Modern Interpretation of"Nature from the Mandate of Heaven":With the Argumentation of Dai Zhen against Master Zhu Xi
One of the key conceptions by Cheng-Zhu School of Principle is nature from the mandate of heaven,assuming that"Xing",nature or being,is inborn.According to them,human nature is twofold,comprised of nature of physical matter and form and nature from the mandate of heaven,the latter of which is referred to as principle.Today,the social being of mankind is considered as a collection of all his social networks which everybody falls into once born.It might make sense to say social being is innate.But what Zhu Xi said about nature from the mandate of heaven referred to heavenly principles,i.e.human-heartedness,righteousness,propriety and wisdom,that fell on mankind,which attributed more to cultural being.Zhu Xi's theory implies that mankind is innately noble with dignity,laying the foundation of the modern conception of egalitarianism.However,whether heavenly principles are inborn is a problem left for further discussion.This study will attempt to interpret"heaven"as the meaning world,which belongs to the third world,and"mandate of heaven",instead of inborn,as which originates from the meaning world,something to be cultivated in the process of one's life development.Accordingly,the theory of self-cultivation needs to be adjusted from Zhu Xi's theory of restoration of nature to the theory of enrichment and perfection of nature.Self is referred to as being in oneself.Construction of the self is not only based on cultural being,but also social being.While cultural being is absolute in purpose as advocated by Zhu Xi,social being is open for design.Dai Zhen offers an in-depth analysis of Zhu Xi's nature from the mandate of heaven,restoring its ancient connotation as natural endowment,i.e.blood,vital force,mind and intelligence.He abnegates Cheng-Zhu's belief in nature as principle,breaks the dichotomy of principle and righteousness and physical matter and form,and overturns the theory of innate goodness of human nature.In this way,Dai Zhen opens up the way of modern interpretation of the issue.
nature from the mandate of heaveninnate goodness of human naturecultural being
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