This dissertation investigates the philosophy of change in Zhouyi (周易). The study pursues two primary aims. First, it seeks to demonstrate that Zhouyi philosophy constitutes a system of thought that takes the changes of Heaven, Earth, and all thin...
This dissertation investigates the philosophy of change in Zhouyi (周易). The study pursues two primary aims. First, it seeks to demonstrate that Zhouyi philosophy constitutes a system of thought that takes the changes of Heaven, Earth, and all things as the very essence of philosophy. Second, by clarifying the meaning of change in Zhouyi philosophy, it aims to elucidate the characteristics and significance of spatiotemporal conceptions developed within Zhouyi philosophy and Confucian thought. This dissertation aims to set logical foundation for the philosophy of change in the Zhouyi by focusing on the spatiotemporal meanings of its hexagrams (卦) and lines (爻). Grounded in the concept of Heaven and Earth(天地) of the Zhouyi, the study offers an in-depth analysis of the philosophical significance of change and elucidates the implications of Zhouyi as it was formed during the Pre-Qin (先秦) period. In the Zhouyi, the concept of change constitutes the core foundation of a philosophical system in which time and space are integrally structured; within this framework, Heaven and Earth function as the driving source of change, as well as the origin and Dao (道) of generative change of all things.
In order to clarify the philosophical significance of this concept of change, Chapters 2 and 3 first examine the philosophy-historical significance of the spatiotemporal understanding of change inherent in the concept of Heaven (天) embedded in Zhouyi philosophy during the Pre-Qin period. Chapter 2 elucidates its textual grounding through ancient oracle bone inscriptions (甲骨文), bronze inscriptions (金文), and classical texts such as the Book of Poetry (詩經), the Book of Documents (書經), and the Zuo Commentary (左傳). Through this analysis, it is shown that a philosophical transformation took place whereby fortune and misfortune (吉凶) came to be understood not as deriving from divine beings or Heaven, but as arising from the transformations of all things and from human action. This signifies a reconfiguration of the relationship between Heaven and human beings, in which, instead of seeking divination (占) from Shangdi (上帝), human beings come to avoid misfortune and pursue the auspicious [避凶趣吉] through the cultivation of virtue (德) as autonomous subjects. Chapter 3 further clarifies the foundation of this philosophical transformation by examining the Zhouyi’s conception of Heaven and Earth through the core proposition that “the Yi accords with Heaven and Earth” [易與天地準], together with the doctrines of cyclical beginning and end (終始) and the principle of reversal at the extreme (物極必反). Through this inquiry, it is shown that human beings are able to apprehend the principle of change through the notion of simplicity and ease [易簡], and thereby become beings who can assume a creative role by pairing themselves with Heaven and Earth. Second, Chapter 4 demonstrates the Way of creative generation (創生之道) of the Yi (易), as clarified in Chapter 3, through the symbolic system of the sixty-four hexagrams and the three hundred eighty-four lines, focusing on the philosophy of temporal [時] and spatial [位] transformation. On the basis of this philosophy of change grounded in Heaven and Earth, Chapter 5 examines the philosophical implications of human beings attaining the virtue of the sage through autonomous self-cultivation in place of shamans (巫). This process begins from the foolishness (愚) and inadequacy (不肖) of ordinary marital life (夫婦), forms the initial foundations of the Way of the noble person, and is shown to be realizable through a practical system that culminates in the numinous state [至神] of the sage (聖人) as the exemplary model of humanity. This consists in actively participating in the transformative and generative processes of Heaven and Earth (天地化育), through which human beings internalize the Mandate of Heaven (天命) and realize the ultimate ideal of the transformations of Heaven and Earth, wherein the cosmic order and the human moral order are unified.
The significance of this study lies in its clarification of the spatiotemporal characteristics of the philosophy of change in the Zhouyi as it began to be philosophically established during the Pre-Qin period, particularly with respect to the temporal conception of change through which the Mandate of Heaven is internalized within human beings. First, by elucidating this conception, the study provides a philosophical foundation for reflective engagement with contemporary debates on transhumanism and posthumanism concerning questions of human nature and non-human agency. This involves both overcoming the limitations of Western conceptions of time, including nihilistic tendencies, and exploring the possibility of recovering a renewed sense of temporality through the Zhouyi’s philosophy of time, while at the same time reexamining the origins and foundations of modern temporal consciousness. Second, the study offers new points of departure for addressing the uncertainty and instability generated by artificial intelligence technologies, including data-driven and cybernetic paradigms that reduce human beings to algorithms on the basis of linear and eschatological conceptions of time.