The Starting Of The Doctrine Of Human Nature Dominated By Qi In The Human Body

Human nature is one of the most important theses in Chinese philosophy. It is not only concerned with the goodness or evil of human nature, but also concerned with the inquiries and explorations about where it comes from. In the ancient China, all the people believed that the goodness or evil of human nature comes from Tian. Dong Zhong-shu in Han Dynasty found a new way to research the theory of human nature, who inherited the excellent achievements of the theory in pre-Qin and got the inspiration from the scientific thoughts (including cosmology, the theory of Yin-Yang and the theory of traditional Chinese medicine.) and the theory of the induction between Tian and people which were popular in the beginning of Han dynasty. The new way impelled Dong Zhong-shu to set up the doctrine of human nature dominated by Qi in the human body, in which he introduced Yin-Yang into the theory of human nature and considered the natures of Yin-Qi and Yang-Qi in the human body as the basis of how human nature is. He believed that human nature is both good and evil as the human body consists of Yin-Qi and Yang-Qi , which is consistent with that Tian has respectable Yang and lowly Yin. He said:"human nature is both good and evil because of the good-Oi and evil-Qi that the human body has, while, human being are born of Tian and the good-Oi and evil-Qi in the human body come from Yin-Qi and Yang-Qi of Tian."(Chun-qiu-fan-lu·Shen-cha-ming-hao) Dong Zhong-shu regarded Yin-Yang as the material medium through which Tian gives human nature to people, and he thought that Tian shows its kindness according to the respectability of Yang and the lowliness of Yin which is also the metaphysical basis of goodness.In pre-Qin Dynasty, the author of the book of Xing-zi-ming-chu (Human nature coming from the order of Tian), Mencius and the author of Zhong-yong all considered Tian as the metaphysical basis of human nature and the origin of the morality of people. But because they had taken an inside way in which they were conscious of the order of Tian according to knowing of the kind-heart and the goodness of human nature, which was a way from inside to outside, they all couldn't answer the questions that why Tian has morality, how does Tian exhibit its morality and what is the way in which Tian awards human nature to people. In the theory of human nature in pre-Qin Dynasty, the philosophers in pre-Qin all proved their theories of human nature by social experiences because that Tian and human nature did not integrate well in their theories of human nature. The foundation of the theory of human nature of Dong Zhong-shu who regarded Oi in the human body as the basis of how human nature is, solved the questions which the theory of human nature in pre-Qin had not solved eventually and accelerated the development of the theory of human nature of China.The foundation of the doctrine of human nature dominated by Qi in the human body cut a new way to research human nature, it offered a model for the following philosophers. After Dong Zhong-shu, Yang Xiong, Wang Chong, Liu Shao and so on, they all regarded the natures of Qi in the human body (such as Yin-Yang, thickness and thinness, fineness and crudity.) as the basis of human nature, and they pointed out their views of human nature on the ground of the common understanding. In Tang Dynasty, Han Yu pointed out his view of human nature that there are three grades in human nature. Zhang Zai in Song Dynasty founded his philosophy of Qi, and he started to distinguish the human nature from Tian-Di and the one dominated by Qi in the human body between which the latter one had inherited and developed the doctrine of human nature dominated by Qi in the human body which Dong Zhong-shu invented. Then Cheng Yi and Zhu Xi accepted the theory of the human nature dominated by Qi in the human body for their Neo-confucianism.