An New Discussion of Confucius’ Determinism

Authors

  • Fangqing Li Guangdong University of Foreign Studies Author

Abstract

Whether Confucius is a determinist or not is controversial in academic circles. The key point is whether Confucius made predeterministic interpretation towards the concept of "ming"(命  destiny) or "Tian ming’"（天命  Heaven‘s Decree）. Through careful study of Confucius' sayings on "ming" and "tian ming" in the Analects of Confucius(論語) and its classical annotation, it can be found that Confucius inherited the thought of determinism（宿命論） in the Shang（商） and Zhou（周） dynasties. He regarded  "Tian"(天  Heaven)  of "Tian ming" as the objective existence dominating all things. The "ming" and  "Tian ming " of Confucius have similar meanings in the ancient meaning of ming as "Heaven’s command"(天令). Therefore, Confucius was a determinist.

Author Biography

  • Fangqing Li, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies
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Published

2023-03-11

Section

Articles

License

© Asian Journal of Social Science Studies. The copyright for all articles published in this journal is retained by the authors. All articles are published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). This license permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited.

How to Cite

An New Discussion of Confucius’ Determinism. (2023). Asian Journal of Social Science Studies. https://journal.chapjulypress.org/index.php/ajsss/article/view/668