dong zhong-shu 董仲舒

Dong Zhong-shu董仲舒

温海明 Prof. WEN Haiming

Associate Professor, School of Philosophy

Renmin University of China 中国人民大学哲学院副教授

Ph.D. University of Hawaii夏威夷大学哲学博士

23/4/19Prof. Haiming Wen, School of Philosophy, Renmin

University of China1

Dong Zhong-shu

Lived from about 179-104 BCE Instrumental in making Confucianism

the Han dynasty’s orthodox belief Tried to justify current socio-political

order Human beings are the image of

Heaven Justification of human’s behavior

found in tian

Dong Zhong-shu’s Cosmology

The universe has ten constituent elements: heaven, earth, yin, yang, wood, fire, soil, metal, water, man

Order of the five processes (wuxing) Human is immersed in the ever-

present yin and yang, like a fish in water

Yin and yang wax and wane and affect seasons, preside over them

Human Nature Humans are replicas of tian and can

achieve perfection like heavens through li and yue, essentially culture and civilization

Xing (human nature) and qing (emotions) give birth to human-heartedness

Goodness does not lie within, only cultivated through culture

Dong Zhong-shu: we are “not yet good”

Social Ethics

Everything has a correlate Including human relationships Three gang relationships sovereign-subject, husband-wife,

father-son Five chang, or constant virtues: ren, yi,

li, zhi, xin Chang are individual virtues, gang are

societal virtues

Political Philosophy

Humans must cultivate culture and civilization by knowing the moral laws

Government must help do this The Four Ways of Government beneficence, rewards, punishments,

execution King is co-equal with Heaven Bad ruling brings about natural

disasters

Historical Philosophy

The Three Reigns: Black, White, and Red

Three pervious dynasties Unchanging nature of regimes The Mandate of Heaven

823/4/19Prof. Haiming Wen, School of Philosophy, Renmin

University of China