A Discussion On Mozi's Thinking Of "Distinction Between Heaven And Human"

"Distinction between heaven and human" is compared with the traditional Chinese thought "unity of human with heaven". Unity of human with heaven means considering heaven and human as a whole, in which the two can not be distincted. But "Distinction between Heaven and human" seperately considers human and Heaven as subject and object, in which human is subject and heaven is the object of human's awareness. As "Distinction between heaven and human" emphasizes subject-object variant, so it pays much attention to the nature as object, and then expand to the field of epistemology. However, "Unity of human with Heaven" values human but not nature, and emphasizes re-integration not analysis in methodology, so the two tendencies are antithetical.There are many factors of "unity of human with Heaven" in Mozi's thoughts. "Heaven" said by Mozi is God with Personality and will, who establishes criterion to reward the good and punish the wicked, so human must obey the will of Heaven. Thus Mozi make heaven objective and make it possible for human to recognize nature. According to this, Mozi put forward "non-life", thought that the traditional "determinism" is wrong and human should master their own destiny, and people can change their living conditions through the "power to engage in "and recognize themselves. Mozi considered justice to be interest, and Moral principles must be consistent with utilitarian principles, upon which he proposed "universal love" and "benefiting each other" .Also Mozi advocated "fiscal prudence", and asked the ruling class should be Onward with New Strengths for the community's common interests " .Here, the "Universal Love" and "prudence" reflect that there is too much thought of utilitarianism in Monism. The utilitarianism helped Mozi develop mature methodology and gummous interests in science, which is obvious in the late Mohist. So, it is important for us to understand Mozi and Mohist in the angle of the relation between human and Heaven.