Dong Zhongshu’s View Of Heaven And Man And The Transformation Of Confucian Political Philosophy In The Western Han Dynasty

Dong zhongshu’s thoughts mainly exist in "The Three Policies of Heaven and Man" and "The Spring and Autumn Period and The Fan-Lu" and other documents,and the difference between Dong zhongshu and Confucianism is mainly reflected in his philosophy of heaven and Man.In the past,many scholars have conducted in-depth and extensive research on Dong Zhongshu’s philosophy of heaven and man,and mentioned the transformation of Confucianism represented by dong Zhongshu in the Western Han Dynasty from time to time,but few scholars have carried out specific and profound research on this transformation,this thesis aims to focus on this.This thesis tries to analyze his theory of heaven and man from such an angle: although Dong zhongshu’s political philosophy appeared in the western Han dynasty,the cause of its birth was already hidden in the beginning of the emergence of Confucianism.It can be regarded as the theoretical transformation of Confucianism,which pursues “ideal politics”,on the premise of unwilling to die out due to the conflict between its theory and reality.Based on this cognition,this thesis will first elaborate Confucius’ "ideal politics" and the specific realistic politics of the Qin and Han dynasties on the basis of integrating relevant literature and books and previous academic researches,and then extend Dong Zhongshu’s political philosophy represented by the concept of heaven and man from the continuous intensification of the conflicts between the two.Through this way of discussion,we can highlight the blood relationship between Dong learning and pre-Qin Confucianism.Then,this thesis constructs the three theoretical dimensions of heaven and king,king and people,and people and heaven,aiming to analyze and explain Dong Zhongshu’s political philosophy in detail from the perspective of "reconciling the conflict between ideal politics and realistic politics".Finally,this thesis will discuss the transformation of Confucian political philosophy marked by Dong Zhongshu’s philosophy of heaven and man.