Confucian Heaven (天 Tian): moral economy and contingency
This paper examines the Confucian concept of tian, conventionally translated into English as Heaven. The secondary literature on tian has primarily focused on the question of what tian is: e.g., whether tian is an anthropomorphic deity or a naturalistic force, or whether tian is transcendent or im...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
University of Innsbruck in cooperation with the John Hick Centre for Philosophy of Religion at the University of Birmingham
[2016]
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| In: |
European journal for philosophy of religion
Year: 2016, Volume: 8, Issue: 1, Pages: 51-77 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Kong, Qiu 551 BC-479 BC, Kong zi jia yu
/ Mengzi 372 BC-289 BC
/ Confucianism
/ Tian
/ Moral necessity
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| RelBib Classification: | BM Chinese universism; Confucianism; Taoism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) Volltext (teilw. kostenfrei) |
| Summary: | This paper examines the Confucian concept of tian, conventionally translated into English as Heaven. The secondary literature on tian has primarily focused on the question of what tian is: e.g., whether tian is an anthropomorphic deity or a naturalistic force, or whether tian is transcendent or immanent. Instead, this paper locates tian with respect to the ethical life of human beings, and argues that the two conflicting concepts of moral economy and contingency are main characteristics of tian. This paper further investigates these characteristics in Kongzis and Mengzis ethical thought: how they conceptualized moral economy and contingency, and how their different conceptualizations shaped their respective ethical programs: Kongzis ethics of faith and Mengzis ethics of confidence. |
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| Contains: | Enthalten in: European journal for philosophy of religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.24204/ejpr.v8i1.70 |