of Dong's "Heaven-Human Induction", we aim to discuss the guiding meaning to the development of the society of Dong's "Heaven-Human Induction" in the angle of the materialist conception of history.