Dong Zhong-shu 董仲舒

1. 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 Prof. Haiming Wen, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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”

5. 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

6. 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

7. Historical Philosophy The Three Reigns: Black, White, and Red Three pervious dynasties Unchanging nature of regimes The Mandate of Heaven

8. Prof. Haiming Wen, School of Philosophy, Renmin University of China