선진시대(先秦時代) 천사상(天思想)의 전환과정(轉換過程) = Heaven(天) Conversion Process in Pre-Qin

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Confucianism emphasizes a practical life and claims to stand for humanistic spirits. In addition, it presents the ethical identity and affirms a man’s worth. The affirmation of a man’s worth can be explained through the universal ethicality that a man himself has. Observing as an extrinsic factor, a man’s worth can be affirmed through the notion of heaven(天). In other words, in the affirmation of a man’s worth, it is fundamental that the notion of god(天) as a personal god changes into the notion of heaven(天) in ethical meaning. The faith in heaven(天) and god(天) is the core of national faiths in the ancient China. The ancient Chinese believed that a man was born from the heaven(天), that is to say a man’s ancestor was the god(天). However, the god(天), as a personal god, could not have overwhelmed men any more and had been losing its authority from Shang(殷) dynasty by divine right until Zhou(周) dynasty, in which the thought of Providence(天命) and the notion of virtue(德) began. They believed that a man was given the nature(性命) by the god(天) and should live his life according to the principle and the order which the god(天) gave him. Traditional faith in heaven(天) was propagated by Confucius, and it established individual ethics directly related to heaven(天) transcending the common nature and becoming independent in the meaning of commune. They believed that Providence(天 命) was the human nature, the human nature was based on the Providence(天命) and ethics was originated from the human nature. Confucian claimed that a man was not influenced by the god(天)’s authority any more and secured the independence by having relations with god(天) by his independent effort. Mencius faithfully succeeded Confucius’s thought, and he systematized and deepened the thought of Providence(天命). He also believed that a man could realize his nature, by extending himself in his mind, and the heaven(天) in the same time. In this case, the heaven(天) is the common ethical principle which is realized through the internal depth of ego, and it has an internal relation with a man. It is important that he faithfully succeeded the notion of heaven(天), regarded heaven(天) as the evidence of existence of innate goodness(性善) and comprehended that heaven(天) was only found through a man’s ethical self-awareness. Eventually Mencius made a man be worthy by explaining ethicality as the evidence for being a decent man.