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Explore The Architecture Of Tung Chungshu’s Philosophy Of Heaven For Defending The Political Legitimacy Of Han Dynasty

Posted on:2014-02-06Degree:MasterType:Thesis
Country:ChinaCandidate:X F GaoFull Text:PDF
GTID:2246330398469417Subject:Chinese philosophy
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
There is a strong tradition of philosophy of Heaven in Chinese classical philosophies. The primary purpose of the Chinese classical philosophy of Heaven is to provide some deterministic basis for human activities, rather than modern western astronomical research. Therefore,"Heaven" is one of the most central issues in Chinese classical political legitimacy of the process of constructing, providing a unique and profound explanation.In the Xia and Shang Dynasty period, the rulers had made the concept of legitimacy on the religious belief of the unique interaction between the supremacy of God and the ancestors of God, but it was put truncated open in the Zhou Dynasty period. The rulers of Zhou would the religious belief of the unique interaction between the supremacy of God and the ancestors of God transformed into the will of Heaven as the political legitimacy foundation, at the same time endued a possibility of the will of Heaven which to respect morality and protect people. Duke Zhou was a key man who had completed the turning point of the concept of legitimacy from Shang Dynasty to Zhou Dynasty. He thought that the will of Heaven was the foundation of the concept of legitimacy, it’s closely linked with the specific behavior of the rulers. However, Match Heaven with Virtue was Duke Zhou’s final answer of this question.The pre-Qin Confucianism had inherited the ingredients of Virtue of Western Zhou in the Concept of the will of heaven, and built the concept of legitimacy into the moral cultivation. They thought that human activities especially the king’s behaviors would directly relate to the prerequisite of political domination was whether legitimate, if the king could do for the government with virtue, it will get the support of public opinion. This is the architecture of the political legitimacy which by pre-Qin Confucianism put forward was called Heaven-People-Virtue.Tung Chung-shu is a well-known philosopher, whose dominator is the Emperor Wu of Han. He is a man who based on Confucian inherent in the kingly ideal position, and re-examined the new questions that the will of Heaven for defending the political legitimacy since Western Zhou Dynast, and combined the concept of the will of heaven of Western Zhou Dynast and the philosophy of heaven of pre-Qin Confucianism. On the one side, Tung Chung-shu emphasised on the Confucian virtue which to endow the significance of Legitimacy for kings, and on the other side, he used the Monitoring role of heaven to limit the kingship, thereby competed the architecture of the political legitimacy of Han Dynasty named Heaven-King-Virtue.
Keywords/Search Tags:philosophy of Heaven, Tung Chung-shu, Political Legitimacy
PDF Full Text Request
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