Research On Xunzi’s Heaven-and-Man Separation Theory

The observation of the sky and thinking about it exist with the growth of human beings. Lao-tzu said,"Man follows the earth, the earth follows heaven, heaven follows Dao, and Dao follows nature." The Chinese philosophy is the knowledge of Dao, which is mainly reflected in three aspects, that is, the Dao on heaven and man, the Dao on the collective and the individual and the Dao on the body and the mind. Accordingly, the Chinese philosophy is developed around three questions:the relation of heaven and man, the relation of the collective and the individual and the relation of the body and the mind. As one of the basic questions of the Chinese philosophy, the relation between heaven and man is also the starting point of other questions, and thus has attracted generations of philosophers’attention.With the relation between heaven and man as the access point, this thesis probes into Xunzi’s Heaven-and-Man Separation theory, which consists of three aspects:the relevance of heaven to man, the knowledge of different duties of heaven and man, and the integration of heaven and man resulting from the understanding of the laws on the heaven and the earth’s change and development. On condition that heaven and man are interrelated, Xunzi’s Heaven-and-Man Separation theory highlights the individual independence of heaven and man, emphasizes heaven’s objectivity and man positive initiative, and meanwhile advocates that man should unite with heaven into one by understanding the laws on the heaven and the earth’s change and development. Heaven-and-Man Separation theory makes clear the dialectical relation between heaven and man that integration exists with separation and enriches and develops the Confucian thinking of Heaven-and-Man integration. The way of thinking of Heaven-and-Man Separation is also unique and without compare in methodology and epistemology. The benevolent feelings that are highlighted in Heaven-and-Man Separation theory also attract people’s attention to the present state of human existence.This thesis makes preliminary probes into some interpretations on Xunzi’s Heaven-and-Man Separation theory and attempts to restore Xunzi’s true thinking on the relation of heaven and man so as to study the relation between natural phenomena and human society, understand the changes through the past to the present, and thus better confront present life.