英文摘要
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the idea of ”union between heaven and man” gives rise to two types of controversies: the first is concerned with whether the idea in question is a central concept of Chinese philosophy; some believe that it forms the main line of development in Chinese philosophy, while others reject this opinion and believe that the precise meaning of union can never be grasped. The second controversy concerns the connotation of ”heaven”, the emphasis of which can be placed either on the natural environment or on the value of ethics. Some scholars who stress natural environment suggest that the relationship between heaven and man is harmonious in order to manifest the modem value of Chinese philosophy, whereas others, focusing on the ethical aspect, insist that its original content consists in the moral nature of ”heaven”. Thus understood, they oppose any modification of the idea of union in order to meet the need for modem environment-protection awareness.
This paper, based on Confucian texts, attempts to methodically scrutinize these two types of controversies in order to demonstrate the background which forms these two opposite opinions and elucidate the precarious situation in which these two opinions may lead to the impossibility of union between heaven and man. The route from illustrating the ”philosophical background from which ideas originate” to establishing ”the theoretically appropriate position of heaven” is the process that we shall follow in order to bring about a solution to these controversies.
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