How do you understand the pre-Qin view of heaven? What are the characteristics?

China's basic viewpoints on the origin of the world in classical philosophy.

Mainly around the question of whether heaven is original or not, it is called the view of heaven (see heaven and human nature). In pre-Qin philosophy, the philosophical systems of materialism and idealism all take their own view of heaven as the general basis for their arguments. The Shang Dynasty regarded "Heaven" as the personified supreme god, called "Emperor" or "Heaven Emperor", and "God" was the supreme master of the world. Oracle Bone Inscriptions recorded the words of the Shang rulers asking for God. All the sacrifices, explorations, hunting, mature years, storms, travel, diseases and so on. They all acted according to the results of divination, reflecting the idealistic world outlook of the rulers of Shang Dynasty. "History? Yin Shengxian's remarks recorded in Hong Fan not only retained the theological concept of Yin Shang's belief in God, but also regarded the five elements of fire, water, wood, gold and earth as the five basic substances in the world, which constituted simple materialism and had a far-reaching impact on the development of China's philosophy. The Book of Changes (see Book of Changes), which originated around the Yin and Zhou Dynasties, systematized the early concept of "eight diagrams" into dry (heaven), Kun (earth), earthquake (thunder), smoke (wind), hurdle (water), reason (fire) and gen (mountain). After the destruction of Yin in the Western Zhou Dynasty, it was more philosophical.

The concept of "fate" replaced the concept of personified god. Duke Zhou put forward "eternal destiny" and "respecting morality"

From the viewpoint of "protecting the people", it is believed that the destiny takes human virtue as the transfer and attaches importance to the role of people to a certain extent. Before and after Shi Zhou moved eastward, some poets' works reflected the thoughts of doubt and hatred for heaven, and atheism appeared. The father of Zhou Taishi Boyang explained the earthquake phenomenon in the order of "qi of heaven and earth", that is, the relationship between yin and yang, which marked the further development of philosophical thought. During the Spring and Autumn Period, the politician Zi Chan declared that "the sky is far away and people are near", showing a tendency to oppose superstition of destiny. Confucius, a philosopher at the end of the Spring and Autumn Period, seldom talked about heaven, but he was sure of his destiny. Confucius' so-called "heaven" sometimes refers to the supreme Lord with will, and sometimes refers to nature. At the beginning of the Warring States, Mozi opposed Confucius' theory of destiny and advocated it. Laozi was the first to explicitly deny that heaven is the supreme Lord, and put forward the theory of the origin of heaven and earth, thinking that the origin of the world is "Tao", not heaven. He declared that "everything is born from nature" and "everything is born from nature", and said that "everything in the world is born from nature and everything is born from nothing". Are the "Tao" and "nothingness" mentioned by Laozi an absolute concept and a fiction in thinking, so they belong to objective idealism, or are they "mixed things" before the formation of heaven and earth, that is, primitive substances, so they belong to simple materialism? This issue is still controversial in China academic circles, but everyone admits that it greatly promoted China's theoretical thinking and had a far-reaching impact on the future development of China's philosophy. Later, Mencius inherited and developed Confucius' viewpoint, and Zhuangzi inherited and developed Laozi's viewpoint. Some scholars who teach Zhouyi rely on Confucius to write Yi Zhuan, and the ether is the origin of heaven and earth. It also distinguishes Tao from utensil, and puts forward the proposition that "the metaphysical refers to Tao, while the metaphysical refers to utensil". It is believed that Tao is an invisible law and the device is a tangible thing. A group of scholars from Jixia Xuegong in Qi launched a "contention" around the sky. Scholars who admired Guan Zhong put forward the idea of "the sky will not change" in Guanzi, and developed the early theory of "Qi" with the theory of "Jing" (see Jing). Emphasize the materiality of the sky. At the end of the Warring States period, Xunzi affirmed that "Heaven is always there, not for the existence of Yao, not for the death of Jie" and put forward the theory of "controlling the destiny and using it"; Han Fei inherited Xunzi's thought, absorbed Laozi's dialectics and transformed Laozi's Tao category. They made the materialism of pre-Qin reach a new peak.

Closely related to the concept of heaven is the theory of change, that is, the dialectical thought in pre-Qin philosophy. Confucius put forward "two ends" and "too much is not enough", which showed a certain dialectical view. Laozi put forward the concept of "opposition", said "the movement against the Tao", emphasized "regularity is strange, good is evil", "suffering is fun, suffering is dangerous", "benefit is loss, or benefit is loss", and saw the mutual transformation of opposites, showing rich dialectical thoughts. The Book of Changes comprehensively expounded the transformation of opposites, put forward such propositions as "the life is easy", "the way of Yin and Yang" and "combining rigidity with softness", and affirmed that the interaction of opposites is the internal source of things' changes, and the transformation of opposites is a universal law, reaching the highest level of dialectics in pre-Qin.